Lauren Anderson was a five-sport stand-out at Southern Connecticut, competing on the field hockey, women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, softball and track & field teams during her four years at Southern Connecticut. Anderson graduated from SCSU in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation and was awarded with the “Outstanding Senior Physical Education Major” honor upon her graduation. She earned her Master of Science degree from Southern in 1971.
Anderson went on to become the first female scholastic athletic director in the State of Connecticut at North Haven High School where she founded the girl’s track and field program that won four-straight state championships from 1972-1975. She also served as North Haven’s girl’s basketball and field hockey coach. In that time, she was honored as the 1972 Connecticut Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Coach of the Year, the 1975 Connecticut High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year and the 1976 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
Anderson also launched the women’s cross country program at the University of Rhode Island in 1977 and the women’s track & field program in 1978. In 1987, she was named the New England Division I Cross Country Coach of the Year and in 1990 was named the New England Division I Track & Field Coach of the Year. She went on to serve as the Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator from 1992 to 2003 before being elevated to Senior Associate Director of Athletics in 2003. She held that position until her retirement in 2008.
Anderson has been honored with the Award for Outstanding Leadership in Women’s Athletics by the Southern Connecticut Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Professional Service Award from the Connecticut Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, the Woman of the Year by the URI Association for Professional and Academic Women, the A. Lenore Cranston Award by the Rhode Island Association for Girls & Women in Sports, the Division I-AA Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhode Island Association for Girls & Women in Sports, the Katherine Ley Life Achievement Award by the ECAC, the Bill Cawley Lifetime Achievement Award by the Rhode Island Association of Sportswriters, Sportscasters and Sports Publicists and the James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award by the ECAC.
She was previously inducted into the New Agenda-Northeast Women’s Hall of Fame, North Haven High School Sports Hall of Fame, Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame, Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Eastford Elementary School Athletic Hall of Fame, Inaugural Woodstock Academy Athletic Hall of Fame, ECAC Hall of Fame and the University of Rhode Island Athletics Hall of Fame.
