Karna Walter, PhD

Dr. Walter leads the Student Engagement Team in their efforts to provide support for Honors students in multiple ways, particularly focusing on internal and external scholarships, research and professional development.

During her career in Honors, Dr. Walter has had a hand in building and developing a variety of initiatives to enhance the undergraduate Honors experience. She oversees efforts to support and engage scholar groups in the Honors College, including the new W.A. Franke Scholars, and she and her team work to connect all Honors students with the range of funding opportunities available to support research, professional development, study abroad, and the like.  

She also directs the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships, which supports students who are well-suited to apply for awards like the Fulbright, Goldwater, Churchill, Truman, and Rhodes. She and her team collaborate with campus colleagues to ensure the right students receive the right information and support at the right time to compete for these awards.

Dr. Walter is eager to engage students in thinking critically about the biggest challenges of our time, challenges requiring an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach. To that end, she created and oversees the Big Ideas, Grand Challenges Series, featuring panels of experts around challenging topics.

Dr. Walter enjoys teaching and regularly teaches one-credit seminars on the topic of Human Trafficking, as well as a seminar focused on the Big Ideas Series.

After earning a B.A. in English from Calvin College, Dr. Walter came to the University of Arizona to pursue a Ph.D. in Higher Education. If you spend any time with Dr. Walter, you will likely learn a few key things: she is a proud Iowa native, and she is a diehard sports enthusiast and reader who, like Ted Lasso, endeavors to be curious about the world rather than judgmental.