Laurie Hamblin has a long relationship with Southeast Missouri State University. As a child she went to the Campus School from kindergarten to seventh grade. After graduation from Cape Central High School she went to Southeast for a year before transferring to Washington University. There she earned a BA with a double major in English Language and Literature and German Language and Literature. After taking a couple years off to learn the craft of woodworking in Boston, Massachusetts, she returned to her home state to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a MA in European History.

In 2006 Laurie began working for Southeast Missouri State University as an instructor in history. She travelled the backroads of the bootheel as she taught at the regional campuses of Sikeston, Malden and Kennett. In 2010 she came to the main campus where she teaches American History II, First Year Seminar and modern European History. She is the coordinator of the History Day contest which occurs every March.