Laurie Klose, Ph.D., LSSP

Laurie McGarry Klose, PhD, is a clinical associate professor of school psychology at Baylor University, housed at the Dallas campus of the EdS program in school psychology. Laurie completed an BA in Psychology at Baylor University and her PhD in School Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her professional career began working as a school psychologist in Alameda, Calif.

She moved to the east coast as her husband, Karl, pursued a postdoctoral position at Harvard and worked as a school psychologist in the Peabody and Newton publics school systems in Massachusetts. Cheerfully returning to Texas in 1997, she began working for the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio. After seven years at NISD and welcoming her son, Kyle, she was fortunate to be given a chance to teach in the specialist-level school psychology program at Texas State University San Marcos. During her eleven years at Texas State, she collaborated with other faculty in establishing and then serving as the director of assessment for the Clinic for Autism Research, Evaluation and Support and the University Assessment and Counseling Clinic. After commuting to San Marcos for many years, Dr. Klose was delighted for the opportunity to serve as director of the specialist-level school psychology program at Trinity University in San Antonio. After five years at Trinity, Dr. Klose decided that she should pursue her interest in consulting. Providing advocacy services to families negotiating challenges in the school system seemed to be an excellent use of her expertise and experience. In addition, she continued her love of teaching by providing professional development for school psychologists and other educational professionals in Texas and across the country.

As Dr. Klose entered the middle stage of her professional life, her passion for professional advocacy and service was ignited. She began her involvement as the Trainer’s Committee chair for the Texas Association of School Psychologists (TASP). From there, she held several different positions within TASP including president, government and professional relations chair, and professional development chair. Leadership opportunities in the National Association of School Psychologists began to arise as her skills and interest in advocacy developed. NASP leadership positions have included Texas delegate to the Leadership Assembly, Southeastern delegate representative to the Board of Directors of NASP, Southeast representative to the Government and Professional Relationships committee, and member and then Chair of the NASP Ethics and Professional Practices Board. All of these experiences prepared Dr. Klose to serve as the 2021-22 president of National Association of School Psychologists.

As the leadership commitments with NASP began to come to a close, Dr. Klose was overwhelmed by the opportunity to return to Baylor as a faculty member, closing a circle that began at BU so many years ago.