Directory

Karen Knudsen

Director, Office of External Affairs

MA in Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawaii.

• Public Diplomacy
• Challenges facing U.S. education policymakers
• Hawai'i's education system and reform movements

Karen Knudsen directs the Center’s News and Information operations, Arts Program, Associates (alumni) Office, program representatives in the region, EWC briefings for government officials (local, national and international), and community and public relations. She was elected in 2006 to a fifth four-year term on the Hawai‘i State Board of Education (BOE) and currently serves as first vice chair of the BOE. She has worked in public affairs at the Hawai‘i State Judiciary and in public relations at Milici Valenti Ng Pak DDB Needham Advertising. She is a former Pacific area specialist with the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council and outreach coordinator for the University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. She holds an M.A. in Pacific Islands Studies from the University of Hawai‘i.