Karen Rau

Karen Rau is a graduate student in Coastal Communities and Regional Development at the University of the Westfjords, studying under the direction of Matthias Kokorsch. She earned her applied social science degree from Colorado State University. She has worked at a community college in Colorado Springs as an admissions counselor and she created training modules for the enrollment services department. She is working on her thesis, analyzing policy regarding rural areas and abandoned towns. Her research will address how policy can lead to geographies of exclusion due to inadequate and fluid definitions of “rural”.

Karen is working on her thesis from her home state of Colorado, where she lives in a rural municipality with her husband, two dogs, and a half million honeybees.