Sister Karen Bland, OSB papers

Sister Karen Bland, OSB, a native Chicagoan, comes from a family of seven siblings. She attendes Saint George Grammar School at 39th and Wentworth. In 1955, She entered the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago after graduating from Saint Scholastica High School. Sister Karen has a background of multiculturalism; she holds doctoral and masters degrees in the fields of education, applied theology, and modern languages.

Prior to 1967, Sister Karen Bland taught grades 1 through 8 in Chicago, as well as in Salida and Pueblo, Colorado. She then taught Spanish at Saint Scholastica High School in Chicago until 1970 when she went to Saint Scholastica Academy in Canon City, Colorado where she served as principal until 1989. During summers in Colorado, Sister Karen directed Camp Benito, coordinated the Elderhostel, and helped build the ecology station at Poverty Gultch. Sister Karen served as associate academic dean at Wheeling Jesuit College in Wheeling West Virginia from 1989 to 1995, when her Sisters elected her as prioress, a position she held until 1999. After her term as prioress, Sister Karen became the executive director of Grand Valley Catholic Outreach in Grand Junction, Colorado, where she dedicated herself to coordinating services for people in need of housing, including overseeing the construction of three apartment buildings.

Sister Karen Bland, OSB is the recipient of many awards and appointments to boards. She is a teacher, a housing provider, a seamstress, creative cook, mountain hiker and skier.