Karen Gross is a Gloucester MA and Washington DC based educator, author and artist, as well
as an advisor to non-profit schools and organizations and governments. Her work focuses on
student success across the educational landscape and the impact of trauma on learning and
psychosocial development. She has dealt with institutions planning for and dealing with person
and nature made disasters including the Pandemic, shootings, suicides, hurricanes and floods.
She has also worked with leaders to stabilize their institutions in the midst and aftermath of
crises (i.e. student dysregulation; harassment; discrimination). She often creates art in these
situations with participants and shares her own art to ease discomfort and create trust.
She has been a continuing education instructor at the Rutgers School of Social Work and sits on
the Advisory Council and serves as a leadership mentor at Center for Minority Serving
Institutions at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. She has been a visiting professor at
colleges and universities across the US and Canada. She is the co-founder of the Virtual
Teachers Lounge, which serves educators across the globe and conducts workshops and seminars
for organizations dealing with student and educator struggles, including the impact of trauma on
students, educators, families and communities. In 2024, she went on a medical mission to the
Dominican Republic, serving as a medical translator (having been a medical social worker in
Puerto Rico in her youth). In 2025, she guest taught and did teacher training at Nasurani School
for Girls in Kenya and will be returning there in 2026.
Previously, she served for 8 years as the President of Southern Vermont College and as senior
policy advisor to the US Department of Education during the Obama Administration. Prior to
that, she was a tenured law professor for over two decades in New York City. She has served on
a number of local and national boards of non-profit institutions. She also served on President
Biden’s campaign Domestic Policy Committee (focusing on education).
In addition to writing award winning adult books (including Failure and Forgiveness (1996),
Breakaway Learners (2016) and Trauma Doesn’t Stop at the School Door (2020) , the latter
two of which join her most recent adult co-authored book titled Mending Education (2024) to
form a trilogy), she is the author of a children’s book series titled Lady Lucy’s Quest (soon to be
re-released) (several books of which are translated into Spanish.)
Her visual artwork, much of which is trauma-responsive, has been shown in online and brick and
mortar galleries and the Rockport MA Museum and appears in online magazines and catalogues
and hangs in various educational institutions across the US. Her artwork is varied in style and
representational images can be seen on her website. A frequently blogger and commentator on
issues of education and leadership, her work has appeared in the Evollution, Collegiate
Exchange, Newsweek, New England Journal of Higher Education, InsideHigherEd, the
Chronicle of Higher Ed, Age of Awareness (Medium), Forest of the Rain Productions and
Authentic Insider, among other publications. During the Pandemic, she conducted more than 50
podcasts on trauma’s impact on education. She has been cited in numerous articles including
Forbes, Parents, The Atlantic, ASCA, Romper, Forbes, and The New York Times.
For more information, visit her website at www.karengrosseducation.com.