Mrs. Lori Wright
B.S. in Social Work, Class of 1996
Director of Social Work in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice
Began working at Lamar University in 2013
Interviewed by Vidisha Barua Worley on 03/01/2023
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‘I first became associated with Lamar University in the early 1990s. I was here as a student and graduated from the Social Work program. I went and worked in the field doing child welfare for many many years and ended up coming back here and now serving as a faculty member in the Lamar Social Work program. Ms. Vernice Monroe who was the program director at the time. We all thought that she was mean and very scary. I find now that I have started to model a lot of my teaching style after her. She was a huge influence and embodies all the characteristics of a social worker that I like to see in myself and others. Steve Saur, who was one of instructors got me thinking about beyond working directly with people and looking at the bigger picture, more macro-level. I was instrumental in pushing me on to graduate school. He called me in to do some adjunct work and that’s how I found out about this position. He said, “I am retiring, you should apply for my job.” And now working with Ginger Gummelt and all of our Social Work faculty and those in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, criminal Justice, and Anthropology, being able to learn from some of the best and the brightest has certainly helped me in not only my continuing quest for knowledge but my teaching as well.’