Karen Thurmond

Karen Thurmond’s responsibilities include advocacy for academic advising initiatives and for academic advisors serving in a faculty, peer, or professional role. She also coordinates the day-to-day operations of the general education program (core curriculum), degree audit system (DegreeWorks), and an 24/7 system for academic advising appointments (AppointmentPlus) at the University of Memphis, and is a staff member of the Center for Academic Transition, where transfer students are advised in their first semester.

Ms. Thurmond has written for the NACADA monograph on advising transfer students (on four year to four year transfer), and for the NACADA New Advisor Guidebook (on the environment of higher education). She chaired the NACADA Webinar Advisory Board, served on the Administrator’s Institute Advisory Board, and served as a member of NACADA’s Emerging Leaders Development team, and served as NACADA Region 3 (TN, KY, WV, NC, SC) Chair. Ms. Thurmond most recently completed work with a team to automate the graduation process at The University of Memphis. Ms. Thurmond manages the six-year graduation project at the University of Memphis, where intrusive advising initiatives increased a cohort’s six-year graduation rate by 8%.