Valerie Borum

Dr. Valerie Borum (she/her/hers) joined Toronto Metropolitan University as the new TMU School of Social Work Director in January 2020. She has experience as both a BSSW Program Director and an MSW Program Director. As a social work practitioner, she directed two programs, supervising social work and human service professionals serving individuals with intersecting identities (e.g., disability, race/ethnicity, gender, deafness).

Dr. Borum was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She completed her postdoctoral studies (e.g., focused on suicide and ethnoculture) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY. Dr. Borum received her Ph.D. in Social Work from Howard University's School of Social Work and her MSW from Gallaudet University. She received the Ester Ottley Fellowship, a one-year internship for one female student who most exemplifies qualities of leadership and humanity while at Howard University. While studying for her Master's in Social Work at Gallaudet University, all her instruction was in American Sign Language (ASL). She received her B.A. in Psychology with minors in Biology and Philosophy from Mundelein Women's College at Loyola University, Chicago, IL.

Dr. Borum's research and scholarship focus on the role of ethnoculture as a protective and promotive factor in health, mental health, and disabilities, with attention to populations of African descent. She studies the intersection of disabilities, deafness, and ethnoculture, with attention to Black/African American and Afro-Latinx/Black Hispanic families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. She also studies the intersection of 'whiteness' and anti-Blackness/anti-Black racism. She incorporates Womanist and Afrocentric research, scholarship, and education (pedagogy).

Dr. Borum is currently conducting research focusing on advocacy and families of colour as a research collaborator/consultant with the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Educational Research Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Borum continues to seek external funding for her research, scholarship, and creative activities.