About Founder

Margaret J Weber has over 40 years of experience in education, 37 of which were in higher education. Serving as a faculty member at both Oklahoma State University and Pepperdine University, Margaret taught courses in leadership theory, personal leadership, and global leadership. With over 30 years in administration, 13 of which were as Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, she developed programs in faculty development, social entrepreneurship and change, women in leadership, and diversity development. Having served in both private and public higher education, Margaret understands collaboration with community partnerships.

Margaret is committed to advocacy for women and supports culturally appropriate change. While at Pepperdine, the Masters in Social Entrepreneurship and Change program was started under her leadership to prepare students to work at grassroots levels for social change. Additionally, Aliento, the Center for Latina/o Communities began during her tenure there. Aliento is committed to working with Latina/o families in support of mental health.

Margaret continues to participate in Pepperdine’s Global Leadership Internship experience for the Social Entrepreneurship Program and has led several groups of master and doctoral students on their leadership experiences in Asia, Africa and Central America.

Through the Digital Women’s Project, Margaret is leading a group of doctoral students in the study of Women in Leadership: Work-Family Integration. The project has captured the joy and struggle of over 600 women leaders as they share their stories and goals for the future. These leaders represent the United States and several international countries. The Project explores the major themes of identity, relational style, motivation and goals, and adaptive style. With her students, Margaret developed a conference on Women and Leadership to deeper explore the issue of life balance.

Margaret serves as a Senior Fellow with the Center for Women, Faith and Leadership at the Institute for Global Engagement. In this role, Margaret travels the world working with local government partners, religious leaders, and scholars to build sustainable environments, ensuring that people of all faith backgrounds, as well as those that do not identify with any faith, have full freedom of conscience and can participate as equal citizens in public life.

Currently, Margaret is leading a project on gender, faith and identity formation, interviewing women from multi-faith perspectives from around the globe. Many of these women are engaged in peacekeeping roles within their countries. It is interesting to note the similarities between the faith perspectives for the role of gender in their identity formation.

Throughout her career Margaret has advocated for equity, supporting gender and racial diversity programs; and supporting young women as they faced family and career decisions, encouraging and promoting them to find their “voice.”

Holding a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Missouri–Columbia and a Master of Education in Child Development from Eastern Illinois University, Margaret serves on Leadership Boards at both universities. She has received Alumni Awards from Eastern Illinois University, Graduate Teaching Award from University of Missouri, Graduate Mentoring Award from Oklahoma State University and Women’s Leadership Award from Pepperdine University. She continues to serve on the Advancement and Alumni Boards of both her alma maters.

Margaret is active in her faith community in Camdenton, Missouri, where she lives with her husband, Joseph. Sharing time with their sons and families is her greatest joy.