Laura K.M. Donorfio, Ph.D. FAGHE, is an associate professor and holds fellow status in both the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Connecticut. She has been honored both nationally and locally for her many teaching accomplishments, including GSA's Clark Tibbets Award (2022), AGHE’s Distinguished Faculty award (2009), and the American Association of University Professors Faculty Excellence for Teaching Career, University of Connecticut (2023). Dr. Donorfio has over twenty-five years teaching and research experience in the field of gerontology and serves as an undergraduate and graduate internship supervisor working with a wide range of community partners and educational settings.
She has developed both an undergraduate minor and graduate certificate program in gerontology for the University of Connecticut’s Human Development and Family Sciences Department. She has also developed aging curriculum for the state of Connecticut’s Department of Education. Prior to joining the University of Connecticut, Dr. Donorfio served as a corporate gerontologist with The Hartford Financial Services Group, conducting primary research with AARP and the MIT AgeLab where she served as a visiting scientist. Her present research interests include the impact of educational innovation and intergenerational experiential learning approaches, and most recently, aging drag queens and how drag expression interfaces with dragism, coping, resilience, and generativity. Dr. Donorfio is the author of numerous works, including co-authorship of the book "The Gerontology Field Placement: Internships and Practicums in Aging” (2023). She has directed the AGHE Teaching Institute for the past eleven years and has given over 60 scholarly presentations, nationally and internationally, related to student learning and reflection, intergenerational learning approaches, and innovative andragogy and geragogy teaching platforms.