Dr. Karen S. Febey

Class of 1992
Career Pathway: Human Services

While at GHS, Karen Sue Febey was a member of the National Honor Society, concert and jazz bands and ski team.

In 1996, Karen completed a B.A. degree in Norwegian and political science from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. While at St. Olaf, she played trombone in one of the bands, was on the varsity downhill ski team and was involved in Habitat for Humanity. After finishing her bachelor's degree, Karen received a one-year fellowship to study economics at the University of Oslo in Norway. She then worked at a Japanese public high school as an assistant language teacher for two years.

After teaching in Japan, Karen earned a master's degree in public policy from the Humphrey School for Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in 2002, and, in 2005, she completed her Ph.D. in evaluation studies, also at the University of Minnesota. In her dissertation, she examined teachers' professional relationships in small learning communities in high schools. Dr. Febey has published numerous articles in educational policy journals and has presented her research at national conferences.

Dr. Febey currently works as a policy analyst for the Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C. She has worked on evaluations of programs ranging from No Child Left Behind to environmental reporting to the fence that is being built on the U.S./Mexico border.

She says she still has Grayling in her blood!