Mairead Sullivan

Mairead Sullivan, MSW, Ph.D. serves as Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Strategy and Special Assistant to the Provost for Artificial Intelligence. In this capacity, Sullivan provides leadership for undergraduate and graduate education, aligning academic programs and resources with the university's strategic priorities. Her portfolio includes the University Core Curriculum, the University Honors Program, and other undergraduate academic initiatives, while partnering with the school and college deans to support graduate education. Professor Sullivan also leads the university's strategy for academic innovation, including the thoughtful integration of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies into teaching, learning, and scholarship.

Professor Sullivan joined the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at LMU in 2016 and has served in a variety of leadership positions including co-chiar of the University Core Curriculum Committee, Department Chair for Women's and Gender Studies, and Director of the University Core Curriculum. Before joining LMU, Sullivan spent several years in LGBT and feminist public health, including roles at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC), Fenway Community Health (now Fenway Health), and the former Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, collaborating with the Women's Wellbeing Studies in the early years of The Fenway Institute. Professor Sullivan earned a PhD in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Emory University, an MSW from Boston University, and a BA in Religious Studies with a concentration in Women's Studies from the College of the Holy Cross.

Professor Sullivan's research grows out of dual training as a social and behavioral health researcher (MSW in Macro Social Work with an emphasis on community health) and as a scholar of cultural studies, specifically gender and sexuality studies. The work is situated squarely within feminist and queer cultural studies and the emerging subfield of critical health studies. She is currently the Principle Investigator on Habitable Worlds: A Disability, Ethics, and AI Think Tank, which is LMU's first Mellon Foundation funded institutional project at LMU, and directs the Viral Imaginaries Lab. Sullivan is the s the author of the Lammy-nominated, award-winning book Lesbian Death: Desire and Danger between Feminist and Queer (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). Her work has appeared in numerous academic journals including Signs, differences, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Feminist Theory.