School of Recreation and Sport Sciences
Assistant Professor
Sports Administration

Office: Grover Center E180
Phone: (740) 597-1520
Email: lawrench@ohio.edu

Heather Lawrence, originally from Issaquah (WA), earned her Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Florida, and also received bachelor and master's degrees in sport administration from Florida. She is currently a visiting professor in the College of Business at IE University in Madrid where she teaches a graduate event management course for sport management students. In 2007-08, Dr. Lawrence was named a University Professor Award recipient, which is awarded to five Ohio University faculty annually in recognition of outstanding teaching. Prior to beginning her academic career, Dr. Lawrence worked in various administrative positions within intercollegiate athletics. At the University of Florida, she worked in NCAA compliance, was responsible for select facility renovation projects, provided administrative support to the swimming and diving teams, and assisted with football, baseball, and basketball game operations.

The experiences at Florida allowed her to step into her next role at Southeastern Louisiana University as Associate Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator. At Southeastern, Dr. Lawrence was instrumental in the launch of a Division IAA football team for the school. Her football responsibilities included; facility upgrades, game day operations, budgeting, staffing, community preparation, and communication with university administrators. She was also responsible for ten sport programs, event/facility operations for all sports, the strength and conditioning program, academic services, and CHAMPS/Lifeskills.

In 2009, her first textbook was published, “Event Management Blueprint: Creating and Managing Successful Sports Events” which she co-edited with Michelle Wells (’97). Dr. Lawrence also completed the three-year NCAA CHOICES grant in 2009 which was geared towards curbing heavy drinking among college students and specifically student-athletes. Other recent research projects have focused on the student-athlete recruiting experience, legal aspects of the official visit, luxury suite ownership in professional sports, and how to provide quality compliance internships for students. She has previously served as the Chief Report Writer for the NCAA Athletics Certification Process at Ohio University and is a Peer Reviewer for the NCAA Division I Athletics Certification Program.

As a student-athlete, Dr. Lawrence was a NCAA All-American diver, U.S. National Team member, and Southeastern Conference Champion.