Laura is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the Program in General Education and the College’s divisional distribution and Quantitative Reasoning with Data requirements. She leads a team committed to creating transformative learning experiences and ensuring that students are well advised about College requirements. She brings to this position a deep understanding of effective pedagogy and expertise in faculty and graduate student professional development, as well as experience as a faculty member.
Laura came to Harvard in 2014, serving initially as the Associate Director of the Program in General Education. She stepped in to serve as Acting Director in Fall 2018 and was appointed Director in Summer 2019. She has been a member of the Board of First Year Advisors for the past decade.
Before coming to Harvard, she served as the Associate Director for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Brown University’s Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning for many years, and was an Assistant Professor in Brown’s East Asian Studies department, where she coordinated the Chinese Language Program. Prior to that, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at St. Olaf College for two years. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of Washington, and her B.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale University.
Outside of work, Laura enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and exploring new hiking trails, reading novels and watching movies, trying new recipes and working on her new hobby of quilting. She is always happy to have a good cup of green tea (or red wine) and a little dark chocolate.