Associate Professor Karen Nelson is the Director, First Year Experience at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Australia. She has led several teaching and learning projects at QUT and is currently the co-leader of the three-year “Transitions-In” teaching and learning development project. Her research interests focus on student engagement, the first year experience and institutional responses to these, in particular intra-institutional practice partnerships. Karen entered academic life in 2002 following a successful career as an IT project manager and consultant and since then has received several QUT T&L awards. In 2007 she was awarded ALTC citation for curriculum design. Karen’s work as Director has three foci: curriculum design, institutional student support partnerships and staff development.
