KAREN L. RANCOURT, Ph.D., has enjoyed a rich and varied professional life. As a graduate of Boston University, she began her career in education as an elementary school teacher. After five years, she began teaching on the college level. Her courses were in human behavior, psychology, and child development, and led her to develop a research-based, practical, and theoretical basis for understanding how children and adults grow, develop, socialize, and build relationships.
When the Navy assigned her husband to teach at the United States Naval Academy, she took advantage of his posting to earn her Ph.D. in early childhood education and human behavior at the University of Maryland.
Karen then moved into management consulting, specializing in organizational development. In this role, she worked with executives and their organizations in numerous Fortune 100 corporations helping them with change management issues. Her clients included JPMorgan Chase & Co., International Business Machines (IBM), TIAA, Pfizer, Viacom, Inc., and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).
For several years she was also an adjunct associate professor at New York University, focusing on Social Sciences, Organizational Behavior and Communication. Segueing into career and life coaching, Karen helped hundreds of clients gain insight about what was professionally right for them and to make decisions and changes that supported their professional aspirations and personal life requirements.
In doing so, she used a variety of coaching techniques and strategies, as well as various assessment tools for which she is licensed to administer. These include Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®), a personality inventory, and the Neethling Brain Instruments (NBI™), used to assess thinking preferences.
Author and Educator
Dr. Karen L. Rancourt is the author of six books focused on relationships, parenting, and professional effectiveness. Her most recent work, It’s All About Relationships! New Ways to Make Them Healthy and Fulfilling, at Home and at Work (2019), offers practical guidance for strengthening personal and workplace relationships.
Karen is also known for her Ask Dr. Gramma Karen series, which provides thoughtful, experience-based advice for navigating parent and grandparent dynamics, including Helping Young Parents and Grandparents Deal with Thorny Issues (2013) and Volume II: Savvy Advice to Soothe Parent-Grandparent Conflicts (2015).
Her writing career began with Yeah But, Children Need… (1978), a foundational parenting book addressing common concerns about children’s development. She later expanded her focus to the workplace with The Empowered Professional: How to Be Successful in the 1990s (1990) and Empowered Professionals: Making a Difference (1992), both of which emphasize productivity, leadership, and meaningful professional impact.
Across her work, Karen combines research, practical insight, and compassion to help individuals build healthier relationships and more effective lives.
A Columnist
Dr. Rancourt’s column, “Ask Dr. Gramma Karen,” provides advice for parents, grandparents, and grandchildren who are dealing with intergenerational issues. Beginning 10 years ago, her column continues to be hosted by GRAND Magazine, a resource for grandparents who are committed to “Living the Ageless Life.”
For ten years, until 2021, when it was acquired by another media company, Karen’s column was also hosted by Mommybites, then a national online resource providing parents with education, information, and support.
To date she has written over 450 columns. Click here for a list of her most widely-read columns.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE COLUMN
In September 2011, Karen L. Rancourt, Ph.D., began writing Ask Dr. Gramma Karen: An Advice Column for Young Parents and Grandparents at Mommybites.com and later for GRAND Magazine. Dr. Rancourt’s varied and relevant professional endeavors, in combination with her roles as a wife, mother, and grandmother, provided her with the skills, experience, and expertise that have made her the highly regarded advice-giver she is today.
The format for the Ask Dr. Gramma Karen columns came about from one of Karen’s favorite childhood memories. She and her four siblings would compete over who was going to be the first to read the Dear Abby advice column when the morning and evening newspapers arrived at their front door. Sometimes alone, and sometimes together, she and her siblings would read each problem, try to guess what advice Abby would give, and then read what the actual advice was. As a young reader, and even now, this Dear Abby format struck Karen as being interesting, challenging, and educational. She decided to use a similar format for Ask Dr. Gramma Karen.
All the intergenerational situations she addresses are from real people trying to deal with real issues. Gramma Karen never tells people what to do, but rather, she presents a range of options and alternatives with the pros and cons of each. This leaves it to the person involved to decide the option best suited for his/her personality and circumstances. Readers say that she also helps them become “unstuck” by presenting a few suggestions readers had not considered, thus enabling them to see a situation through the eyes of others involved.
A hallmark of the advice she gives is that she brings in relevant and current research, thus giving depth and breadth to the issues being discussed.
Life at Home
Karen and her husband share their time between Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the Jersey Shore, where, to the astonishment of many, they live with their daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons — yes, in the same house, and happily so.
On a personal note, one of Karen’s greatest sources of joy is being called “Gramma Karen” by scores of children and adults alike.
Karen’s family (from left to right) grandson Christopher, son-in-law Jordan, Karen, husband Gary, grandson Nicholas, daughter Heather. 
Grandsons, great nieces and nephews and friends making desserts together. 
Karen and Gary getting ready to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. 
The younger generation (from left to right) cousin Ashley Morik, grandson Christopher, cousin Andrew, grandson Nicholas, cousin Aidan. 
Karen’s Co-Grandparenting Team: (left to right) Herb “Papa” Ouida (now deceased), Andrea “Grandma” Ouida, Helen “Yiayia” Morik, Karen “Gramma Karen” Rancourt, Gary “Peps” Rancourt. My husband and I have had the good fortune to be on a co-grandparenting team with people who became cherished friends. In fact, we often spent time together that did not include the young parents or the grandchildren. For example, we dined together, we attended shows together, and we vacationed together.
Karen L. Rancourt 