Laura Cooper, MS Candidate

Organizational Leadership and Management
Department of Organization & Management

Opening Doors for the Disadvantaged

Laura Cooper, MS Candidate For a talented young woman with a degree in broadcast journalism, Laura Cooper's career shot out of the starting gate. She proved her worth as a news producer for television stations, taking foreign assignments, and eventually calling the shots for NBC News as its bureau chief in Moscow. Now she's back in Washington, D.C. and, thanks to the weekend sessions in the Organization & Management Department, Laura's in the final stages of earning her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Management.

“Commuting to Keene has been entirely manageable,” Laura says of a routine made easier by affordable, direct flights between Baltimore and Manchester. Looking for a new adventure, she has set her sights on eventually living in New Hampshire and focusing her work on rural women's development.

Disadvantaged Women Find a Friend in Cooper

Laura returned to the U.S. eight years ago after ten years abroad and fifteen years in the rough-and-tumble of network news and international public relations. She directed her media skills toward helping women in developing countries. Now, she designs programs that teach journalists how to cover women's issues and manages communications projects aimed toward helping women climb out of poverty, improve their health, protect their families, care for their children and prepare for a sustainable future.

But Laura found surprising and disturbing situations for women right here in the U.S. “I look at the development tools we're using abroad and ask why we don't use them here. We don't do much to let women know what resources are available. There are services for women in crisis, but very few for women not in crisis,” she says, adding that women in rural America often struggle with health and welfare as desperately as women in some developing countries.

When offering assistance overseas, Laura says, “the big term in Washington is 'behavior change'-changing the way people live as far as better health and living conditions.” She points out that many Americans and policy-makers in Washington and San Francisco operate under the assumption that rural women are not changing their behavior in spite of having abundant media resources - and that assumption is false.

False Assumptions

“I was at a seminar recently where a guy from Google said that internet penetration is much better than statistics show because people find a way to get internet access. He said they go to internet cafes. Well, that sounds really sexy, but I haven't seen it to be true. In rural places internet cafes are rare, usually it's the public library, and there's a queue to use the computer,” Laura says.

To address this problem, Laura has oriented her practicum research toward development services offered to women in rural New England. “I'm surprised at how much I enjoy research, because I feel like there's such a practical application for it. Even though people told me I would need a master's degree to do the work I wanted to do, I resisted because I've always seen myself as a hands-on, doer type. Education seemed okay for people in their 20s, but not for those of us in our 40s and 50s. I didn't know it could be so useful.”

"People like me were talking about reinventing their lives and doing meaningful work, about how they want to make a difference and make a living, too."

When life circumstances allowed Laura to investigate master's programs, she attended a visiting day at Antioch University New England and found like minds. “People like me were talking about reinventing their lives and doing meaningful work, about how they want to make a difference and make a living, too. Once classes started, I saw fellow students in various stages of life, some in their 20s, others older than me, but all driven to put a piece of learning into their lives that will move them in a slightly different direction or elevate the thinking they have,” Laura says.

Born in Turkey to American parents in the military, Laura knows how to learn from exploration. But she is surprised at how academic research opens doors. “It's been a revelation to me,” she says. “People invite me in because I'm trying to learn and exploring.” She sees a domino-effect in this process and hopes the doors that open to her will help her open doors for rural women.

Her affection for research represents only one of Laura's recent discoveries. “I'm looking at social and institutional change differently. And I wish I would have understood management and leadership theories back when I was managing by the seat of my pants. Talk about practical knowledge-Antioch gives me the tools to become part of creating change, a better future, to creating the America that Barack Obama talks about.”

Last Updated: 7/8/10