Welcoming Dr. Laura Beard as associate dean (access, community, and belonging)

The College of Social Sciences is excited to announce that Dr. Laura Beard will serve a three-year term as the college’s inaugural associate dean (access, community, and belonging). 

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.