Karen Regan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, is the 2019 recipient of the RIO Champion Award.
Karen was nominated by:
What the Nominators Said About Karen
As the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, Karen spearheads the Research Development operation where she leads as a big-picture thinker, bringing a unique combination of exemplary soft skills with a deep knowledge of running an effective campus-level research office. Thanks to Karen, RIO’s Research Development team has leapfrogged many other research offices in the country in terms of supporting large research opportunities, seeding new and emerging faculty, and anticipating upcoming barriers to further research growth.
Some of Karen’s key contributions include:
Karen’s intelligence, thoughtfulness, and understanding of and adherence to the university’s mission make her an asset to the many projects, committees and conversations in which she engages. Consistent with all of Chancellor DiStefano’s strategic imperatives, Karen is shaping tomorrow’s leaders through her faculty and postdoc development programs. She approaches all the work she does as a true innovator, and she broadly supports all disciplines to ensure that she is comprehensively impacting not only CU Boulder faculty but also seeing that these faculty have a positive impact on humanity. She is valued by the Research & Innovation Office and campus leaders for all she does to advance research on the Boulder campus with an eye for growing CU Boulder’s visibility and reputation nationally.