Dr. Laurel Weldon

Biography

Laurel Weldon is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on the interaction between state action and women's rights, particularly concerning violence against women, economic empowerment, and family law. She employs statistical analysis of original global datasets, supplemented by fieldwork in a range of locations from Canada and the United States to India and Norway. Weldon has consulted for various governmental and intergovernmental organizations, including UN Women and the World Bank. She has been invited to lecture across the globe, sharing her expertise in gender issues with institutions like the U.S. Department of State. Notably, she is the primary investigator of a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at assessing the impact of women's movements worldwide. Prior to her tenure at Simon Fraser University, she was a professor at Purdue University, where she also held positions such as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Director of the Purdue Public Policy Research Institute. Weldon has received several awards for her publications, including the ISA’s Human Rights Section Book Award for her book 'Logics of Gender Justice' co-authored with Mala Htun. She has contributed significantly to the field through various editorial roles and continues to accept new graduate students for research supervision.

Research Interests