Barbara Kent Lawrence taught for many years in schools in Washington, DC, Connecticut, and Maine, at Boston University and Northeastern University, and from 2000 to 2010 at Lesley University in Massachusetts. Her academic credentials include a BA in Anthropology from Bennington College, MA in Sociology from New York University, and an Ed.D. in Administration, Training, and Policy Studies from Boston University.
In addition, Dr. Lawrence has written and lectured about the affect of culture on aspirations, issues affecting small schools, and school-community facilities. The audience for these publications includes other professionals in the field, as well as advocates for small schools, students, and community members.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS in EDUCATION
Books
Working Memory: the influence of culture on aspirations, Dissertation, Boston University,1998. Winner, 1998 Dissertation Award, National Rural Education Association
Dollars and Sense: The Cost-Effectiveness of Small Schools, Lawrence, Barbara Kent et al, KnowledgeWorks, Concordia, Inc. and The Rural School and Community Trust, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2002.
The Hermit Crab Solution: Creative Alternatives for Improving Rural School Facilities & Keeping Them Close to Home, AEL, Charleston, West Virginia. 2004
http://www.ael.org/page.htm?&id=805&pd=res8721
Dollars and Sense: Lessons from Good, Cost Effective Small Schools, Lawrence, Barbara Kent et al, KnowledgeWorks, Concordia, Inc. and Architects of Achievement, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2005.
http://www.kwfdn.org/resource_library/_resources/dollars_sense.pdf
Journals
Rural Gifted Education: A Comprehensive Literature Review. Journal of Gifted Education, in process. 2008.
When School Doors Close, Planning Commissioners Journal, Number 56, Fall, 2004
For Authentic Accountability Think small, Journal of Education, Boston University, Volume 185, Number4, 2004
When Too Lean is Too Mean, Independent School Health Association newsletter, 2000.
Customer or Client: Who is Who in Education, Maine Journal of Education, Winter 1999, Brunswick, Maine
Magazines
District Administration, Professional Opinion, Lessons from Rural Schools, October 2007.
Leaves Falling in Japan: Retired Husband Syndrome, Online Magazine: Retirement Jobs.com,. 2006.
Back to the Agora: Workable Solutions for Small Urban School Facilities, Appalachian Educational Laboratory, ERIC/CRESS, Digest EDRD-03-4, 2003.
Effects of State Policy Structures on Facilities Planning and Construction in Rural Districts, Appalachian Educational Laboratory, ERIC/CRESS, Digest ED-RC-01-8, December, 2001r
Hoosiers, Yankees and Mountaineers, Phi Delta Kappan, November, 1995 with Alan J. DeYoung, pp. 104-112. EJ 374632
http://ericae.net/ericdc/EJ513377.htm
Reports
Making the Most of Good Professional Development: A report on the work of The Summer Institute Series, 2006, The Institute for Professional Development and Graduate Studies in Education, Northeastern University, December 2006
Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth, Council of Educational Facility Planners International and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, September 2004. One of eight contributing authors.
Land for Granted: The Effects of Acreage Policies on Rural Schools and Communities, Rural School and Community Trust, December, 2003
http://www.ruraledu.org/docs/landforgranted.pdf
Save a Penny, Lose a School: The Real Cost of Deferred Maintenance, the Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, DC, 2003.
Lowering the Overhead by Raising the Roof and other strategies for small schools, The Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, DC, 2002.
http://www.ruraledu.org/keep_learning.cfm?record_no=574
Selected Papers Presented:
Praxis to Practice: Putting Qualitative Methods To Work for Rural Education, paper presented at the Annual Qualitative Research in Rural Education Conference, Morganstown, WV, May 20-21, 1999. ED436326
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED436326.htm
The Importance of Sustainability for Rural Schools, meeting of the National Rural Education Association, “ October 14 – 17, Buffalo, NY, 1998. ED 425030
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED425030.htm
There’s Many a Slip Between the Cup and the Lip, In: The Many Faces of Rural Education. Proceedings of the Annual NREA Convention (89th, Tucson, AZ, September 24-27, 1997); see RC 021 239.
