About Laurie Hazard

Laurie L. Hazard is an award-winning expert who studies achievement motivation and the factors that contribute to success in a wide variety of domains, such as higher education and the workplace. She studies and writes about personality types and their influence on both educational and career experiences.

After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at the University of Rhode Island, she received her Master’s degree from Boston University in Counseling with a focus on exercise and sport psychology. While her early career was focused on athletic success, her education and career path have taken her down the road of developing expertise in the many different facets of success and achievement. In 1997, she received a Doctoral degree from Boston University in Curriculum and Teaching.

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Laurie’s most recent role in higher education was at Bryant University where she was the Assistant Dean for Student Success.  While in this role, she was responsible for the development of programs and curricula aimed at student success and retention.  Laurie has been designing curricula for first-year experience and study skills courses for over thirty years.  Her research is focused on personality types and those traits that influence success and achievement. She studies academic performance enhancement and the skills, habits, and dispositions that contribute to success and achievement for individuals and organizations. She has used her findings as a researcher and a practitioner. Not only can her work be applied to the college and university setting, but also to help individuals and organizations recognize and reach their potentials.

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Laurie is an accomplished writer, speaker, and author. Laurie is co-author of the book Foundations for Learning, 3nd Edition (2012, Prentice Hall), which is designed to help students make a successful transition to college by encouraging them to take responsibility for and claim their own education. Hazard’s textbook has been adopted by colleges and universities around the country, including Boston University, University of Nevada, and Texas A&M. Richard J. Light, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at Harvard University, calls Hazard’s book “a winner for any college student” that is a “beautifully written joy to read.”  Additional publications by Laurie and her co-author include: Exploring the Evidence, Volume III: Reporting Outcomes of First-Year Seminars, a monograph published by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and “What Does It Mean to be ‘College-Ready’?”, an article which appears in Connection: The Journal of the New England Board of Higher Education.

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Laurie was selected by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition as a top ten Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate. She also received the Learning Assistance Association of New England’s Outstanding Research and Publication Award in 2006 and the Learning Assistance Association of New England’s Outstanding Service to Developmental Students Award in October of 2010. Laurie was also awarded the College Reading and Learning Association’s Northeast’s Outstanding Service to the Field of Developmental Education in 2013. In 2018, her research and work focused on parents of college students was recognized at the Association of Higher Education Parent and Family Program Professions (AHEPPP) where Bryant University was presented with an award for the Best Institutional Initiative.

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Laurie’s expertise has garnered national media attention. She has been interviewed by the Associated Press and has been cited as an expert in publications including Seventeen Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Times Picayune, The San Diego Tribune, and Student Affairs Leader.  Laurie has also been a guest columnist for the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet: A School Survival Guide for Parents (And Everyone Else). Her articles offer concrete advice for parents of new college students: “How to Help Your Child Adapt to College Life,” and “Parents Should Leave their Kids Alone at College.” Most recently, Laurie L. Hazard, Ed.D. co-authored a book with Stephanie Carter, M.A.: Your Freshman is Off To College: A Month-By-Month Guide to the First-Year. Laurie and Stephanie’s latest project is creating the Off To Series, a collection of books exploring the many facets of the college experience, from acceptance to graduation and beyond. The next book in their series, aimed at students, is Off to College: A Month-By-Month Guide to the First-Year.

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Laurie lives in Warwick, RI with her children Grace and Jack.