Dr. Karen K. Petersen was elected the 13th President of Hendrix College by the Hendrix College Board of Trustees in January 2023. She took office on June 1, 2023, following the retirement of President Emeritus W. Ellis Arnold ’79. She is the second woman
to lead Hendrix as President, following Dr. Ann H. Die Hasselmo, who served from 1992 to 2001.
A native of northwest Arkansas, Petersen was selected following a comprehensive national search process involving Hendrix alumni, Board of Trustees members, faculty, staff, and students. She joins the Hendrix community from the University of Tulsa in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was a professor of political science and Dean of the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences.
Before joining the University of Tulsa, Petersen served 16 years at her undergraduate alma mater Middle Tennessee State University, a large regional comprehensive university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In addition to being a faculty member, she served
in three progressively responsible leadership roles culminating with her tenure as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the largest academic unit.
Petersen earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University. She and her husband, Joey Keasler, a northeast Arkansas native, are parents of two children, including a student-athlete at a residential liberal arts college.