Before her academic career began, Eastwood served with the Peace Corps in Micronesia, a region of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean, after graduating from Macalester College in Minnesota, according to her faculty profile. Eastwood was also a social worker for the government of Guam, worked for the U.S. government in the Trust Territory of the Pacific and was the director of purchasing and materials for U.S. companies in consumer electronics and computer systems, her faculty profile states.
Obituary for Micronesia RPCV Karen Eastwood
Karen Eastwood, 65, professor, founding member of Lutgert College of Business
News editor
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Updated: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 10:01
On Thanksgiving Day, FGCU lost founding faculty member Karen Eastwood, 65, to cancer. According to the Niagara Falls, N.Y., Gazette, Eastwood died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at her home.
Eastwood was a professor of management in the Lutgert College of Business and a founding member of the College of Business. She taught in the executive MBA, the MBA and the undergraduate programs at FGCU, according to her faculty profile.
"(Eastwood) was highly regarded by Dean Richard Pegnetter and her colleagues for her many contributions to the creation of the college," FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw said in an email.
A memorial service was held Dec. 11 at the Church of the Cross Worship Center.
Eastwood served on numerous committees and was the faculty adviser for the Graduate Business Association, according to her faculty profile.
She received her Ph.D. in industrial psychology from the University of Utah, according to the Niagara Gazette. Before coming to FGCU, Eastwood was an associate professor of management at Niagara University in New York.
Eastwood was particularly interested in teaching international management, according to her faculty profile.
"The world is so interrelated that I want my students to appreciate and value their own worth and uniqueness, along with an understanding of those cultures and those individuals that are different," Eastwood said in her faculty profile.
Before her academic career began, Eastwood served with the Peace Corps in Micronesia, a region of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean, after graduating from Macalester College in Minnesota, according to her faculty profile.
Eastwood was also a social worker for the government of Guam, worked for the U.S. government in the Trust Territory of the Pacific and was the director of purchasing and materials for U.S. companies in consumer electronics and computer systems, her faculty profile states.
Eastwood had three sons and "will be remembered as a devoted and caring mother, for her commitment to education and her sense of adventure," said her obituary in the Niagara Gazette.
"I believe that students learn in an environment that encourages them to actively participate in their own education," Eastwood said in her faculty profile.
"We can do this by developing a climate that supports risk-taking, encourages two-way communication and promotes interaction between the student and their professor and among the students in the class."
Bradshaw considered Eastwood to be a "remarkable woman who touched many lives at FGCU and beyond," and many lives may have been touched because of the satisfaction teaching gave Eastwood.
"When I can get (my students) to see the value of managing effectively and to feel the excitement of being part of a dynamic global village, then I experience great satisfaction," Eastwood said in her faculty profile.
