Maura Belliveau Joins UMD as Assistant Dean for Diversity and Strategic Initiatives
Maura Belliveau, Ph.D., joined the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) as the inaugural assistant dean for diversity and strategic initiatives in June 2023.
A published and highly cited interdisciplinary social scientist working in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Belliveau brings to the role nearly 30 years of experience as a management and organizations professor focused on the social, psychological, and structural processes that generate and impede access, opportunity and equity. In 2019, she joined the University at Buffalo as a full-time administrator where she was the inaugural director of the Center for Diversity Innovation and the UB Distinguished Visiting Scholars program.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with CMNS’s incredibly talented students, faculty, staff and leadership to further the college’s mission and contribute to achieving greater diversity, equity and inclusion within CMNS as part of the university’s strategic focus on reimagining learning, tackling grand challenges, investing in people and communities, and advancing the public good,” Belliveau said.
In her new role as assistant dean for diversity and strategic initiatives, Belliveau will lead the research, design, implementation, management and assessment of a new, collaboratively developed strategic plan for the college, which will align with the university’s recently released strategic plan. She will also serve as the college’s diversity officer and develop and implement policies and programs that educate and engage the entire CMNS community and advance the college’s commitment to DEI.
“I want to thank the members of the CMNS Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, which strongly recommended that I create this new position on the college's leadership team,” said CMNS Dean Amitabh Varshney. “I am thrilled that we were able to recruit such an experienced professional to the role. Maura has the perfect blend of expertise in strategic planning and implementation as well as diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Before joining the University at Buffalo, Belliveau held tenure-track/tenured faculty positions in management at leading research institutions including Duke University, Texas A&M University and Emory University, as well as at a teaching-focused institution (Long Island University) where she taught and mentored a uniquely socioeconomically and racially diverse undergraduate and graduate student population from across the greater New York metro area.
Throughout her faculty career, Belliveau has conducted and published organizational strategy and diversity research and been deeply engaged in diversity teaching and service, earning recognition for her distinct contributions to student success. Her research insights on inequality have been featured in The Economist, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and on NPR, and she contributed to an influential U.S. Department of Labor-commissioned report on glass ceiling barriers.
At the University at Buffalo, Belliveau developed and delivered evidence-based diversity training, events and consulting in support of DEI work across the university including in large STEM departments. In less than two years, the center held more than 70 events, trainings and consultations, serving more than 20 academic departments and programs and reaching more than 3,400 participants.
Building on the foundation of those collaborations and programs, Belliveau also launched and led the center’s Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program, which annually recruited a cohort of highly accomplished, historically underrepresented faculty members to engage in social justice scholarly and creative work, as well as mentoring and collegial engagement. The program has been recognized for its success as a faculty recruiting initiative and as a model of comprehensive support for the inclusion, retention and success of minoritized faculty and DEI culture change that enhances student belongingness and experience.
“The common thread across my career has been to leverage my combined expertise in the science of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice and organizational/management science to create more just and supportive learning and working spaces,” Belliveau said. “It has been uniquely meaningful to use my capabilities within higher education, diagnosing and effecting change in processes, practices, cultures, and structures to increase representation, inclusion, and success of students, faculty, and staff and enhance institutional reputation. I’m honored to be a member of the CMNS and UMD community.”
Belliveau earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in organizational behavior from UC Berkeley and her bachelor’s degree in psychology and history from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Prior to entering academia, she worked in multiple technology firms with ties to Harvard and MIT. At Cambridge Technology Group (a startup that went public as Cambridge Technology Partners), Belliveau was responsible for leading the process of identifying strategic opportunities with Fortune 500 and not-for-profit clients and managing diverse, cross-functional, inter-organizational teams of software engineers, executives and end users in completing projects to realize those opportunities.
