Carleton University Welcomes Dr. Anne Bowker as New Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Building on her extensive leadership experience and driven by her ongoing commitment to community collaboration, Dr. Anne Bowker has begun a four-year tenure as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at Carleton University. Her appointment, announced by Interim President Dr. Jerry Tomberlin and Provost Dr. L. Pauline Rankin, became effective on July 1, 2024.
Bowker’s deep roots at Carleton, where she has been a professor of psychology for over two decades, will serve her well as she steps into the new role.
I’ve been part of this community for 23 years, and I care deeply about our amazing students, faculty, staff, and alumni. I want to help provide an extraordinary education and foster progressive research and perspectives that the world needs, especially in these times.
Dr. Anne Bowker
As a researcher, she focuses on emerging adulthood, positive youth development, and life transitions, primarily through extracurricular activities like sports and their impact on self-esteem and leadership. Her most recent work examines factors affecting the transition to university, and she is also co-authoring a book on menopause.
Bowker has previously served as the Chair of the Department of Psychology and FASS’s Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Enrollment. Most notably, from August 2023 to June 2024, Bowker acted as Interim Dean of FASS. During that time, she initiated strategic plans to enhance research collaboration, enriched community engagement, and bolstered FASS’s existing emphasis on interdisciplinarity. And now, Bowker is focused on her priority of advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
“We must make real commitments to equity and inclusion and be open to approaching this process differently than we have in the past,” says Bowker. “This will require time and deep reflection, and it also necessitates committing material resources to adequately dismantle inequities at our university while also offering support to the many people in our FASS community who are affected by these structures.”
Bowker’s approach to governance begins with conversation, and she reports that she has already had numerous productive discussions with FASS community members about the Faculty’s current state and future.

Recognizing the multidimensional and ever evolving dynamics of the university environment, Bowker views the post-pandemic shift as a critical moment for implementing meaningful changes and addressing the developing requirements of the university community, particularly the needs of FASS students.
In FASS, it’s in our nature to question everything, and that’s a strength. We need to ask big, sometimes uncomfortable questions, even about enduring fabrics and formats, if it means we might enrich our students’ experience. The world is changing, and we shouldn’t be afraid to adapt, to be resilient.
Dr. Anne Bowker
Bowker has begun the process of creating a new strategic plan for FASS by meeting with representatives from all units – faculty, students, staff. She emphasizes the importance of collaboration moving forward, highlighting the need to share experiences, beliefs, and aspirations.
She sees the potential of the Faculty’s interdisciplinarity to offer students a personalized and specialized journey through its diverse programs.
“How can we develop a pathway for students who are captivated by the nuances of, let’s say, identity, or mental health, or the climate crisis? In a lot of ways our Faculty is perfectly positioned,” she says. “Because in so many of these cases we have several faculty members in FASS researching these topics from various disciplinary angles – each of whom will teach students something unique and important. For example, let’s say a student is interested in the impacts of the climate crisis on language revival – I’d like to be able to address this type of distinctive interest, concern, and professional ambition with our academic programming and the depth of our faculty members’ expertise.”
“The world is complicated,” reiterates Bowker, “and I believe intersecting viewpoints from the arts and social sciences can help shape and reshape our understanding of ourselves, each other, and our world, helping us strive for better futures.”
Impactful Research
Speaking on the breadth and impact of FASS researchers, Bowker highlights the influential work of scholars like Dr. Amrita Hari from the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation, who focuses on migration and identity, examining how gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability shape the world. Hari’s recent collaboration with Dr. Luciara Nardon from the Sprott School of Business explored the challenges of immigrant workforce integration in Canada and proposed new pathways for research and practical support.
“Dr. Hari’s research illuminates the complex intersections of identity, migration, and work, offering meaningful insights that help mobilize real change,” says Bowker.
Bowker also points to the interdisciplinary and intersectional research of Dr. Barbara Leckie from the English Department, who founded the Carleton Climate Commons to examine the climate crisis from a humanities perspective and to Sociology Professor Dr. Jackie Kennelly who focuses on youth homelessness in Canada. Bowker is also enthusiastic about Dr. Shawn Graham (History) and Dr. Laura Banducci’s (Greek and Roman Studies) launch of ‘StudioDH,’ a new component of the MA in Digital Humanities program that will allow students and researchers to engage in community-based research through public “pop-up” labs, exploring the impact of digital technologies on culture and society to address community needs with creative solutions.
“Before becoming Dean, I probably couldn’t have told you what the Digital Humanities are,” she jokes. “Now, I understand that it uses various approaches and perspectives from the humanities to better comprehend our increasingly digital world. In this time of transition, when we have growing questions about the implications of AI and social media on life and work, I’m very excited about StudioDH. In many ways, I believe this discipline and this lab are representative of the future of higher education which will require a reinvigorated and intensified focus on the humanities.”
Reinforcing our Strengths
Bowker is uncertain about what exactly the next four years of her tenure as Dean will bring, but she is confident in FASS’s strength in collaboration and community building, and thus plans to foster these capabilities. With a return to in-person events and numerous new ways to connect online, she will enhance existing initiatives and explore new ones.
A recent example is her ‘Coffee with a Prof’ project, established during her time as Associate Dean which encouraged students to engage with professors casually over coffee, nurturing meaningful connections outside the classroom that might contribute to student success before and after graduation. Bowker has expanded this initiative to include herself and other deans.
She also spearheaded the Arts and Social Sciences Fair, an annual recruitment event at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre which highlights FASS undergraduate programs and introduces current and prospective students to the vibrant community within the Faculty.
“I wanted to showcase FASS’s welcoming and brilliant people,” explains Bowker. “To have all of our diverse units in the same space highlights the richness of life within our Faculty.”
Finding Balance
Though she has a lot on her plate, Bowker is adamant that she couldn’t have accomplished what she has so far without the help of support staff in the Office of the Dean of FASS.
“Our Manager of Faculty Operations, Cheryl Murphy is amazing. Without Cheryl I wouldn’t have made it past my first three months as Interim Dean. She continues to show me the ropes, and thanks to her, I feel like I can breathe a little bit and feel more confident in my role.”
Bowker would like to set the example in FASS of the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
“I have to remember that being Dean is one part of my life, not the only part,” she says. “And that’s important because, like anybody, days do not always go perfectly. And then I go for a walk with my dog Milo, read a book, watch Shetland on BritBox, or just spend time with people I love, and I feel more myself, more grounded. We all need to be able to step away a bit, have some lighthearted fun, and reflect on our everyday accomplishments.”

So far, Bowker’s favourite moments during her Deanship have been at convocation ceremonies. For anyone who crosses paths with Bowker at convocation, her pride and sense of responsibility are obvious. She devotes tremendous effort and time into learning the pronunciations of graduating FASS students’ names.
“Seeing the students cross the stage with their families cheering them on fills me with pride. I’m so happy for them and their success, and it reaffirms my commitment to serving the FASS community. It also delights and comforts me to know that we have another Carleton Arts and Social Sciences graduate out in the world who is making a difference,” she says.
“This is what ultimately made me decide to pursue the job of Dean – the students, the people. It’s a ton of work, but every morning, I’m excited to go into the office and to connect with everyone.”