Join us in person on April 19 for the 38th Annual Nora Harrington Lecture on Forest Fires and Their Aftermath. This lecture will take place in the Alumnae Library at 7:30 pm. This year's speaker is Dr. Laura Pence.
Dr. Laura Pence is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Hartford with expertise in environmental chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and chemical education. In 2012-2013 Dr. Pence spent a year as an American Chemical Society (ACS)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science Policy Fellow in the office of Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), where her policy portfolio featured natural resources, energy, and environmental issues, with a particular emphasis in the areas of water and forestry. She served on the ACS Board of Directors from 2017-2019 and continues to be an acknowledged expert on the nexus of science and public policy for that organization. Dr. Pence is an outstanding educator, winning the University of Hartford’s Roy E. Larsen award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006 and twice ranking among the top 25 professors nationally on RateMyProfessor.com in both 2014 and 2017. Prof. Pence received her B.S. in chemistry from Lebanon Valley College and her Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Subsequently, she was a National Institutes of Health Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2011 for her programming and leadership on environmental and sustainability issues.
