She was president of Western Washington University from 1993 until 2008, and was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor in 2014.
[3] In 2014, Morse was named the Bowman Distinguished Professor at Western Washington University.
She also worked on borohydrides,[9][10] phosphite,[11] metal-phosphorus compounds,[12][13] aryl phosphines[14] Morse also led the professional training committee at the American Chemical Society where she expanded on options for recognizing educators who teach chemistry at the undergraduate and high school level.
[17] In 1997 she received the Garvan–Olin Medal for scientific accomplishments by a woman chemist from the American Chemical Society.
[18] In 2012 Western Washington University named the chemistry building the Karen W. Morse Hall in recognition of her.