Dr. Mary McFarland is co-founder and past President/ International Director of Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) Higher Education at the Margins (previously named Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins). As President/International Director, she developed an organization with a global team and led the design and implementation of a sustainable, scalable, and transferrable model for Jesuit higher education at the margins. She has taught on site in refugee camps and with internally displaced people in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In 2018 JWL was recognized as a major global work of the Jesuits.
Prior to JWL Dr. McFarland was Dean of the School of Professional Studies at Gonzaga University. With a vision for serving adult students, Dr. McFarland led the addition of new programs to the School, and at the invitation of the University President, led the learning on-line initiative for the University. Ethical leadership has been a cornerstone of her career.
Dr. McFarland served as an evaluator for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), and served as a Team Leader and evaluator for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). She has served on several Boards, has been an invited speaker including internationally, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow. In 2018 she received an honorary doctorate from Regis University, Denver Colorado.
Dr. McFarland considers her own education a gift and is committed to the life-long learning that occurs when teaching and learning with students. Her education background includes a bachelor’s from the University of Iowa, Master’s from the University of Portland, and a PhD from Gonzaga University.