Lauren Orr
Academic Advisor III
3168 Faculty/Administration Building (FAB)
Department
Lauren Orr
Hello! I'm Lauren (she/her), one of the academic advisors in the undergraduate Department of Public Health (CLAS). I joined the department in September 2021 and advise PH students with Last Names A-F.
I grew up in Metro Detroit and studied History at U of M, wondering as graduation approached what I'd actually "do with that major." Upon reflection, I realized, A) I loved being on a college campus, B) I did not want to become a professor, and C) there were actually a ton of people who worked on campus that were not professors! My first jobs after finishing college were in graduate admissions offices, and I enrolled in a Higher Education Administration master's program at George Washington University in DC, taking classes part-time while working on campus full-time.
Significant career moment #1 was when I was hired as an academic advisor in GW's Elliott School of International Affairs midway through my graduate program. I loved it – awesome students, collaborative colleagues, academic plans created with paper and pencil – I was hooked! After six years in that office, I joined the advising staff at Columbia University and four years after that, significant career moment #2 was when I joined the team at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania. I'd stumbled into an "advising specialty" and it was a really good fit! A mix of advising, program management, writing, editing, and coaching, Fellowship Advising allowed me to support really engaged students who wanted to make a positive impact in the world. I did that for six years, until making a "pandemic move" back home to Michigan. That transition allowed me to join the Department of Public Health here at Wayne State, which I hope will prove to be significant career moment #3 (though that's only ever clear in hindsight)!
Thanks to the professional experiences that have shaped me, I love helping students create academic plans of work as well as plans to integrate co-curricular involvement, leadership development, career exploration, graduate school investigation, civic engagement, etc. What's kept me on college campuses for so long is that undergraduate education can be truly transformative, which is pretty amazing to be around! And those transformations are driven by hundreds of small actions and interactions, so providing students with responsive, accurate, and supportive advising day-to-day is really important to me. All that's to say, there's no question that's too big or too small. Let's chat!
Now that you've gotten to know me a bit more, I would also like to get to know you – it's why advisors do what we do! The advising team created this brief webform and I would love for you to complete it as a way of sharing more about yourself and your goals with me.
Education
- M.A. in Higher Education Administration, George Washington University
- B.A. in History, University of Michigan
Awards and grants
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Advisor Training Academy's Outstanding New Academic Advisor, 2022
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Academic Staff Professional Development Committee's Outstanding Contributor, 2023-2024