Mary McFarland, Ph.D., R.N.

Dr. Mary McFarland served as Dean of the School of Professional Studies (now called the School of Leadership Studies) at Gonzaga University from 1998 to 2010. In 2010 she co-founded the global Jesuit initiative, Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM), now named Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) Higher Education at the Margins. Dr. McFarland served as the International Director (President) of JWL from 2010 to 2017 when she returned to Gonzaga as Professor in the Department of Nursing. During her time with JWL a global model, engaging faculty and University partners from around the world, was started and over 5,000 students who were refugees or internally displaced participated in Jesuit higher education. This work of the Jesuits continues to grow, and Gonzaga University is recognized as a lead University in support of JWL.

During her tenure as Dean, the BSN program in Nursing was started, several new Leadership programs were started, and Dr. McFarland was asked to lead the University’s entry in to on-line learning. By 2010 learning on-line was serving over a thousand graduate students a year.

Dr. McFarland has been a Fellow with Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Nurse Executives, and has served on corporate and on non-profit Boards. In December 2017 she will receive the Regis University honorary doctorate for her service to global Jesuit higher education.