Colleagues remember Karen Adams
Emotions fill the air and memories flood the mind each time Janine Janosky travels through the halls of the Education and Human Services Building.
Karen Adams, former dean of the College of Education and Human Services, spearheaded the project and had an undying excitement to see its completion.
She died April 7, just days before her office would move to its new home.
"If I walk around this building as I've done earlier this week, I see the bamboo and I think of Karen because I remember a story she told us," said Janosky, vice provost of Research and Sponsored Programs. "I think of the slate, and I remember the stories she told us about the slate and how slate was a resemblance to a blackboard and what that meant to a college of EHS. Everything has an essence, every essence is Karen. It's who she was and what she was about."
Adams' colleagues and friends gathered Thursday in the new EHS Building's auditorium to celebrate her life and reflect on the persistence and joy she had that many said will leave a lasting mark at CMU.
What she brought to CMU, Janosky said, was a unique world view that caught the attention of those with whom she shared stories. Adams visited 103 countries during her lifetime.
"Can you imagine the vision she must have had, the understanding of the world she must have had?" Janosky said. "The interconnectedness is how she viewed all of us."
Provost Julia Wallace remembers first walking into Adams' office and seeing pieces of unique memorabilia from around the world.
"When she started talking about how important international travel meant to her and how she was so committed to providing international experiences to teacher education students, I just said, 'Wow,'" Wallace said. "You can internationalize the whole state of Michigan by allowing teachers in international programs into elementary and secondary school systems through their teachers who have had real, global experiences."
Wallace also recalled Adams' joy when celebrating the successes of those with whom she worked.
"Karen's excitement when faculty and staff in her college received awards and honors, especially for teaching, was just infectious," Wallace said. "She wanted to tell the entire campus of how great her faculty were and make sure that every single one knew these honors from the people that she served. She just loved everyone in the college and across the university."
Gary Shapiro, former interim provost and dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, chaired the search committee that hired Adams in 2003.
"She had the courage to make some difficult decisions and to implement change which is not always easy to do," he said.
Shapiro recalled such projects as the alternative route to teacher certification, issues pertaining to charter schools and revising the education curriculum.
"She was a very strong dean when she came, but every year she became more productive and much more successful as a dean," he said. "Every dean should believe their college is the best, and she believed that."
Sue Ann Martin, former dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts, said Adams shared her love for children's literature.
"Karen was keenly aware of how books could open news words and ideas to young minds," she said. "Karen was the real thing."
university@cm-life.com
