Laurie Laird ’87 has left Santa Clara University as associate director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education to assume a new position as associate director of Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest.

 

In the 15 years that Laird has devoted to community-based learning at SCU, she has affected the lives of more than 11,000 students. Her efforts as associate director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education have been key in the creation of strong and sustainable partnerships between the University and more than 60 community organizations in the South Bay.

 

In 2011, California Campus Compact (CCC) awarded her the Richard E. Cone Award for Excellence & Leadership in Cultivating Community Partnerships in Higher Education. A coalition of leading colleges and universities, CCC established the award in 1999 to inspire institutions to deepen their efforts to create and sustain authentic community campus partnerships.

 

Among her accomplishments, Laird founded and co-directed the Jean Donovan Summer Fellowship Program, which provides grants for undergraduate students for summer community-based social justice work. She also led a delegation of faculty and staff on an immersion trip to El Salvador each year.