Starting as a part-time math instructor, Dr. Laura Berry continued at North Arkansas College as fulltime faculty, Director of Institutional Research, Title III grant director, and Dean of Arts, Sciences, Business & IT. To revitalize Northark’s IT program, Berry and two faculty members applied to the Mentor Connect program in 2016. The result was the College’s first NSF ATE grant which led to seven additional NSF grants (and counting).
After a failed attempt at retirement, Berry accepted a “short” stint as Interim Dean of Health Professions which has now extended to 2-1/2 years and grown to include an additional division. She works with Northark’s Dean of Grants to help lead multiple NSF grants and coordinate new proposals, and with outside partners including the Arkansas EPSCoR project. Regardless of the role, Berry focuses on relationship-building and cultivation with internal and external college and business partners.
Berry was born and raised in Dallas, received a B.S. in biology from Howard Payne University in central Texas, and attended graduate school at Oklahoma State University and University of Arkansas. She loves hiking, flying, traveling, her family and friends and several pets who showed up after hearing there was a vacancy at the Berry household.
