Laura Quaynor, a Johns Hopkins University School of Education researcher who specialized in language, civic education, and English as a second language learners, died on August 30 in her home in Powder Springs, Georgia. She was 41 years old.
A native of Glendale Heights, Illinois, Dr. Quaynor was a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she majored in African studies and French. She went on to earn a master’s degree in French and English as a second language education from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in educational studies at Emory University in Atlanta.
Dr. Quaynor joined the Johns Hopkins community in August 2019 as an assistant professor in the school’s doctor of education program and rose quickly through leadership ranks, being named an associate professor and chair of the department of advanced studies in education in 2022. Before coming to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Quaynor taught at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. From 2012 to 2015, she taught at the University of South Carolina Aiken.
Dr. Quaynor’s research focused on citizenship and civic education, and how schools enact global citizenship education, particularly among English language learners in the United States and Liberia, West Africa. As a faculty member, Dr. Quaynor developed and led courses on ESL/bilingual teaching methods, cross-cultural studies, linguistics, and comparative education.