Laurentian University is proud to announce that Dr. Linda Ambrose will assume the role of Special Advisor to the President beginning January 1, 2017 until March 31, 2018.
In this role, Dr. Ambrose will support the work of a representative steering committee which is expected to be appointed by February 2017 to develop the University’s next strategic plan. Her guidance will ensure the scope, principles and process approved by the Board of Governors and endorsed by Senate are implemented.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Ambrose lead this very important initiative for Laurentian,” said Dominic Giroux. “She is well known and highly respected within our university community and brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding about Laurentian University. Some institutions use external consultants to lead their strategic planning exercises but it was important to us to leverage internal talent within the academy, as we did in 2011, to lead this collegial process,” added Giroux.
Dr. Linda Ambrose
A Full Professor in the Department of History, Dr. Ambrose is a former recipient of the Laurentian University Teaching Excellence Award as well as the Laurentian University Status of Women Achievement Award. She is very committed to la Francophonie and engaged in promoting Indigenous perspectives, has pan-university experience from her active work at Senate and at the annual Ontario Universities’ Fair (to name just two examples), has served in administration as Acting Dean of the Faculties of Social Sciences and Humanities, and is active on social media.
Dr. Ambrose is very familiar with the University having been at Laurentian for 22 years and being the co-author of Laurentian University: A History (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010). She has received awards for her scholarly publications from the Ontario Historical Society. Her current research interests include rural women’s history and the gender history of Canadian Pentecostalism. Her recent books include A Great Rural Sisterhood: Madge Robertson Watt and the Associated Country Women of the World (University of Toronto Press, 2015) and a co-edited collection, Women in Agriculture: Professionalizing Rural Life in North America and Europe, 1880-1965 (University of Iowa Press, in press).
“Leading the strategic planning process for Laurentian will certainly be an exciting challenge,” said Dr. Ambrose. “I look forward to working with students, colleagues, governors, alumni and community partners who will help shape and inform our new strategic plan.”
Laurentian is in the last year of its 2012-2017 Strategic Plan which was endorsed in a Globe and Mail editorial in October 2012 as “an excellent strategy”. Bold, ambitious, driven and concise, the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan was developed through extensive consultation featuring over 900 inputs.