Karen Rodgers Matthews is from Corpus Christi and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design from the School of Home Economics in 1968 from The University of Texas at Austin. She began her career at Foley's in Houston, Texas and later formed her own company. A career highlight was having her work featured on the cover and inside Better Homes and Garden magazine. 

Karen's activities at the University include memberships in the President's Associates, the Chancellor's Council, the Longhorn Foundation, the Forty Acres Society and the Texas Exes. She has been a member of the School of Human Ecology Advisory Council since 1998 and has served as Secretary, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Council.

Karen's current civic involvements include the Children's Medical Foundation Board in Dallas, the MD Anderson Board of Visitors, Texas Women for the Arts and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Karen and her husband Charles have funded scholarships in Nutrition, Athletics and the McCombs Business School through Forty Acres Scholarships. They have two sons and two daughters-in-law who are all graduates of the University of Texas and five grandchildren, the oldest of whom is currently a sophomore at the University.