Congratulations to Dr. Karen Mura, who will leave Georgia Tech in June to enjoy retirement near her family.

In her four years at Georgia Tech, Karen has advanced Prestigious Fellowships with intentional communications, new programming, and committed one-on-one advising. Shortly after her arrival, Karen revamped the fellowships web site to make award opportunities more visible to students, and she launched a regular newsletter to showcase upcoming information sessions and deadlines. Later, she collaborated with Undergraduate Research to alert President's Undergraduate Research Award (PURA) applicants to other awards that might interest them. 

To help students complete the ambitious applications required for post-graduate awards, she initiated summer writing workshops, and she targeted sophomores and juniors with information sessions appropriate for their time to graduation. Karen has hosted approximately 25 information sessions and between 450 and 550 advising sessions each year.

Karen’s mentorship helps students to realize and articulate their long-term goals—even when they don’t receive an award. She has helped dozens of students to successfully apply to some of the most prestigious nationally and internationally competitive awards. Below are just some of the awards students have received under her mentorship.