Staff: Karen Kus

It’s been nearly 24 years since Karen Kus hopped on a plane in Boston to come to East Carolina University. She still vividly recalls a woman on that flight asking if someone was picking her up at the airport.

“I was like, ‘No, I’m just going to get a cab,’” Kus said. “And she goes, “Oh, it’s a little different there.’”

Different maybe, but for Kus, it’s home.

Kus works as the executive director of the Center for Student Success in the College of Business. She relishes her role and the opportunities to work with students.

“You’re helping students figure things out,” she said. “Working with students is rewarding because you can help them succeed. Students today face many challenges, but you give them support and get them ready for the next step. The center serves as the primary support service for students, and I’m all about helping students.”

She said her coworkers in the College of Business go out of their way to help students.

“The team is amazing,” Kus said “It’s a very diverse group, and we all work together so well. The entire team does whatever it takes to help students succeed.”

Students need to do their parts by taking advantage of available resources, she said, and that starts with the faculty.

“If that first test doesn’t go well, go and talk to your faculty member,” Kus said. “They’re in the best position to help you. You may not want to go in because you’re embarrassed, but guess what? They already know you failed the test, so you need to meet with them to figure out what happened and how to improve moving forward.”

She encourages students to work hard, engage with faculty and advisors, and get involved on campus. That can lead to success.

“In the College of Business, we build leaders who inspire, innovate, create and positively impact society,” Kus said. “As a college we focus on seven leadership capabilities known as ‘The Leadership Seven’ — integrity, communication, empathy, courage, competence, growth and vision. These principles are incorporated in our curriculum and our co-curricular activities. We want students to build these critical competencies and be successful.”

As such, students engage in community activities, such as picking up trash through the Adopt a Street program and packaging food for the hungry through Beast Philanthropy.

“We can all get caught up in our day-to-day lives,” said Kus, who goes with students to participate. “It just helps put life back in perspective.”

Kus serves as a key organizer of the college’s annual Business Leadership Conference, in which alumni play an important role as speakers and presenters.

“The goal is to give students a professional conference experience and for them to learn from leaders in industry,” Kus said. “We have a keynote speaker. There are concurrent work sessions, a networking reception, and they have the opportunity to have professional headshots taken. … and network with successful business leaders and learn from their experiences.”

Kus puts an emphasis on activities beyond the classroom, providing opportunities for students to support their community through packaging food for the hungry through MrBeast.

She said students in the College of Business have opportunities beyond the classroom to serve the community. She frequently goes with student groups to package meals for the hungry through Beast Philanthropy.

“We can all get caught up in our day-to-day lives,” Kus said. “It just helps put life back in perspective.”

As executive director of the Center for Student Success in ECU’s College of Business, Karen Kus tells students to work hard, engage in campus activities and take advantage of available resources.

Kus grew up in Ohio, earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and began work as a child abuse investigator. However, she never forgot her college transition course at Bowling Green State University and how she might like a career in higher education. So, she went back to school, got a master’s in college student personnel and found ECU.

She’s married with two children, both of whom graduated from ECU and continue to live in the Greenville area. She received the Centennial Award for Excellence in Service last year and will be inducted into the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi later this spring.