Dr. Laura Strong

1. What is your educational background and where have you worked previously?

I took a non-traditional route after high school by joining the

Army. I started out as an enlisted soldier--a veterinary

technician, and went to college part-time. I then got an

ROTC scholarship so I was let out of my enlisted obligation

early and received my Bachelor’s degree in Oklahoma at

Cameron University, in Secondary English. At that time, I

became a commissioned officer in the Medical Service Corps.

Eventually, I held many administrative and leadership

positions, including working in a dual role as a unit

administrator for the Army Reserves before resigning from

the Army after 12 years. In my heart, I still desired to teach.

At IUP, I went back to school to earn my Master’s in Teaching

English with certification. Later, I received a Doctorate in

Curriculum & Instruction. I taught in the Professional Studies

department at IUP from 2010-2020. This included courses in

Early Childhood, supervision of student teachers, masters in

education, masters in Literacy, some doctorate level

courses, and grant-funded opportunities with Fulbright

scholars. I loved working with International teachers from

around the globe! And now, this is the beginning of my third

year at the Rock! 

 

2. What attracted you to Slippery Rock University and the College of Education? 

I went through my doctoral program with Dr. Amodei, so

we’ve known each other since 2008. She mentioned to me

when there were some faculty needs in 2019 and it was just

the right moment in time for me to change directions.

Switching to SRU gave me something to look forward to, a

fresh start! Before then, I had several opportunities to come

up to SRU and serve on the panel for the Action Research

projects. It was always great to see the quality of teachers

emerging at the COE! 

 

3. What is your favorite course to teach? 

ELEC 285, Integrating Creative Expression Through the Arts.

My dissertation research focused on creativity in Higher Ed

and it’s been an interest for me all the way around, at every

grade level. 

 

4. What is your favorite aspect of working in Early Childhood Education? 

A second love of mine is student teaching supervision. I get

to go into early childhood classrooms and not only watch the

growth of my student teachers, but see the progress of all

those young learners. Especially in fall, when they’re starting

a brand new year, I particularly enjoy observing in

Kindergarten. They don’t have routines and rules that

they’re accustomed to yet, and then by the time I see my

student teacher at the end of a placement, all of those little

ones have come so far, too! 

Also, my background is in secondary English, and I am so

connected to language and language development. Early

childhood gives me insights into language early on as it is

really developing, and I’m able to observe progress and

collect data on where that is going to go in the future. 

 

5. What were you like as a college student? 

In one word: busy! I didn’t do college “traditionally”, and for

me it was about focusing on the mission, both in a military

way and in a driven, “get it done” kind of way. I did have fun

still, but I was very committed to the mission. One of the

reasons I joined the service was to earn money for college,

so I knew what I wanted and I was going for it! 

 

6. What do you know now that you wish you would have known as a college student? 

One of the biggest things that I wish I had known was that we

all learn differently and at our own pace. Even though I was

driven, I feel like I was comparing myself to others, and

there’s no use in that. As a young person, you still care a

little too much about what other people think. I was always

trying to explain or justify myself to others. When I was

getting my Master’s and my certification, I was in my 30s and

I began to relax more and realize that it’s not a race. We’re

all in this together!