Laura (she/her) is a career educator specializing in STEM and the high school to university transition. She is excited to bring Shad to Saint Mary’s campus for the first time in 2025.

Laura grew up in Toronto before email and the internet existed. She earned her Honours B.Sc. in Physics and her B.Ed. through the Concurrent Education program at Queen’s University. Laura then moved to Halifax and has lived there ever since, except for a one-year stint in Calgary in 2007-2008.

The first eleven years of her career were spent as a high school teacher, mostly teaching physics, science, and math, with some French Immersion and co-op education sprinkled in. Laura earned her M.Ed. in 2006. Her career later took her to Saint Mary’s, where she has taught physics since 2012. Laura decided to pursue a Ph.D. in education, specifically about undergraduate physics and how the culture of a department contributes to student experiences and student persistence. She defended her doctoral thesis in 2022 and has continued to teach and contribute to a supportive culture in STEM and across campus.

In her personal life, Laura has the world’s greatest husband and two wonderful teenaged children: one studying Math at the University of Waterloo, and one in grade 12. Laura’s daughter attended Shad Laurier in 2023 and has shared a lot about this amazing program. Laura’s hobbies include walking her dog, playing Wordle and Connections, doing the New York Times crossword, and doing yoga. After a long history of volunteering, she has paused most of her volunteer work while getting Shad SMU up and running.

Laura is most excited to meet the SMU Shads, to learn about them and introduce them to the Saint Mary’s community, to Halifax, and to the Maritimes.