Having grown up outside of Philadelphia, Karen received her undergraduate degree in Art History at Smith College and master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at West Virginia University. She spent over 35 years in classrooms in Minnesota, West Virginia, and her final 11 years at East Gloucester School. During her teaching career she has been particularly interested in developing motivational techniques for learning, engaging students in high quality children’s literature, and establishing best practices for young readers and writers. It has been a satisfying and fulfilling life’s work.

Karen’s husband, Philip Chase (raised in Gloucester), is a semi-retired university professor. Her eldest daughter Nina Kenny Chase is a landscape architect in Pittsburgh, and her youngest Monica Chase Fuentes develops health education programs for NYC public schools.

“Having seen the positive impact of GEF programs at East Gloucester School, I am ready to work from within the organization to encourage teachers to develop programs for a wide variety of our students and hopefully, engage students’ parents in the mission of the Gloucester Education Foundation.”