Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist and community leader. She is the author of Inside School Turnarounds (2010), co-author of Playing With the Boys (2008), and author of The Connection Gap (2001). Laura is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Education Life section and publications, including The Hechinger Report and The Women’s Review of Books.
A former education columnist for The Boston Globe and regular for The Harvard Education Letter (now defunct), her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, The Huffington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine, among other print and online publications. Her New York Times piece, “How Big Time Sports Ate College Life,” is in The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition (8th edition, 2013; 9th edition, 2017).
Laura has been a moderator/speaker at education forums, including SXSW.edu, MSNBC’s “Education Nation” town hall, and the 92nd Street Y. She has been a radio guest, including on The Diane Rehm Show.
In 2011, she founded The New Haven Student Journalism Project, which helps urban public school students learn about the craft and power of journalism. The program is supported by Yale University’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs. Yale undergrad mentors work with students in grades 2-8 to produce The East Rock Record, distributed throughout the city and to state legislators.
Laura is writer-in-residence at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. For seven years, she edited the FairGameNews blog, now an archive. She is board chair of Long Wharf Theatre. She also serves on the board of New Haven Reads, which provides one-on-one tutoring to children who struggle with reading. A 1984 Yale grad, Laura was goalkeeper for the 1980 Ivy League Championship Field Hockey team. She bikes, runs and plays USTA tennis. She lives with her family in New Haven, CT.