Karen speaking at the Annual Green Party Nominating Convention in Baltimore, MD earlier this month: CLICK HERE
Karen Morian was born in Tallahassee and grew up in New Smyrna Beach. She is the proud product of Volusia County public schools and knows from personal experience the possibility for public schools to expose students to the diversity of our society, to afford them opportunities to grow in new ways, and to create cohesion in a community. During her childhood, she saw the damage to individuals and to society of inequality, and she became a lifelong advocate for those who have been denied, denigrated, or excluded. Her father was an electrician, and her mother was a teacher; both were union members and were able to provide quality insurance coverage, something she believes all families deserve. She worked her way through college and graduate school as a work-study student, as a teaching assistant, and at part-time jobs, receiving degrees from Stetson University (BA) and Florida State University (MA, PhD). She then began teaching and working with community organizations.
Since 1991, Karen Morian has been working with the students of Florida as a teacher and as a mentor to ensure their success in life. She has been an advocate for education funding; for academic freedom; and for the rights of students, faculty, and staff. She has served as a Teaching Assistant and Adjunct Faculty member at Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College, and North Florida Community College and as a full-time faculty member of Florida Community College, now Florida State College at Jacksonville. In addition to teaching and creating new courses of interest to the students at FSCJ, she has written two national grants and served in numerous college service positions including Chair of the Capstone Committee, member of the Faculty Senate, member of the Humanities Council, and as state Senator for the United Faculty of Florida. She has also served as the faculty advisor for student organizations such as the Gay-Straight Alliance and Students for Community Involvement.