Karen Thomas
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Karen Thomas has spent more than 25 years in the trenches of daily journalism. She worked as a feature writer for 13 years at The Dallas Morning News, specializing in family issues, narrative writing and column writing. Prior to joining the Morning News, Thomas was a national correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and also covered education on a national, state and city level.
Thomas was recently appointed as the inaugural Meadows School of the Arts diversity officer and a special Adviser to Dean Sam Holland.
Her writing awards include the Texas Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Media Award for Excellence, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s “Let’s Do It Better!” Award and the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ Benjamin Fine Award.
Thomas has been selected a fellow in several programs, including the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellowship in Health.
Thomas holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in narrative writing from the University of Georgia, a Master of Science degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism/English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
View CV
Recent Work
(2011, January 19). A family transformed. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/health/family-health/headlines/20110118-a-family-transformed.ece
(2006, January 15). Insurance gap at root of kids' teeth troubles. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/upload/Karen%20Thomas-%20Insurance%20Gap%20at%20Root.pdf
(2006, January 22). Vanishing safety net. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/www.kff.org/ContentPages/6138186.pdf
(2006, January 29). Living from checkup to checkup. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/upload/Karen%20Thomas-%20Living%20from%20checkup%20to%20checkup.pdf
(2003, April 30). Dangerous liaisons: work infidelities. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.shirleyglass.com/dallas.htm
Book Reviews
(2011, June 3). Book review: ‘The Color of Night,’ by Madison Smartt Bell. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110603-book-review-the-color-of-night-by-madison-smartt-bell.ece
(2010, February 28). Book review: 'The Girl Who Fell From the Sky' by Heidi W. Durrow. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/headlines/20100228-Book-review-The-Girl-6473.ece
(2010, July 25). Book review: 'The Marrowbone Marble Company,' by Glenn Taylor. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/headlines/20100725-book-review-the-marrowbone-marble-company_by-glenn-taylor.ece
(2010, September 12). Fiction review: 'Getting to Happy' by Terry McMillan. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/headlines/20100912-Fiction-review-Getting-to-4112.ece
Arts
(2010, March 3). Author brings passion for Haitian hero to Arts and Letters Live. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/arts/headlines/20100303-Author-brings-passion-for-Haitian-hero-6359.ece
Opinion
(2009, January 20). Far away from Barack Obama's inauguration, change has already begun. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved from http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-thomasessay_0118gd.ART.State.Edition1.4f0c21f.html
*Note: The works above are only a partial list of Professor Thomas' publications
Distinctions
Course list
| Race, Class and Gender in the Media | JOUR 4360 |
| Advanced News Reporting | JOUR 3313 |
| Feature Writing | JOUR 3382 |
| Journalism & Religion | JOUR 4392 |
| Literary Journalism | JOUR 3390 |
