Dr. Karen Grant is Columbia International University's 2022 SCICU Excellence In Teaching award winner. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in leadership from Columbia International University, an M.A. in ministry from Moody Bible Institute, an M.A. in education (school counseling) from California State University-Stanislaus, and a B.A. in recreation administration from California State University-Chico. 

Dr. Grant joined the CIU faculty in 2001 and teaches in the Youth Ministry, Family, and Culture department. Her course load spanning more than two decades includes courses on ministry programming and administration, camp and retreat management, cross-cultural ministry, and youth and family ministry. 

Before joining CIU, Dr. Grant served as the director of student activities at California State University-Stanislaus. She then accepted the call to serve full-time in youth ministry in Rockford, Illinois.

As a licensed minister, Dr. Grant serves as a youth pastor and college ministry director at Temple Zion Baptist Church in Columbia. She also serves as vice chair on the board of Bethel Christian Camp in Lexington County. Dr Grant's international ministry includes mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Honduras and youth ministries in South Africa, Kenya, and the Philippines. 

Dr. Grant has a passion for mentoring college students and training the next generation of youth workers. She visits her student interns, regularly has lunch with her students on campus, and has them over to her home for cookouts.