Karen Kangas-Preston
(She/Her)
kangaspr@msu.edu
(517) 884-7786
Auditorium 42B
FacultyTheatre
Senior Academic Specialist
MFA Design Program Director; Costume Design
Biography
Karen Kangas-Preston is a Senior Academic Specialist—Teaching with extensive experience in costume design, construction, and stage makeup. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design from Illinois State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design and Technology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In addition to teaching all costume-related courses, she serves as the MFA Design Program Director and has been leading the successful Theatre in London/Exploring British Theatre program since 2008.
Karen has developed several courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Areas of specialization include costume design and production, global costume history, drawing and painting techniques, and stage makeup. Additional coursework in British theatre history, dramatic literature, theories of acting, voice and movement, and period styles have been taught as part of the London education abroad program.
Her designs have been seen at Williamston Theatre (A Very Williamston Christmas, Maytag Virgin, On the Market, Mrs. Harrison, Silent Sky, Our Lady of Poison, and Decade Dance), Meadow Brook Theatre (Ella: First Lady of Song, Noises Off, Little Shop of Horrors, Fancy a Country Jukebox Musical, The Marvelous Wonderettes, Stick Fly, and Mom’s Gift), Tipping Point Theatre (A Very Northville Christmas, Tracy Jones, and Smell of the Kill); Summer Circle Theatre (Fallen Angels, Mr. Burns a Post-Electric Play, and The Drunken City), and MSU’s Department of Theatre (UrineTown, Oklahoma!, Cyrano De Bergerac, and Stage Door). Additionally, her work has been exhibited at several national conferences.
Karen is a 2019 recipient of the MSU Distinguished Academic Staff Award, a 2018 recipient of the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Fixed-term & Academic Specialist Excellence in Leadership Award, and a 2021 recipient of the International Studies & Programs Outstanding Service to Education Abroad Award. She has served on the Academic Specialist Advisory Committee and the CAL Taskforce for Non-tenure Track Pathways where the team’s project on Reimagining Non-tenure Stream Faculty and Academic Staff Evaluation & Career Pathways at MSU was chosen as part of the Provost’s Academic Strategic Plan and won the 2024 Delphi Award for its dedicated work to include non-tenure-track faculty as full partners through its Charting Pathways of Intellectual Leadership (CPIL) initiative.
Awards and Honors
Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation Fellow
MSU
2023-24
The Adams Academy is named in honor of former MSU President Walter Adams and his wife and MSU faculty member emerita, Pauline Adams, in recognition of their sustained commitments to promoting instructional excellence.
Outstanding Service to Education Abroad Award;
MSU International Studies & Programs
2021
The MSU Award for Outstanding Service to Education Abroad recognizes MSU faculty members and academic staff who give their time, energy, and creativity to the development and implementation of education abroad programs that support MSU’s commitment to providing students with high quality international education opportunities.
Distinguished Academic Staff Award
MSU Office of the Provost
2019
The Distinguished Academic Staff Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of those professionals who serve the University in advising, curriculum development, outreach, extension, research, and teaching.
Fixed-term and Academic Specialist Excellence in Leadership Award
MSU College of Arts and Letters
2018
This award recognizes and rewards fixed-term faculty and academic specialists in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University who demonstrate leadership excellence. Leadership excellence is exhibited by those who through the performance of their assigned duties enhance the programmatic excellence of their college unit as a whole. These fixed-term faculty and academic specialists make a substantive impact in their area and often mark the difference between a good program and an excellent one. Award winners provide the hard work and leadership that fosters excellence, encourages others on their own path to intellectual leadership, and enhances diversity across the College of Arts and Letters.
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