Laura Alexander

Laura Alexander entered the ES Doctoral Program in the summer of 2001. She is currently employed as the Director of the Sports Center and Adjunct Faculty in the Community & Environmental Studies program at Colby-Sawyer College.

She received her MS in Environmental Studies at AUNE, and was particularly impressed with the institution's interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies, and the way that the entire faculty “embraces” each of the students.As part of a learning community, she feels a deep sense of connectedness to other students in the program, both in her cohort and others, and to each of the faculty as guides through the doctoral process. There is a real effort made to link people who are interested in similar interests with each other, whether they be students in other cohorts, the MS program, faculty, or alumni.

For her dissertation, Laura is interested in the social issues in the White Mountains and North country regions of New Hampshire as communities struggle with problems of balancing resource management, tourism, and recreation. She is particularly drawn to the transition away from timber as a primary regional industry and the resultant effect on people who live and work in the region.