Laura Pipe
Director, University Teaching and Learning Commons
Learning Innovations/Pedagogy
Email Address: lmpipe@uncg.edu
Phone: 336.334.3846
Academic Home: Kinesiology; Adjunct Assistant Professor
UNCG Alumna, 2017
PROJECTS OF FOCUS
- Teaching Effectiveness
- Accessibility
- Generative AI
- Student Success
- Department Head/Chair Programs
- Academic Leadership and Mentoring Programs
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Support
- Campus Partnerships & Training Support
About Laura
Gallup Strengths: strategic | activator | woo | communication | positivity
Laura M. Pipe, Ph.D. (Skarù:ręˀ (Tuscarora)/Hodinöhsö:ni’ (Haudenosaunee) Descent) is the Director of the University Teaching and Learning Commons (UTLC), where she leads campus-wide teaching and learning initiatives that support broad faculty development and student success. Since 2015, Laura has championed a collaborative teaching and learning culture at UNCG, first as Director of the Teaching Innovations Office (TIO) and now as leader of the restructured UTLC. She also serves as faculty advisor for UNCG’s Native American Student Association (NASA).
As an Indigenous educator, Laura’s work emphasizes reciprocal learning relationships that inspire shared curiosity. With over a decade of experience in academic learning communities, integrated learning, and interdisciplinary teaching, she specializes in course and program development, AAC&U’s high-impact practices, student retention, and cultivating curiosity-driven learning spaces.
Laura’s research interests focus on decolonial praxis, Indigenous pedagogies of the Woodland Peoples of Turtle Island, and action sports (BMX/skateboarding) as a lens for understanding physical activity access and the construction/consumption of space. She actively teaches in sports sociology, kinesiology, health studies, and critical methodologies, blending theory and practice to create transformative learning experiences.
She is the co-creator of the Toward a Liberated Learning Spirit (TALLS) model, which fosters critical consciousness in education, and maintains a vibrant Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research portfolio. Her most recent publication, Ignite: A Decolonial Approach to Higher Education through Space, Place, and Culture (Pipe & Stephens, 2023, Vernon Press), presents acts of tender resistance that reimagine learning through decolonial frameworks.
Education
- Ph.D. Kinesiology, UNC-Greensboro
- M.S. Higher Postsecondary Education, Syracuse University
- Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Teaching Sociology, UNC-Greensboro
- B.S. Journalism with a major in Advertising and Public Relations, Texas Christian University
- North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
Certifications
- CAST Credential: Level I, UDL Mindset
- CAST Credential: Level 2, UDL Analysis
- CAST Credential: Level 3, UDL Application
- CAST Credential: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education
- CAST Credential: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education: Implementation
- Gallup: Certified Strengths Coach
- Harvard Business Publishing: Fundamentals of Case Teaching Certificate
- Harvard Business Publishing: Teaching with Cases Certificate: Engage, Energize, and Challenge Your Students
- Quality Matters: Applying the QM Rubric (5th Edition, APPQMR)
- Magna Publications: Faculty Development Microcredential
Areas of Expertise
- Decolonial Praxis/Indigenous Pedagogies
- Collaborative Learning
- Applied/Problem-Based Learning
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- Generative AI
- Trauma-Informed Teaching
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Methodologies
- Student Success
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
- Co-Chair, Accessibility Task Force
- Chancellor’s AI Oversight Committee
- Co-Chair, AI in the Classroom (Academic Affairs Subcommittee of the Chancellor’s AI Oversight Committee)
- Co-Chair, Teaching Effectiveness Workgroup
- Faculty Senate: Committee on Campus Community and Climate
- JED Campus Team
TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS
- KIN 220: Lifetime Wellness
- KIN 330: Critical Analyses for a Physically Active Society
- KIN 630: Sport & Society: Social Inequalities
- KIN 716: Mixed Methods in Kinesiology Research
- KIN 717: Qualitative Methods in Kinesiology
- Independent Study: Decolonial Praxis and Indigenous Methodologies
- RCO 185: Wellness on Turtle Island: Native Conceptions of Wellbeing
- RCO 215: Physical Activity in a Native World
- RCO 215: Critical Readings of Action Sports through Film
- MISM 520: Sociology and Sport (Guilford College, Masters in International Sports Management Program)
- SPST 232: Sociology of Sport & Exercise (Guilford College, Sports Studies)