About

Maria Lombard is the assistant dean for academic affairs in the office of the senior associate dean and chief academic officer. Lombard works to streamline and manage academic and faculty affairs initiatives, including the faculty review and promotion process, faculty searches and hiring, academic integrity, curriculum review and planning, and key academic events. 

Lombard received her PhD from Purdue University in English, rhetoric, and composition, and has an MA in English literature and a BS in English education from the University of South Alabama. Her research focuses on the field of writing studies, with interests in second-language writing pedagogy, minority and gendered voices, and travel writing. Her scholarly publications include refereed articles and proceedings, as well as book chapters, on belonging, displacement, and motherhood. Her recent edited volume, Reclaiming Migrant Motherhood: Identity, Belonging, and Displacement in a Global Context (Lexington Books, 2022) examines the representations and lived experiences of migrant, refugee, and otherwise displaced mothers in literature, film, and original ethnographic research. 

A dedicated member of Northwestern Qatar since 2012, Lombard has been a faculty member and teacher, a leader of curricular excellence—developing and leading the school’s First-Year Writing Program.