Researcher, professor, mentor; 2014 WSU Woman of the Year Laura Hill is known for her prevention research but leaves her mark on everyone she meets with her compassion and desire to help others.

Leah Hyman, a human development graduate student, nominated Hill as the Woman of the Year.

“Laura has changed people’s lives,” Hyman said. “She’s changed how they’ve done research, mentored them, or worked on a project with them. She has made some pretty big changes. Laura doesn’t recognize that. She has no clue on how she affects people.”

Hyman said she works closely with Hill and views her not only as her adviser but also as a mentor.

“An adviser sits across the table and tells you what classes to take,” she said. “A mentor helps you through the difficult times and sits there and talks to you when you basically lose it.”

Hill is a professor in the department of human development and the associate director for health promotion, research and evaluation at Health and Wellness Services.    

Hill said she is a prevention researcher. One of the main focuses of her research is in families. She developed the Strengthening Families Program for parents and youth ages 10 to14. The program helps families stabilize their relationships during a child’s transitional period in life.

Through Health and Wellness Services, Hill also directs Project Healthy Campus, which determines students’ needs, how they are met, and how to improve them.

One example of Hill’s work is her research in evaluating programs, such as the violence prevention program called Green Dot and the substance abuse program called Red Watch Band, which educates students about the signs of alcohol poisoning.

She said she became interested in prevention research while she was a graduate student studying clinical psychology.

“It was so depressing to be working with kids who had terrible problems, and you would be sending them right back, either to a family that was dysfunctional or a school situation where they were being bullied,” Hill said. “I got more interested in prevention than in treatment, and that’s how I ended up starting this kind of work.”

Hill said her research is less work than it is a desire to help others.

“I love research because it’s like a puzzle…I mean, what a great job,” Hill said. “I get paid to think and figure things out.”

The selection committee that chooses the Woman of the Year award consists of people from the Association for Faculty Women (AFW), the Coalition for Women Students, the women’s studies program, the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the Office of the President, and the Women’s Resource Center, said Jill Griffin, a past chair of President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

The nominations are based on individuals who go above and beyond their job expectations, Griffin said. Nominees have not only made a positive contribution to society, but have made a contribution in a way that honors other women.

Hill shone out of the group not only as an impressive researcher but also as a compassionate person, Griffin said.

“(People) that work with her…they don’t have anything but positive things to say,” she said. “That’s almost not normal. That just doesn’t happen.”

Hyman said she wrote a letter of nomination for Hill and asked 30 other people for their contributions. Twenty of 30 people she contacted agreed to write their own letter of nomination for Hill or sign Hyman’s letter.

Tori Byington, who was part of the 2014 section committee for AFW, said Hill’s breadth of work as a full professor, her outstanding research record, and her prevention outreach programs across the state and nation is what made Hill stand out during the selection process.

“When we were selecting, the thing that made Laura rise to the top was just that she was head and shoulders above the others,” Byington said.

Hill said she reciprocates the joy her colleagues and students find in working with her.

“I love the people I work with all across the university,” Hill said. “Faculty, administrators, staff —they’re so dedicated to helping students develop their full potential. That’s something that will last for people the rest of their lives. It’s really cool to be part of a group of people that’s so dedicated to helping other people.”

Byington said 2014 was record-breaking for the women’s recognition nominations, with 41 total nominations. The categories of nominees included an undergraduate student, graduate student, staff or faculty, alumna, and someone outside WSU.