Jennifer Karlson

Shani Robinson 
Senior Executive Assistant
Phone: +61 7 3346 3923
 

Areas of responsibility

As Vice-President, Advancement and Community Engagement (ACE), Ms Karlson is responsible for UQ’s social impact focused portfolio. This includes oversight of  philanthropic partnerships, The Queensland Commitment Program, global alumni engagement, community engagement and events, and relationship management systems and services.  ACE also serves as the steward of UQ Honorary Degree processes and UQ Naming policy and procedures. 

As a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s senior leadership group, she is the principal advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on Advancement and Community Engagement Strategy and holds a deep commitment to supporting and enabling these practices throughout our university.  

Biography

Jennifer Karlson joined The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2017 to lead the University’s first comprehensive philanthropic campaign – Not if, When, the Campaign to Create Change. The $500 million campaign was launched to inspire UQ’s 340,000+ global alumni community to create change by accelerating opportunity through philanthropy. One in 3 UQ alumni engaged with the University throughout the campaign, which closed at the end of 2020 with over $607 million in donations. 

Jen is the advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on strategy, external engagement and social impact initiatives.  She is currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the UQ Endowment Fund Board and The University of Queensland in America Foundation. Additionally, Jen chairs the Group of Eight (Go8) Advancement Committee. 

Her career history spans the US, West Africa and Asia Pacific, including roles with the American Red Cross and the YMCA. Prior to her time at UQ, she played a pivotal role in delivering the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s $4.2B All Ways Forward philanthropic campaign. 

In 2022, Jen led the establishment of The Queensland Commitment – The University of Queensland’s bold ambition to achieve equity in education by 2032. Aligned with the Australian Universities Accord, it aims to remove barriers to university education for underrepresented groups.  She firmly believes that social impact initiatives need to be systemic in their approach: they must be community-informed, evidenced-based and philanthropy-enabled, and built in partnership with industry, communities, and government.