Professional Affiliation

Appointed: Vice President of Academic Affairs, Bennett College; Current: Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Johnson C. Smith University

Expert Bio

DR. LAURA COLSON has been appointed as vice president for academic affairs at Bennett College.  Pledging to lead the college in a period of reinvention, Dr. Colson brings a wealth of knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas to help the institution move forward in its new Strategic Direction and better serve the students in a more holistic approach.   In her current role as associate vice president for academic affairs at Johnson C. Smith University, she has worked to provide management and oversight within the division and led strategic partnerships and innovation to support and foster student academic success outcomes.   As a result of her leadership and unconventional approach in higher education over the past fifteen years, she was selected as a cohort member of the 2020 American Association of State Colleges and Universities' (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI).  

Colson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Supervision from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She successfully defended and published her dissertation entitled: “First-Generation Freshman College Students: Factors Impacting Retention for the Subsequent Year” to complete a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Dr. Colson is a servant leader within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community where she is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and an entrepreneur.  After experiencing four of the five most stressful events in life simultaneously, she was moved to launch her own ministry, My Big E.G.O. Life, LLC, a platform used to share her life experiences ordained by God and to assist others with experiencing a transformation of restoration of mind, body, and soul through life coaching and motivational speaking.  She has been recognized in Who’s Who in Black Charlotte (2017), and by Pride Magazine as one of the “2016 Women to Watch in Education”.  She was the recipient of the Excellence in Education Award (June 2016) from the Charlotte chapter of the National Women of Achievement, Inc.   Her most prized honor is being blessed to serve as mother to her three beautiful children.