Laura Drake

As the Director of Continued Enrollment, Laurie oversees Mississippi State University's student retention programs Bulldog Rebound and Bulldog Bounce Back, both housed in the Center for Academic Excellence. She has served as the coordinator for Bulldog Rebound since August 2009. Outside of the CAE, Laurie serves as the Faculty Advisor for Hillel, the Jewish Student Association at Mississippi State University.

Laurie has a Ph.D. in Early American History. Her dissertation "British Subjects of 'ye Jewish Religion': The Negotiated Identities of the Levy-Franks Family," was under the direction of Dr. Judith Ridner and focused on the blended identities of a Jewish family as they sought opportunity and inclusion in the society, politics, and economics of the Anglo Atlantic world. Her research examined how the family's claim to a "British-while-Jewish" identity was a careful negotiated balance between their religious and family life and their socio-political and economic roles in the transatlantic world.

PhD in Early American History, May 2026.

Master of Arts in English, (World literature). May 2009.

Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, with a concentration in Cultural Anthropology and minors in English and History. December 2007.

Office Location: 1430 YMCA