Carolyn Krulee

Alumni Service Awards, 2013

MSED, School of Education and Social Policy, 1969

Carolyn Krulee originally wanted to study ministry in college. She wasn’t interested in sermons so much, but she knew she wanted to work with people. After receiving an undergraduate degree in religion at Mount Holyoke College, Carolyn came to Northwestern to earn her master’s degree in counseling.

And through volunteer service to Northwestern, she found her ideal calling.

“I ended up doing what I wanted to do,” she says. “Isn’t that neat?”

Carolyn has been director at large, student committee member, and membership committee co-chair of the Northwestern Alumni Association. She has also served as vice president, recording secretary, and a chair of committees for gifts and grants, continuing education, curriculum, long-range planning, fellowships, and academic enrichment for the The Alumnae of Northwestern University.

Through University Circle — an organization promoting fellowship and friendship among the women of Northwestern — she has served as vice president for programming and a member of the planning committee for the Circle Big Ten Conference. She has also been a faculty associate at Slivka Residential College, a member of the University Wellness Committee and the Northwestern Community Coalition, and a member of the Alice Millar Chapel pastoral care committee.

Carolyn says she enjoys keeping busy, feeling challenged, and meeting people. “My kids ask, ‘Do you know how to say no?’” she says. “Sometimes, no.”

At the Northwestern Settlement House, Carolyn has been a board member, president, and vice president for the social service organization’s Evanston Woman’s Board. She has also developed a volunteer program for the Child Care Center of Evanston, been a reading tutor, and developed a program about self-esteem, bullying, and conflict resolution at Lincoln Elementary School in Evanston. “I loved working with the kids,” Carolyn says. “They have such free and open minds. They made me feel like a kid again.” While she earned her master’s degree at Northwestern, Carolyn worked full-time while raising a daughter. She also found time to develop programs that promoted education.

When she was secretary to the assistant dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Carolyn noticed only a few women were studying engineering. So she formed a task force to improve the atmosphere and interviewed female students to gather their thoughts about science. She also developed a course that introduced junior high and high school students to computers and helped design an engineering program — now known as EXCEL — for students committed to diversity issues who are preparing to enter their freshman year at McCormick. Carolyn has also worked to develop science courses for the continuing education program.

“A lot of people work behind the scenes — that’s me,” she says. “I’ve had some leadership positions, but I don’t mind being behind the scenes.”

Carolyn has three adult children, and she lives in Evanston with her husband, Gilbert.