Meet a Colleague: Laura Ulmer

Meet a Colleague: Laura Ulmer Laura Ulmer serves as associate dean of student engagement.

W&L News Office
November 12, 2025

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I began working at W&L almost three years ago, in January 2023.

Q. What do you like most about working at W&L?
So many things! Our students impress me every day, I have great and hard-working colleagues, and it feels like this beautiful campus sits in the middle of a Hallmark movie town.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
My favorite location on campus is the Colonnade, I love to think about how long students have traversed through there and the amazing conversations they have had along the way.

Q. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Marietta, Ohio, a small river town and the first settlement in the Northwest Territory!

Q. What advice do you have for students?
There will be times in college that feel unbearable, but they are not. You are resilient and everything is figure-out-able.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
My husband and I love spending time outdoors and have found ourselves in precarious places from time to time. The first to come to mind is climbing into an underground cave in Maine called the Ice Caves. It stays cold enough year-round that ice never melts.

Q. What's your favorite thing to do when you're not working?
My license plate is "ADVTRN" because we love going on adventures. It could be a planned mountain climb or an unplanned visit to a river looking at beautiful rocks!

Q. If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?
Here! We chose the Blue Ridge Mountains because we loved vacationing here.

Q. What book are you reading now?
"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.

Q. What music are you listening to these days?
I am really enjoying storytelling folk music at the moment.

Q. What is the website you visit most often and why?
Probably the Weather Channel so I can try to know what to expect during the day.

Q. If they made a movie about your life, who would play you?
My mama always told me I looked like Brooke Shields - works for me!

Q. If you could have coffee with one person, who would it be and why?
Grandpa Weinstock because he passed away early in my life and I've always been told we are a lot alike.

Q. What is your desert island food?
Guacamole - I could eat my weight in it every day!

Q. Tell us something most people don't know about you.
In 2004, I saw 82 bands in one weekend.

Q. What is your secret talent?
I can identify many birds in the area by sound.