• Laura Allen, Ph.D., is a professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Her expertise includes child and adolescent development, emerging adulthood, nature and well-being, and curriculum and instruction. Since 1994, she’s served as Director of Middle Grades Education (MAT), Director of Certification and Assessment, Director of Charles Butt Scholars, as well as chaired the University Curriculum Council, and the Senate’s Workload Task Force Committee. 

    Allen is a certified forest therapy guide trained through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Along with her colleague, Dr. Courtney Crim, she leads an interdisciplinary research team studying the benefits of the natural environment on well-being. Allen and colleagues have published their work internationally and given myriad invited webinars, podcasts, and seminars. Along with Crim, she co-teaches the award-winning course, “The Natural Environment and Well-Being,” where students spend 50% of class time outside in natural settings, conduct their own research, and develop practices to support their well-being. 

    • Ph.D., University of Arkansas (C&I, Adolescent Development)
    • M.A., University of Arkansas (English Education)
    • B.S.E. University of Arkansas (English & History) 

    • Nature and Well-Being
    • Emerging Adulthood
    • Child Development
    • Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

    • Child and Adolescent Development
    • Nature and Well-Being
    • Curriculum and Instruction
    • Pedagogics

    From 2005 - 2019, Allen developed and coordinated the Summer Curriculum Writing Institute to support MAT graduates. The week-long workshop was designed around the central task of curriculum development and invited graduates and their colleagues to return to the university each June to write a unit of study and reconnect with one another and MAT faculty. Units were written using Wiggins & McTighe's (2005; 2011) Understanding by Design framework and published online via a common creative license at http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/understandingbydesign/. The site has garnered more downloads than any site in the Digital Commons, averaging as many as 45,000 per month. Curriculum developed during SCWI is currently being used by the US Department of Education, several state departments of education, and multiple school districts in the US and abroad. Research on SCWI shows significant increases in curriculum quality and teacher retention (Allen, 2013; Allen, 2014), two primary goals of the week-long institute.