New Assistant Dean, Academic Partnerships

Dr. Heather Bensler has accepted the administrative appointment as our inaugural Assistant Dean for Academic Partnerships for a three year term.

Dr. Bensler has previously served as Director of Indigenous Initiatives (Faculty & Curriculum Development) in the Faculty of Nursing from 2017-2019, and then served as the Director of International and Global Health (Local) from 2020-2021.  Heather recently completed her EdD at the Werklund School of Education. 

In this new role Heather will be responsible for ongoing development, sustainment, and extension of collaborative partnerships with rural and Indigenous academic partners in the provision of undergraduate educational programs. A key aspect of this role involves anticipating and identifying partner and faculty needs related to the seamless delivery of programs across sites and program initiatives.

Please also note that in the near term, Dr. Bensler will also provide support and oversight for Indigenous Initiatives until such time as we can hire the next Director, Indigenous Initiative position that Louise Baptiste previously held.