To: Wellesley Community
From: President Paula Johnson
Re: Introducing Karen Petrulakis, Wellesley’s first General Counsel
Date: May 22, 2017

I am delighted to announce that Wellesley has selected Karen Jensen Petrulakis as the College’s first General Counsel. Karen will serve as our principal legal officer, with overall responsibility for the vision and leadership of the College’s legal strategy. She will provide legal advice and counsel to me, the Board of Trustees, and other community members on significant matters affecting the College and will also be a strategic partner to the Senior Leadership team. She will develop recommendations for how best to execute legal services at Wellesley to provide strong, ongoing support for academic initiatives and programs while minimizing institutional risk.

Karen is exceptionally well qualified to serve Wellesley in this vital position. For the past six years, she has filled progressively more responsible roles with the Regents of the University of California, previously as deputy general counsel and currently as chief deputy general counsel. Karen’s work at the University of California’s Office of General Counsel centers on advancing the University’s mission of teaching, research, and public service, and supporting the University’s strategic initiatives through skilled advice, vigorous advocacy, and proactive counsel in a wide variety of specialized practice areas.

Prior to her work with the Regents of the University of California, Karen was a partner at Folger Levin & Kahn LLP and Crowell & Moring LLP. At Crowell & Moring, Karen held a leadership role with the firm’s University Practice Team. She has a B.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Wellesley selected Karen after conducting a national search that yielded a pool of highly talented and qualified candidates. I’d like to thank the search committee members, who were instrumental in bringing Karen to Wellesley: Carol Bate, Debora de Hoyos, Elizabeth Gildersleeve, Steve Kidder, Debby Kuenstner, Piper Orton, Ravi Ravishanker, Andy Shennan, Carolyn Slaboden, and Akila Weerapana.

With her husband and two daughters, Karen will be relocating to this area over the coming months and will take on her new role in August. Please join me in welcoming Karen and her family to our community.