Mesa Community College

Laura was born in Pepin County, Wisconsin where Laura Ingalls Wilder started her Little House books and grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In High School and college she lettered in tennis. She moved on to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater where she was a member of the first graduating class of the “new” Management Computer Systems degree program. A paper she wrote about the IBM “Help Desk” concept landed her a job at Hormel – yes, Hormel makes the original Spam luncheon meat!

Laura has visited many places including Washington DC, Florida, Hawaii and Minnesota. She found them all enjoyable, but not as inviting as a visit to Arizona that prompted her to pack up and move here without a job. She really enjoys the variety of climates that Arizona has to offer. Laura started out as a student worker at ASU and progressed through many positions at the W. P. Carey School of Business. She created the School of Business Help Desk. While at ASU, Laura completed her MBA in May, 1991. She continued to work at ASU until last year. Most r ecently she was designing Web pages, helping students and faculty, and conducting various training classes.

Laura is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and has completed several project management classes and certification programs. She plans to sit for the PMI Certification exam later this year.

When asked what she likes most about MCC, Laura says, “The service culture. Everyone is so supportive of each other, looking for ways to make each other’s job easier.” When asked what she hopes to be doing in 5 to 10 years, Laura states, “Teaching technology or leadership at MCC”. She loves to help her students, especially those that “dread” taking technology classes. In her spare time, Laura enjoys shopping, Calligraphy, swimming and selling on eBay. Laura has written an article on using “Expert Systems” in personnel hiring and several articles about recovering from Epilepsy. She herself had brain surgery in 1992 to overcome Epilepsy and claims, “I have a hole in my head”.

Laura and her husband, Tracy, have a son, Adam, who is 10 years old. The Clark family is active in community and church activities, and Laura recently received the “Desert Cross” for her efforts to create and maintain Web pages for her church. The Clark’s make their home in Tempe.