Dr. Donna Hardy Cox was appointed associate vice-president (academic) students at Memorial University in November 2018 and started in the role on January 1, 2019.

Dr. Hardy Cox is a well-known, experienced member of the Memorial community, and a tenured-full professor in social work. She was the first female Memorial social work graduate to be named dean of the school, a position she held for six years. Before becoming a member of the university’s academic leadership team, Dr. Hardy Cox was an active student leader who served as vice president on the student union at Memorial, and later was the director of student development where she helped with the creation of the Student Volunteer Bureau and the Glenn Roy Blundon Centre.

Dr. Hardy Cox’s social work practice background includes 15 years of service in policy and program development and the administration of student development programs. She also has more than two decades of experience designing and delivering social work, higher education and professional development curriculum in online, distance, and face-to-face classrooms.

In her current role, Dr. Hardy Cox provides vision and strategic leadership to the benefit of undergraduate students and academic programming in a number of areas, including student academic outcomes; academic program renewal and innovation; academic policy and procedures and support services for all students. She works in collaboration on matters of academic programming and enrolment with deans in 11 faculties and schools on the St. John's campus, the three schools at Grenfell Campus, and the associate vice-president (Marine Institute) academic and student affairs, and with the associate vice president and dean of the School of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Hardy Cox has served as president of the national Student Affairs and Services Association, the Atlantic Association of College and University Student Services and the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services. Her research and scholarship have focussed on the administration of higher education to better serve and support student success, community capacity building with youth and, most recently, the history of social work in Newfoundland and Labrador. She was also co-editor of the books Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education and Achieving Student Success: Effective Student Services in Canadian Higher Education.

Dr. Hardy Cox’s formal education includes a BSW from Memorial University; a MSW from Carleton University; an Ed.D from the University of Maine; and a certificate in university management from the University of Manitoba. She has held visiting scholar and honorary research associate positions; was a professional affiliate at the Centre for Higher Education Research and Development, University of Manitoba, and the founding director of its Canadian Institute on Student Affairs and Services.