Skip to Main Content LA FOLLETTE HOME UW Home UW Directory My UW

Robert M. La Follette
School of Public Affairs
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Telephone: 608.262.3581
Fax: 608.265.3233

Last updated:
March 28, 2012

Karen Faster

Publications Director

Office: 216 Observatory Hill Office Building
Phone: (608) 263-7657
Fax: (608) 265-3233
E-mail:

Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs
University of Wisconsin–Madison
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1211

As publications director, Karen Faster manages print and online news and publications for the La Follette School. She edits, designs and oversees printing and distribution of the La Follette Policy Report and La Follette Notes newsletter for alumni and friends of the school, both of which are published twice a year. She edits and distributes the e-mail version of La Follette Notes; coordinates the La Follette School Working Paper Series; writes, edits and updates the school’s web site; manages alumni relations; edits the workshop reports; and produces other print and online publications. An important part of her job is making sure the word "public" is not missing the "L."

Prior to joining the La Follette School of Public Affairs in September 2004, Faster taught journalism and public relations at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. She holds a 2003 doctorate in journalism and mass communication with a minor in print culture studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was a teaching assistant in journalism. She earlier worked as student publications manager at Madison Area Technical College, where she advised the award-winning student newspaper. She previously worked as a reporter or editor for the Wisconsin State Journal and the Capital Times in Madison; the Fargo, North Dakota, Forum; and the Marshall, Minnesota, Independent. She was a copy editor and writing coach for the Minnesota Daily at the University of Minnesota, where she earned her master’s degree in 1990. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Pacific Lutheran University in 1984.

Faster served on the board of directors for the Atwood Community Center (which became the Goodman Community Center in 2008) on Madison’s east side for most of the 1990s, including terms as president and secretary. She was president of the Daily Cardinal board of directors from 1997 to 2003. She was a member of a City of Madison neighborhood planning committee from 1997 to 2000 and served on the Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association council from 2002-2008. She joined the board of Options in Community Living in 2004 and became board president in September 2005.

Research
Faster’s research examines representations of racial and ethnic groups in newspaper coverage, public relations campaigns and public policy decision-making, with an emphasis on the Upper Midwest the mid-20th century. Minnesota History published her article “A Cross to Bear: The Minnesota Centennial Emblem Debate” in 2008. Her 1990 master’s thesis examines imagery in newspaper stories from 1906 and 1985-86 related to the White Earth Chippewa reservation in northwest Minnesota. Her 2003 dissertation examined newspaper coverage and cultural representations of racial and ethnic groups in Minneapolis from 1941-1971.