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Laura Beard is a Professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, specializing in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies. She serves as the Associate Dean in the College of Social Sciences & Humanities, focusing on access, community, and belonging. Her academic appointment includes prior service as the Associate Vice President for Research. Beard's research interests center around life narratives, Inter-American literature, and Indigenous studies, with an emphasis on the impact of storytelling and memory. She has published significant works such as 'Acts of Narrative Resistance: Women's Writing in the Americas' and 'Divided States: Unraveling National Identities in the Twenty-First Century.' Beard has contributed to a variety of academic journals in fields such as auto/biography studies and life writing. Her SSHRC-funded project, 'Wanted: Life Narrative Deadwood,' investigates themes of nostalgia and cultural heritage tourism through the lens of her family's history. She is a two-time Fulbright Scholar and actively participates in the International Autobiography Association, serving as a consulting editor for 'a/b: Autobiography Studies.'
Department: Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management