Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English
Karen Kovacik is a Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of English. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies. Kovacik's passion for creative writing led her to develop the Department of English's Creative Writing Program in 1999. Kovacik has directed the program since its inception. The Creative Writing Program has been highly successful, facilitating students' travel to national conferences and producing a number of award winning student works. Kovacik also coordinates the department's Rufus Reiberg Reading Series, an initiative that brings poets and fiction writers to campus.
In addition to her work within the Department of English, Kovacik chairs IU Indianapolis's Arts & Humanities Initiative Committee. She also helps to coordinate events for International Women's Day festivities on campus. Kovacik is a highly acclaimed professor, and won Trustee Teaching Awards in 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2014.
A poet, Kovacik has traveled worldwide to gain inspiration for her work. She spent 2004-2005 in Warsaw, Poland as a part of the Fulbright research program. In 2006, Kovacik won the Best Book of Indiana award for her book, Metropolis Burning. She also won a 2007 Charity Randall Citation from the International Poetry Foundation. In 2011, Kovacik was awarded a $12,500 Fellowship in Literary Translation from the National Endowment for the Arts. Kovacik served as Indiana's Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014.
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