Joanne Catherine Weber is a Deaf Canadian academic and researcher who serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. She is Canada’s first Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Deaf Education, a position through which she has gained national recognition for advancing arts-based and bilingual approaches to deaf education. Her career combines scholarship, creative work, and community leadership, reflecting her longstanding advocacy for holistic approaches that consider the linguistic, cultural, and artistic dimensions of deaf learners’ experiences.
Early Life and Education
Weber completed her PhD in Education in 2018, focusing on arts-based language and literacy interventions with deaf youth. For this work, she received the Governor General Academic Gold Medal at the University of Regina’s convocation in June 2019, an honour recognizing the outstanding quality of her doctoral research[1][4]. Her studies emphasized how arts-based instruction could enhance phonological and morphological awareness, literacy development, and overall communicative competence among students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. This line of inquiry became a foundation for her later research program[3].
Academic Career
Following her doctoral studies, Weber joined the University of Alberta, where she is now an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education. In 2022, she was named Canada’s first-ever Canada Research Chair in Deaf Education, a landmark appointment both for her career and for the field as a whole[1][5]. As chairholder, she has worked toward building a comprehensive blueprint for Deaf education in Canada, advocating for bilingual bimodal models that include both sign language and spoken/written modalities. Her approach aims to address the persistent risk of language deprivation faced by many deaf children while embracing diverse cultural and linguistic resources[5].
Research and Contributions
Weber’s research spans deaf education, applied linguistics, sign language studies, and arts education. A central theme of her work is the use of theatre, performance, and creative expression as pedagogical tools to support literacy and language development. Through arts-based strategies, she has sought to foster not only linguistic fluency but also cultural identity and empowerment within Deaf communities[1][3]. Her scholarship critiques binary frameworks in deaf education that pit spoken language against sign language, arguing instead for approaches that value the full range of communicative possibilities available to deaf learners[5].
Her publications, many of which are cited in education and linguistics research, cover topics such as open educational resources for Deaf learners, bilingual education, visual literacies, and the politics of language policy in Deaf education[1].
Creative Work and Community Engagement
Beyond academia, Weber has established herself as a writer and community leader. Her published works include The Pear Orchard (poetry) and The Deaf House (creative non-fiction), both of which were finalists for Saskatchewan Book Awards in 2007 and 2013, respectively[1]. She is also the founder and artistic director of the Deaf Crows Collective, a theatre company that brings together Deaf, Hard of Hearing, late-deafened, and hearing actors to create performances that highlight Deaf culture and foster dialogue between Deaf and hearing audiences[1].
Through these roles, Weber has combined artistic practice with advocacy, ensuring that Deaf voices and experiences are represented not only in classrooms and academic discourse but also in the wider cultural landscape.
Recognition
Weber’s recognition as Canada’s first Canada Research Chair in Deaf Education underscores the significance of her contributions to both scholarship and practice. The honour reflects her pioneering role in shaping national conversations around bilingual bimodal deaf education and arts-based pedagogy. Her earlier award of the Governor General Academic Gold Medal further highlights the academic excellence that underpins her career[1][4][5].
- University of Alberta. (n.d.). Joanne Weber – Faculty profile.
- ORCID. (n.d.). Joanne C. Weber – ORCID profile.
- McMaster, G. (2022, May 9). Think of the whole child, not just their ears. UAlberta Folio
- Solomko, S. (2021, February 27). Former Wilkie resident named as Canada’s first-ever research chair in deaf education. SaksToday.
- Giesbrecht, L. (2021, January, 11). Regina woman named first Canada Research Chair in Deaf Education. Regina Leader-Post.
