Lauren Shute, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, housed within the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. Her interdisciplinary background spans journalism, clinical practice, and academic research, grounded in her longstanding commitment to athlete well-being and the intersection of sport and social work.

Shute earned her bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Richmond, where she played Division I women’s basketball for three years. She began her professional career as a writer for Sports Illustrated Kids and Sports Illustrated and as a reporter covering Southeastern Conference (SEC) football and basketball at Auburn University. Motivated to pursue a more direct helping role, Shute earned her master of social work (MSW) from Fordham University in New York City. While at Fordham, she developed the university’s first behavioral health field practicum within the athletic department and worked as both an administrative assistant and clinical team member for the National Football League (NFL) Player Care Foundation.

Shute completed her Ph.D. in social work at Louisiana State University (LSU), where she also served as a graduate assistant on the LSU Athletic Department’s Sport Psychology and Counseling Team. In this role, she provided clinical services to over 75 student-athletes across multiple sports. Shute also worked as a licensed clinical social worker on the Crisis-Oriented Psychiatric Evaluation (COPE) team at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, facilitating acute psychiatric assessments and care coordination.

Shute’s research aims to promote the biopsychosocial-spiritual health of athletes and enhance the scope of mental and behavioral health services offered through collegiate athletic departments and elite sports organizations. Her work advances the burgeoning intersection of sport social work, both in research and pedagogy. She developed and taught one of the first sport social work courses offered nationally, taught at LSU and UNLV, and currently leads a mixed-methods research project funded by the UNLV Sport Innovation Institute, examining the bio-psychosocial health and needs of female student-athletes.