Judith Bernier

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Education

Ph.D. in Adult Education and Human Resource Development
Florida International University, Miami, Florida

Areas of Expertise

• Leadership
• Program Assessment
• Strategic Planning

Professional Activities

Dr. Judith Bernier received her Doctoral degree in Adult Education and Human Resource Development from Florida International University, School of Education and Human Development. Her interest in training and development and her professional career designing and facilitating specialized corporate curricula led her to pursue a terminal degree in education, focusing on individual and organizational development and performance improvement.  In 2012, she transitioned her management career to a full-time academic career as an Instructor and Associate Director of Academic Programs with the Center for Labor Research and Studies, FIU.

She was appointed Center for Labor Research and Studies Director in 2015. As Director, she stewards all center aspects, including directing all academic programs, program planning and assessment, research, teaching, and community engagement. In her roles as Academic Director and Center Director, she has increased the number of fully online classes from 1 to 27, global learning designated classes from 1 to 9, quality matter designated classes from 0 to 4, and expanded the delivery format of classes from predominantly face-to-face to include fully online hybrid, FIU LIVE modalities. She also designed and successfully proposed a new undergraduate conflict certificate, which started in 2014. Between 2018-2023, 63 Undergraduate Conflict Certificates have been awarded.   These programmatic changes have significantly increased the center’s revenue since her directorship.    

Dr. Bernier teaches various courses, including labor studies, diversity, conflict resolution, mediation techniques, and vocational education. She is recognized within the FIU community for her expertise in conflict resolution, labor relations, and adult learning techniques. She is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator and a Qualified Arbitrator who uses her expertise to create immersive and innovative learning experiences for students in her conflict resolution courses and the center’s conflict certificate programs. Her expertise in conflict resolution, labor, and employment makes her befitted to uphold the public’s trust as the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust Chairperson.  

Her research focuses on equitable access to advocacy, education, career mobility, leadership, and culturally competent. Her most recent 2022 book chapter focused on Reflecting upon the Rise, Fall, and Re-emergence of Unions: Critical Approaches to the Organization of Labor. The chapter was published in The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Human Resource Development and was awarded “best book” at the 2023 Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) Conference.

 As the Center Director, she directs the publication of the center’s annual research report, the State of Working Florida, which is part of a network of regional research reports on the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States. This year marks the 20^th edition of the center’s annual report.

 

As a Graduate Faculty, she serves on several dissertation committees, mentoring and supervising 26 doctoral students. She is a peer reviewer for academic journals in her field. She serves her local community as Chairperson of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust (COE) and has been an Ethics Commissioner since 2014. At the state level, she has served as the Discipline Coordinator for Course Numbering System (SCNS), Florida State Department of Education: Statewide Numbering System since 2015. She served as Co-Chair for the Women Worker’s Caucus with the United Association of Labor Education (UALE) for six years from 2016 to 2022.

Courses Taught

• Labor Issues and Conflict Management

Publications