Laura Colson, Ed.D. serves as vice president for Academic Affairs and Student Experience at Bennett College. As the chief academic officer, Dr. Colson provides academic vision and strategic planning that foster active, engaged, and distinctive learning experiences for women of color who aspire to leadership in their fields, social justice, civil rights, and social mobility.
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She charges herself with building alliances with external partners that foster student academic success outcomes, and enhance the student experience with internships, experiential programs, and student employment. As a result of almost 20 years of experience in higher education, she was selected as a cohort member of the 2020 American Association of State Colleges and Universities' (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI), created to help prepare traditionally underrepresented groups for university and college presidencies and chancellorships. During the 2021-2022 academic year she was selected as the subject matter expert for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) Equity Summit, providing input to guide the selection of topics to organize the conference tracks for the virtual event and recruitment of presenters. Most recently, she was selected to participate in Greensboro Chamber’s Leadership Greensboro Class of 2023 and serve on the inaugural Women’s Business Center of Greensboro’s Advisory Council. An entrepreneur, life coach, and author of Restore the Joy: A Transformation Through Confirmation. Laura has been recognized in Who’s Who in Black Charlotte (2017), and by Pride Magazine as one of the “2016 Women to Watch in Education”. Her most honorable role and accomplishment is as a mother to three beautiful children—Dominic, Morgan, and Mason.