Karl Eugen Guthe (5 March 1866 – 10 September 1915) was a German-born American academic and physicist, notable for being the first Dean of the Graduate Department at the University of Michigan.

Guthe immigrated to the United States in the summer of 1892 to marry Clara Belle Ware (1867-1947), from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In 1893 Guthe obtained a position as instructor in physics at the University of Michigan, and in 1900 was promoted to assistant professor.

He was a member of the Jury of Awards at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 and was vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1908.

In 1909 the University of Michigan solicited Guthe to return as a full Professor in the Physics Department, and he moved back to Ann Arbor with his young family.