A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT LAURA CARLSON
It is a privilege and a joy to serve as president of the University of Delaware. This position is so much more than a role – it is a lifestyle. I love this community, and I am deeply committed to our purpose and our people.
The Blue Hen pride shown by our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends is inspiring. We each bring our unique identities and experiences to our community, and together we create OurUD.
At the University of Delaware, we …
… inquire with impact, starting with the needs of society and then generating, translating and refining knowledge and solutions
… create with connections by leveraging our unique assets, our nimbleness and our partnerships to strengthen our community
… innovate with intention and infuse entrepreneurial thinking into our cross-disciplinary research, scholarship, teaching and learning
… grow with purpose by sustaining the advances of the past while building excellence within new frontiers
… welcome with promise, fulfilling our obligation to enable a transformative education for all students, taking them from where they are to where they need to be
… educate with outcomes, opening doors for Blue Hens to thrive and succeed throughout their whole life’s journey
… work with trust, assume good intent, encourage diverse viewpoints, and respect and value everyone’s contributions
… belong with joy, living out our conviction that our community is worthy of our attention and our intention
… stand with pride, confident to define ourselves and stand in an image of our own creation.
We all have an essential role to play in enacting this vision in our daily interactions with each other and our service to the world.
I look forward to seeing you around campus and beyond.
Yours in UD,
Laura
Office of the President Staff
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
BECOMING ONEUD
COMMUNICATIONS
Join an upcoming Zoom-In
President Laura Carlson and Interim Provost Bill Farquhar host monthly open Zoom-In meetings, open to all students, faculty and staff. The sessions, which include other University leaders, serve as an open communication channel for conversation, questions and sharing.
- 4 p.m. Jan. 26
- 4 p.m. Feb. 24
- 4 p.m. March 16
- 4 p.m. April 27
- 4 p.m. June 1
Zoom link for all sessions (requires UD login)
Welcome to Our Day #1 (redux) — Jan. 1, 2026
Reflections — Dec. 18, 2025
Take a Moment — Dec. 4, 2025
Simple Joys — Nov. 21, 2025
Allow me to make some introductions — Nov. 6, 2025
A Love Note to Research — Oct. 23, 2025
Words Matter — Oct. 9, 2025
Applause — Sept. 24, 2025
Love of Learning — Sept. 9, 2025
Gratitude — Aug. 28, 2025
Connections — Aug. 7, 2025
Back to Basics — July 18, 2025
Welcome to Our Day #1 — July 1, 2025
PRESIDENT'S STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
The President’s Student Advisory Council (PSAC) provides President Laura Carlson with insights and feedback on important student-centered topics and develops workable recommendations to address students' concerns.
STAFF COUNCIL
The Staff Council advises President Laura Carlson on staff perspectives related to campus culture, professional growth and wellness, and improvements to the staff experience. Council members serve as advocates for UD staff, and they represent staff perspectives as the University considers changes in policies and procedures relevant to other staff members. Members are appointed for two-year terms and will represent staff from across varied units, employment levels, and length of time at the University.
Join the Prez Run!
The 5k Prez Run starts at 7 a.m. every Thursday at Mentors' Circle (resuming Jan. 15, 2026, after the holidays), rain or shine. If we need to cancel for any reason, we will indicate that here.
Jan. 15 status: COME ON OUT!
Open to all students, staff, faculty and community members. Earn some bragging rights: First-timers earn a sticker; regular runners (3+ times) earn a pin.
About Dr. Carlson
Laura A. Carlson serves as the University of Delaware’s 29th president.
Dr. Carlson joined the University as provost in 2022 and was appointed interim president by the Board of Trustees in July 2025. On Dec. 9, 2025, the Board unanimously voted to appoint Dr. Carlson as president, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
As provost, Carlson focused on enhancing access by creating pathways to UD, growing enrollment, fostering academic excellence, empowering faculty, and developing and implementing a multi-year strategy that integrated financial, enrollment and hiring plans.
Before joining UD, Carlson had a distinguished career of more than 20 years at the University of Notre Dame, where she served in several key leadership roles, including vice president, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. She served as director of graduate studies in the psychology department and later as associate chair. Carlson joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of psychology, becoming a full professor in 2008.
A fellow of the Association of Psychological Science, she has received several teaching awards, including the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Carlson’s primary research interest is spatial cognition — how we mentally represent the places and objects around us — and her work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, collaborating with scholars across the fields of computer science, engineering, architecture, geography and linguistics.
A cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with a special major in psychology of language, she received a Master of Arts degree at Michigan State University and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Contact
Email:
president@udel.edu
Phone:
(302) 831-2111
Mail:
Office of the President, University of Delaware, 104 Hullihen Hall, Newark, DE 19716
Speaking requests:
To request President Carlson to speak at an on- or off-campus event, please contact Aundrea DeVuono-Young at aundreay@udel.edu.
