Mary Bernard

I came from York University to Royal Roads University in its early days in 2000 to head research (with professor rank). Since then, I have held senior administration, faculty and leadership roles.   

Between 2000 and 2017 I filled many senior academic administrative roles including as the founding Associate Vice President of Research which later became the AVP Research and Faculty Affairs. Under the VP Academic, and working closely with RRU colleagues and staff, I initiated the policies and functions required to incorporate faculty research into the university including an ethics office and a research services office. During this time there were periods where I also acted as dean for a year for the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences and subsequently, as dean for the Faculty of Management. 

During another university transition period, I shared the acting VP Academic position for six months with two other senior academic administrators. It was an exciting time to be part of RRU and its growth. 

In 2017 I transitioned to faculty ranks to join the College of Interdisciplinary Studies. In 2020 I took the role of program head for the Doctor of Social Sciences, a program I was originally the lead in creating. I feel fortunate to be able to lead a program that attracts a great range of students from many professional backgrounds. I continue to innovate within the program, continuously seeking quality improvement in addition to leading doctoral seminars. My research agenda also focuses on doctoral program innovation; for example, I presented research on such innovations at the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies this past fall.

I sit on various university committees. For example, for the past four years, I was the first chair of the Advisory Committee on Honorary Awards (advisory to the GNC of the RRU Board of Governors.) I also represent RRU as a voting member for the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, the Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Western Canada Deans for Graduate Studies.

One important consistency for me over the decades at RRU has been my involvement in research ethics. Initially, I was involved in administration as research ethics was under my portfolio when I was AVP Research. Subsequently, as a faculty member, I am the Chair of the Research Ethics Board.  Because of RRU’s proportion of graduate students with capstone research projects to undergraduate students, our number of ethical reviews per year is disproportionately large for a university of our size.  On a daily basis, I work closely with the Ethics Office on this essential service.

I sat on Academic Council for many years in my AVP Research role. I would be grateful for the opportunity to return.