Karen King

Karen King

Commissioner of Public Advocacy for Erie County and the Executive Director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women

Karen King Ph.D. is the Commissioner of Public Advocacy for Erie County and the Executive Director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women. The Commission works to provide resources to the women and girls of Erie County, to ensure that they participate fully in matters that have an impact on their lives and toward the elimination of all gender based discrimination and the promotion of women’s economic, societal and political empowerment.


Dr. King has served as an adjunct graduate faculty member at Buffalo State College and in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo.  Additionally, she has developed and taught courses and conducted numerous workshops on popular media culture, social justice advocacy and anti-racist feminist theory. 


She has served on the New York State Council for Women and Girls, the Executive Committee of the University at Buffalo Gender Institute, The Family Justice Center of Erie County, and currently serves on the boards of the YWCA of WNY, the Erie County Minority, Women Business Enterprise Utilization Advisory Board and PowHer NY.