About

Dr. Laura Staal, an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP), has served education for over 30 years. Her work has brought her across the country, as an educator in Michigan, California, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Florida. Before coming to UNCP in 2008, she worked as a certified Reading Recovery teacher, K-6 reading specialist, classroom teacher, and professor of higher education at San Jose State University and the University of West Florida.

She obtained a Masters in Reading from Eastern Michigan University and a PhD in Special Education from the University of New Mexico. Her research interests include literacy instruction and assessment, caring classrooms, community/school partnerships, children’s literature, bibliotherapy, and teaching through music and service-learning. For the past 10+ years, Dr. Staal has developed and partnered in service-learning literacy collaboratives with Community in Schools at Prospect School and Magnolia School in Robeson County.  

She is also a military spouse and a mother of seven children. In addition to possessing a passion for literacy, she also possesses a passion for adoption and foster care. Her family has fostered 15 children and adopted four, providing respite, short-term, and long-term care for children in Florida and North Carolina for over 20 years.

Three of Dr. Staal’s best-loved children’s book titles are Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester, Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, and Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine.  Her favorite inspirational billboard is “Everything You Say and Do Creates an Impact” by Spiderman. She resides in Southern Pines, NC with her family and three beloved cats: Princess, Tucker, and Merlin. Click here to view Dr. Staal's curriculum vitae.