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED413153.htm
Working Memory: The Influence of Culture on Aspirations, Dissertation, Boston University, 1998. Dissertation of the Year, 1998, National Rural Education Association.
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED430765.htm
Sketches of Maine, Spring, 1995, presented in part at The South End Open Studios, Writers Workshop, September, 22, 1996
'What the Red Squirrel is to the Gray’: The Importance of Culture in the Composition of School Boards on Mount Desert Island, Maine, Paper presented at the National Rural Education Association meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 4, 1995. ED 389 502
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED389502.htm
Working Memory: The Influence of Culture on Education, A Case Study of Tremont, Maine, a paper presented at the National Rural Education Association Meeting, San Antonio, October 13, 1996. ED 407193
http://ericae.net/ericdc/ED407193.htm
Ireland and Maine: Two Responses to Education. A paper presented to the Research Forum of the National Rural Education Association the Annual meeting, Buffalo, New York, October 16, 1998.
OTHER WRITING:
Bitter Ice: a memoir of love food, and obsession, Rob Weisbach/Wm. Morrow Inc. New York, 1998
The Hungry i: a work book for partners of men with eating disorders, Greene Bark Press, Allentown, PA, 2010
Islands of Time, a novel, Just Write Books, Topsham, Maine, 2013.
The Other Island: BEN's STORY, Maine Authors Publishing, 2016
Both Sides of the Pond: My Family's War: a work in progress
Academic Work
EDUCATION:
High School: Milton Academy 
1961
1961 College: Bennington College B.A. Anthropology 1965
1965 Graduate School: New York University 1969 M.A. Sociology
1969 M.A. Sociology Boston University School of Education, 1998, Ed.D.
Administration, Training, and Policy Studies Dissertation: "The Influence of Culture on Aspirations, a Case Study of Tremont, ME.
National Rural Education Association Dissertation Award 1997-98
1997-98 EMPLOYMENT:
Education
Director, Facilities Initiative
The Rural School and Community Trust 1998 - 2004 Adjunct Professor, Lesley University 2000 - 2010 Adjunct Professor, Northeastern University 2004 - 2006
School of Education, Boston University Teaching Assistant to Dr. Charles Glenn 1995 - 1997 Brunswick School, Greenwich, CT Teacher: History, Sociology, Anthropology Chairman: History Department, Dean of Guidance 1971 - 1979 REAL ESTATE
Broker, Consultant LandVest, Boston Office 1995 - 1999
Train Properties, Ltd. President, Designated Broker and Co-Owner 1980 -1997 VOLUNTEER WORK
IN EDUCATION
President: Stewardship Education Alliance 2018-present
Member, Hamilton-Wenham School Committee 2012-2015
Citizens School: "Brain Trust" 1996 - 1997
Trinity Church, Boston, Education Task Force 1996 - 1998
Field Studies for Children, and Environmental program at College of the Atlantic
Founder/Member of Advisory Board 1980 - 1996 The Tremont School Fund: Co-Founder and Chair 1984 - 1990 VOLUNTEER WORK
Vestry member: St. Thomas' Episcopal Church 2017 - 2020
President,/Member Hamilton-Wenham GREEN 2007 - 2015
Member: Hamilton Government Study Committee 2005-2006
Member: Hamilton -Wenham Capital Management Committee 2007 - 2012 Board Member: League of Women Voters of Hamilton-Wenham 2009- 2012
Courses taught at Lesley University and Northeastern University
COURSES:
Lives in Context
Writing Skills I
Writing Lab
Memoir
Research Seminar
Stages of Life: Adulthood
Independent Guided Topics:
Writing: Topics
Memoir
Creative Writing
Social Sciences: Topics
Gender typing in a pre-school
Family Issues for parents of LD students
Environmental law
FIRST READER FOR OVER 50 THESES: Topics included
Fashion as a reflection of the changing role of women
Sexual abuse of girls and women by priests and family members
The meaning of menstruation for women
The journey of Irish women as told by the granddaughter of an immigrant
Journey of a 'project kid' from Cambridge
OTHER INTERESTS:
Small schools
Culture change and acculturation
Social movements and the Sixties
