With a sense of humor, Karen Bishop Morris shows success and personality can go hand-in-hand.

Bishop-Morris, interim head of the English department and associate professor, is loved by her colleagues for her personality and outlook. Ron Corthell, dean of the College of Humanities, English, and Social Sciences, has gotten to know her since 2011, when he began working with her.

“She is just a wonderful human being. I consider her a good friend and just a fun person to be around,” Corthell said.

Bishop Morris showed this side of herself when she made a joke about her age.

“I can’t remember. It keeps changing every year,” Bishop Morris said.

Aside from her personality, Bishop Morris’s colleagues admire her most for her work ethic. Having previously served as the director of the Writing Center, director of the First-Year Writing program, faculty adviser of the Honors College and regional director of the Science Olympiad, Bishop Morris keeps busy.

“She is quite the extraordinary person,” Corthell said. “She gained a lot of experience in the administration of the program.”

Bishop Morris said she chose this profession because it allowed her to combine her passions.

“I’ve been fortunate to have the flexibility this profession affords to blend academics and community engagement,” Bishop Morris said.

An East Chicago native, Bishop Morris said she has roots in the community that kept her in the area. After graduating with a master’s in English from PUC in 1996 and moving on to earn a doctorate’s in rhetoric and composition from Purdue West Lafayette in 2002, Bishop Morris came back to PUC.

“I see myself in our students, so working at PNW is a full-circle experience,” Bishop Morris said. “As a PUC alumna, I am invested in our students here and the institution which provided so many opportunities for me.”

In recent years she has helped created the One Book One University program, has been an advocate of Experiential Learning and she was able to get English 105, a class most students take, approved to be an ExL class. Bishop Morris also works closely with the Honors College, and in recent months she spent three weeks in Japan with a group of students at Kanagawa University in an effort to establish an exchange program.

Corthell credited Bishop Morris with being instrumental to the department and the university.

“She’s one of the go-to people you can always count on. She’s someone I would always consult,” Corthell said.

Corthell said he is happy Bishop Morris applied for the position of interim department head of English, the largest department within CHESS.

“She’s really energizing the faculty and introducing new ideas that look promising,” Corthell said.

Bishop Morris’s work was recognized this year when she won the Outstanding Faculty Award for Service and the 2016 Influential Woman of Northwest Indiana for Education in the Up and Coming category.

“In the presence of so many accomplished and dedicated faculty and staff, I feel very humble,” Bishop Morris said of her Outstanding Service award. “It was also a little overwhelming, especially when I think of all I still want to do.”

Bishop Morris said she enjoys the arts, antiques, cooking and gardening, which are hobbies she does not take lightly.

“I will spend days researching and sourcing a particular spice, for instance,” Bishop Morris said. “I also play piano, but not nearly as much as I would like to.”