Deborah la Grasse received her MFA in Sculpture from Southern Illinois University in 1983. Prior to earning her MFA, she apprenticed at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in Princeton, NJ, and earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting at the University of Florida.

She currently is a design professor at the School of Architecture of Florida A&M University, having previously served as Head of Sculpture in the art department of Eastern Illinois University.