Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Higher Education Program in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Her scholarship focuses on the impact of college on undergraduate students, and she is best known for her research on living-learning communities. Dr. Inkelas is the founding Principal Investigator of the National Study of Living-Learning Programs, and lead author of the book, Living-Learning Programs that Work: A Research-Based Model for Design, Delivery, and Assessment. In Fall 2018, she became the sixth Principal of the University of Virginia Hereford Residential College.
Dr. Inkelas currently serves as the Lead Research Director for UVA’s Crafting Success for Underrepresented Scientists and Engineers Project, and is the Research Director of Undergraduate Initiatives for the UVA Contemplative Sciences Center. In addition, Dr. Inkelas consults and advises on several initiatives, including as a technical panelist for the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative under the U.S. Department of Education, and as a consultant on designing living-learning communities and residence halls with two national architectural firms. She has been a featured speaker at several U.S. and international venues, including a World Bank-funded workshop in Cambodia, the National University of Singapore, Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, the Residential College Symposium, the ACUHO-I Academic Initiatives Conference, and the Residential Learning Communities Conference.
