In 1947 Avard was appointed dean of the newly created College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah. He created three heroic statues to be placed in Statuary Hall in the Capitol Building in Washington DC - Marcus Whitman, pioneer physician of the Pacific Northwest, Esther Morris, women's right advocate of Wyoming, and John Burke, governor of North Dakota, Supreme Court Justice, and US Treasurer. Avard also sculpted a monument of Daniel C. Jackling, who developed the Utah Copper Company. This was placed in the Utah State Capitol.

Avard also began work on other monuments of Abraham Lincoln. He erected a heroic bronze in New Salem Village, Illinois, another at Lincoln Square in Chicago entitled "The Great Chicago Lincoln", and another called "Lincoln the Friendly Neighbor" in Berwyn, Illinois. At Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Avard made bronze panels commemorating the Lincoln-Douglas debates. And finally, Avard placed four busts of Lincoln in the Ford Theater Museum - the youth, the railsplitter, the lawyer, and the president.

Avard did many portraits of notable individuals from around the world. He also sculpted the Angel Moroni which was placed atop many LDS temples. In Manti, Utah he placed the Mortal Moroni on the grounds of the temple.

For the Utah Centennial, Dr. Fairbanks contructed a Pony Express which was displayed in the parade. This sculpture depicts a young rider starting on a fresh horse in front of an old man with the worn out horse. It is one of the few tributes to the men who guarded the stations of the Pony Express, many of whom lost their lives. The Pony Express for the Utah Centennial was a temporary sculpture, made of plaster and displayed in many parades throughout Utah until the piece eventually deteriorated. Avard's sons have recreated this great work, and it was place at This is the Place State Park in Salt Lake City. Years later, William Harrah commissioned Avard to create a "single rider" pony express which was placed at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe and later in Reno. The one in Lake Tahoe remains, but the one in Reno has since been moved.