About Laura

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Keynoting at Mote Marine Lab for Women Working for Oceans

Laura Parker Roerden has over twenty-five years of experience in social & emotional learning, environmental education and educating for social responsibility. She is the executive director and founder of Ocean Matters a project she founded with directors and conservation luminaries Emmy-award winning photojournalist Brian Skerry and activist and internationally-celebrated musician Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. Laura holds a masters of education degree from Harvard University and a B.A. from Boston College and is a lecturer and author of many books, curricula and articles on young people’s social, emotional, and ethical development.

Laura has designed community engagement projects for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Basketball Association, Pokemon USA, Olympians at Athletes for Character Education, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, AT&T, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Program, Operation Respect, Morningside Center for Social Responsibility, the National After-School Alliance, The Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes (MA), the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, Educators for Social Responsibility and the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, as well as for various film, music and video projects including for Frontline and the Grammy-nominated children’s recording “Changing Channels.”

She is the former publisher and managing editor at Educators for Social Responsibility (now Engaging Schools) and former managing editor of the magazine New Designs for Youth Development. Laura has served on the board of directors of Women Working for Oceans (W20), a fiscal partner of the New England Aquarium. She currently serves on the boards of Earth, Ltd. of Southwicks Zoo, as well as Norfolk County Agricultural High School and is a featured member of the Pleiades Network of Women in Sustainability. She is also a frequent keynoter and presenter including presentations at the Tea for Sea (Mote Marine Lab), Bluemind 3, and at Sailors for the Sea (representing W20), to name a few. In her early career, she was a communications professional working in television, marketing, and print media in Boston.

Laura has taught marine education in a myriad of settings including traditional classrooms, on decks of science-at-sea programs, and 100-feet beneath the sea on scuba in ecosystems ranging from the rocky intertidal to the coral reef. She lives on a fifth generation family farm.

Laura most recently keynoted at her alma mater Boston College during Green Week. Learn more about her writing and speaking! Or better yet, reach out to schedule some time to talk to Laura about how she might help you to inspire others to engage meaningfully with nature and its preservation.

 

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