Lory-Ann (LA) Varela (she/ella) is an Assistant Vice Provost with the Office of Undergraduate Education, and provides leadership with academic support and enrichment initiatives since arriving at CU Boulder in 2023. Her supervision portfolio includes Undergraduate Enrichment Programs (with Norlin, Boettcher and Daniels Scholars), Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, Top Scholarships, the Writing Center, Education Abroad, Presidents Leadership Class, and Student Academic Success Center (with TRiO Student Support Services, McNair Scholars, and McNeill Academic Program).
Lory-Ann has been in higher education for thirty years, and has a prior background in residential life, career services, and multicultural affairs. Since 2006, Lory-Ann has worked in Colorado with directing campus-wide learning centers and managing academic learning communities supporting historically under-represented student populations. Her passion is strategically designing innovative academic learning support for challenging courses and building enriching learning communities with co-enrollment opportunities that are aligned with higher retention rates and reducing equity gaps.
Lory-Ann is originally from Florida, and her Cuban familia resides in Tampa and Miami. For several years she managed ropes challenge courses leading youth, collegiate, nonprofit and corporate groups through teambuilding activities in central Florida. She has also taught several leadership, student success, and diversity courses at a variety of universities. Lory-Ann has graduate degrees in Counselor Education from the University of Florida and Social Justice in Education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She also has advanced graduate studies in Human Resources from Rollins College, Organizational Learning and Change from Colorado State University, and currently Learning Design and Technology studies at University of Colorado Denver. In her spare time she enjoys amateur astronomy and chasing eclipses, being a volunteer youth volleyball scorekeeper, and drinking Cuban espresso.