Faculty of Law

Dr. Laura Reimer

  • Laura Reimer, Director of Program Development

    Photo credit: Dr. Amar Khoday

  • Director of Program Development; Director of the Desautels Business Accelerator, Chair of the Business Advisory Committee of the Faculty of Law

    Phone: 204-474-6155
    Email: Laura.Reimer@umanitoba.ca

Biography

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Dr. Laura Reimer is the Executive Director of Program Development and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law where she works collaboratively with faculty leadership and colleagues to identify, develop, and support new opportunities for program enhancement and strategic growth.. She is also Executive Director of the Desautels Business Law Accelerator and Chair of the Faculty of Law Business Advisory Committee.

Dr. Reimer’s interdisciplinary career spans legal education, public administration and public policy, peace and conflict studies, Indigenous education, governance, and organizational development. A former Assistant Professor of Political Studies at the University of Winnipeg, she received the Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. She holds a PhD from the University of Manitoba and completed a postdoctoral teaching fellowship at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. A trained mediator, her scholarship explores the intersection of governance, leadership, conflict transformation, and institutional design, with a particular interest in translating theory into positive institutional change. She has authored or co-edited eight books, nine children's books,  and published widely on governance and leadership, conflict transformation, reconciliation, and Indigenous relations.

Dr. Reimer brings extensive governance and strategic leadership experience to her work. She currently serves as a Commissioner of the Manitoba Law Reform Commission, Vice-Chair of the J.W. Dafoe Foundation Board, Past President of the Canadian Academy of Legal Studies in Business, and Chair of Operation Walk Manitoba. A former elected school trustee and former member of the University of Manitoba Board of Governors Executive Committee, she is also a qualified sailor with the American Sailing Association.

News and stories

Interview with MHR Footsteps

Episode 3: Do you really know your ABCs? The curious connections between education and human rights

Inerview with Dr. Laura Reimer

Research areas

Policy and Governance, Indigenous Education, Reconciliation, Education Policy

Selected publications

Authored Works

Monographs

  • Reimer, L. Leadership and School Boards II: Guarding the Trust in an Era of Community Engagement. (2015). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education.
  • Reimer, L. (2008). Leadership and School Boards: Guarding the Trust. Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield Education.

Edited Books (Refereed)

  • Reimer, L., and Standish, K. (2023). Perspectives on Justice, Indigeneity, Gender, and Security in Human Rights Research. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Reimer, L., and Chrismas, R. (2020). Our Shared Future: Windows into Canada’s Reconciliation Journey. New York, NY: Lexington.
    *Nominated for the Manitoba Book Awards
  • Reimer, L., Standish, K., and Thiessen, C. (2019). Expanding Edges of Narrative Inquiry: Research from the Mauro Institute. New York, NY: Lexington.
  • Reimer, L., Standish, K., and Thiessen, C. (Eds). (2018). Conflict Transformation, Storytelling, and Peacebuilding: Research from the Mauro Centre. New York, NY: Lexington Books.
  • Reimer, L., Schmitz, C., Janke, E, Askerov, A., Strahl, B., & Matyok T., (2015). Transformative Change: An Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies. New York, NY: Lexington Books.

Journal Articles (Refereed)

  • Byrne, S., Levasseur, K., & Reimer, L. (2022) “Building Peace in Northern Ireland: Hopes for the Future” Humanity & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/01605976221107093
  • Reimer, L., and Dunsford, J. (2017). “Relationship-centred Healthcare as a Lean Intervention.” International Journal for Quality in Healthcare, 1 – 5.
  • Reimer, L. “Transformative Frameworks: Designing Research for and as Conflict Transformation” Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies. (Volume 47, No.1, 2016), 85 – 108.
  • Reimer, L. (2007). “Policy Leadership.” Manitoba Journal of Research in Education, 1(1). 1-4.
  • Reimer, L. (2014). “Conflict Transformation: Canadian Democracy and Aboriginal Relations” Global Journal of Peace Research and Praxis. 1(1), 32 – 45.

Community involvement

  • Commissioner, Manitoba Law Reform Commission, 2022 -2025
  • Secretary, St Paul’s College Assembly, 2022
  • Member, St. Paul’s College Assembly, 2017-2022
  • Member, Governance Reform Committee, University of Manitoba Board of Governors, 2021-2022
  • Vice-Chair, Finance, Administration and Human Resources Committee, University of Manitoba Board of Governors, 2020-2022
  • Member, University of Manitoba Board of Governors, 2019-2022
  • Governance Chair, Mediation Services Board of Directors, 2016-2019
  • Associate Editor, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 2020-2022

Awards

  • Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Winnipeg, 2017.
  • Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA, 2013-2014