Access, Community + Belonging
The College of Social Sciences & Humanities is committed to reducing inequities and removing barriers to access. We bring people together across the college and have connections across campus and beyond to achieve our shared goals. We work to cultivate a sense of belonging where everyone feels welcomed, valued, supported, and safe, and can thrive in their work and studies.
Our activities align with the following strategic plans and initiatives.
- Changing the Story: An Integrated Action Plan for transforming our vibrant and interconnected university community
- Braiding Past, Present and Future: the University of Alberta Indigenous Strategic Plan
- SHAPE: The University Strategic Plan
- Forward with Purpose: A Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation
- Igniting Purpose: The Student Experience Action Plan
- A Culture of Care: Safety Action Plan
- Forward Together: The University of Alberta People Strategy
Looking for a place to get started?
- Recognizing and responding to microaggressions
- Recognizing the impact of bias in faculty recruitment, retention and advancement
- Map of all-gender washrooms on campus
Reporting discrimination and harassment, obtaining support and learning about options
Students:
Faculty and Staff:
- Office of Safe Disclosure and Human Rights
- Faculty/college Human Resources Partner
- Vice-Provost (Access, Community and Belonging)
The Options Navigation Network assists people who have experienced sexual and gender-based violence to explore and understand options available to them through the university.
Responding to a disclosure of sexual assault
Sexual Assault Centre
Counselling & Clinical Services
University of Alberta protective services for an urgent situation/immediate safety risk on campus 780-492-5050.
Leadership

Laura Beard
Associate Dean
Access, Community and Belonging
Laura Beard is the Associate Dean (Access, Community & Belonging) in the College of Social Sciences & Humanities. In this leadership role, she provides support to the four CSSH faculties, works with the vice-deans on faculty initiatives, and provides advice and resources to faculty and department leaders, EDI committees, academic and non-academic staff and students. She also works with the Vice-Provost (Access, Community & Belonging) on university-level activities.
A professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, Dr. Beard recently served five years as associate vice president (research) in the Office of the Vice President of Research and Innovation (OVPRI), where she advanced equity, diversity, inclusivity, and Indigenous initiatives in our research environment, helping researchers connect these values with research excellence. In addition to these initiatives, Dr. Beard’s portfolio in OVPRI included Research Administration Services, Researcher Development and Success, Awards, support for the SSHRC-research areas, and the Canada Research Chair Program (with the Provost’s Office).
Before serving in the OVPRI, Dr. Beard served as chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, during which time she also served on the Provost’s Advisory Council of Chairs and co-chaired the Arts Working Group on Indigenous Initiatives (AWGII), now the Arts Indigenous Council.
A two-time Fulbright scholar, she is completing an SSHRC-funded research project and book on John S. McClintock’s Pioneer Days in the Black Hills: Accurate History and Facts Related by One of the Early Day Pioneers, 1939. Her research interests include life narratives, women writers of the Americas and Indigenous literatures.

Monisha Vinod
Strategic Initiatives Officer
Access, Community and Belonging and Indigenous Initiatives
Monisha Vinod is the Strategic Initiatives Officer for Access, Community & Belonging, and Indigenous Initiatives in the College of Social Sciences & Humanities. With over a decade of experience in strategic consulting, project management, and cross-sector collaboration—including time at IBM in the tech industry—she has worked internationally, taking a relational approach to building partnerships that drive meaningful change in service delivery and organizational strategy. While completing her MBA at the Alberta School of Business, she served as Vice President (Student Services) in the Graduate Students’ Association, where she co-sponsored the Student Experience Action Plan at its inception point. Following graduation, she worked in the Provost’s Office as a Strategic Academic Initiatives Officer, facilitating and supporting extensive consultation and data analysis that informed The People Strategy and the Integrated Action Plan—key institutional frameworks for access, equity, and student success. In her current role, she focuses on building and co-developing strategic initiatives with faculties to promote equitable access, strengthen communities, and foster belonging, while advancing Indigenous-led initiatives, including commitments outlined in Braiding Past, Present & Future.