Laura Thorp is the current Assistant Director of Student Services for the School of Information Science at the University of South Carolina. She has 7 years of experience working in student services, student affairs, and academic affairs and has previously worked in the English Department at UofSC and has held instructional positions at Columbia College and NC State University.

She holds a MFA in Poetry from NC State University (2013) and is currently working on her PhD in American and African American Literature and Culture (ABD, expected May 2023).

Laura has a passion for creating innovative and inclusive programming to meet the evolving needs of students in higher education, particularly graduate and professional student populations. She has developed programming initiatives for first-generation students and been invited to speak for the SC Honors College on making the transition from undergrad to graduate school for first-generation students. She has also developed a new orientation course for graduate students in the fully online MLIS program at the University of South Carolina.