The Ann Ida Gannon, BVM Center for Women and Leadership invites applications for the revitalized “Gannon Faculty Leaders” program. The program supports faculty who will advance the Gannon Center's vision of a just and humane world shaped by women's leadership, scholarship, and collective action.  

Who Should Apply and Why? 

The program welcomes applications from tenure-track and tenured faculty whose goals align with the Gannon Center’s three central pillars of leadership formation, research, and community. 

Leadership Formation: We seek leaders who are ready to deepen their understanding of their strengths, values, leadership identity, and sense of purpose through reflection, dialogue, and practice. Faculty Leaders will do this by participating in the “Gannon Leadership Collaborative” program, a leadership formation cohort that brings together a small group of Loyola faculty, staff, and global academic and community partners. Through a shared evidence-based leadership curriculum, participants will learn from one another's scholarship, professional experiences, and leadership journeys. The program culminates in participants creating a personalized leadership compass that assists with discernment of their future leadership paths. Additionally, Faculty Leaders will be included in the Gannon Center’s new “Women’s Integrative Leadership Laboratory” (WILL), where they will work with Gannon students, staff, and partners to shape the evolution of the Gannon Center's distinctive model of women's leadership formation. 

Research/Scholarship: We aim to invest in scholarship that is rigorous, impactful, and mission-centered. Specifically, we are interested in supporting faculty whose projects will further our understanding of women's leadership and social justice or, more broadly, advance women's contributions to scholarship, research, and intellectual life. Through flexible research support, Faculty Leaders will engage meaningful research questions, utilize ethical and community-informed approaches, and communicate findings to advance knowledge and potentially inform practice, policy, and positive social change. 

Community: We aim to cultivate an intellectually vibrant community where scholars and students learn with, and from, one another through dialogue, mentorship, and collective care. Faculty Leaders will do this by actively contributing to “Gannon Center Community Nights”, mentoring students, curating events and shaping our leadership formation programming through the “Women’s Integrative Leadership Laboratory” (WILL).  Through these shared experiences, participants will contribute their expertise, strengthen connections across disciplines and generations, and help foster a community committed to advancing women's leadership, scholarship, and social justice. 

What Faculty Leaders Receive 

• Appointment as a Gannon Faculty Leader for the academic year, which can be included on a CV.  

• Support for research. Faculty leaders receive one course release and up to $5,000 for research funding.  

• Office space in Piper Hall, a beautiful historical building on the lakefront.  

• Participation in the Faculty Leadership Formation Seminar. 

• Collaboration with students, Visiting Scholars, alumni, faculty, and community partners. 

• Visibility through Gannon Center programming and communications. 

What Faculty Leaders Contribute 

Faculty Leaders are expected to actively contribute to the Gannon Center's mission through engagement in Leadership Formation, Research, and Community. Specifically, Faculty Leaders are expected to: 

• Advance a significant scholarly or creative project that aligns with the Gannon Center's Research pillar. 

• Share their scholarship or expertise through at least one Gannon-sponsored lecture, workshop, panel discussion, or comparable public event.  

• Contribute ideas, feedback, and expertise that strengthen the Center's programs, partnerships, strategic initiatives, and community.  

• Participate in the “Gannon Scholar-Practitioners” leadership formation cohort. 

• Submit an end-of-year reflection describing scholarly progress, leadership development, and community engagement with the Gannon Center. 

“Gannon Leadership Collaborative”: Leadership Formation for Faculty and Professionals 

Faculty Leaders will participate in a year-long “Gannon Leadership Collaborative”, facilitated by the Carolyn Farrell, BVM, Professor in Women and Leadership, Dr. Paula Tallman. This cohort will include Faculty Leaders, Gannon Center staff, visiting scholars, and global partners. Over the academic year, the cohort will engage in brief readings and reflective exercises that develop core leadership skills and culminate in the creation of a leadership compass, rooted in the individual’s unique life story, strengths, and values.  

The cohort will engage in two meetings per month, which are approximately one hour each. One of those meetings is the “Gannon Community Night”, which involves the entire Gannon community and features a guest speaker. The second meeting will be the cohort (5-6 faculty, staff, and global partners) led by Dr. Paula Tallman and facilitated via Zoom.  

Preparation for the second meeting includes brief readings and reflective exercises from key leadership texts including the True North Leadership Workbook (Craig et al., 2022), Dare to Lead (Brown, 2018), and Values-Based Leadership (Kraemer, 2025), which cover topics including leadership identity, self-awareness, purpose, discernment, mentorship, coaching, and creating lasting impact.  

Additional Opportunities for Engagement  

Faculty Leaders are invited to consider opportunities to:  

• Mentor students.  

• Offer guest lectures. 

• Host Visiting Scholars or speakers for the “Baum Women’s Leadership Series” 

• Serve on advisory groups. 

• Develop multi-disciplinary collaborations. 

Applying  

Applications are open now with a deadline for applications and recommendations on September 1st 2026.   

To submit an application for the Gannon Faculty leaders, please fill out the application packet (see button below).  

Additionally, please have a letter of recommendation for the program, submitted by your recommender (see endorsement button below). 

Decisions for admission to the “Gannon Faculty Leaders” will be emailed out by the end of September 2026.  

If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Paula Tallman: ptallman@luc.edu.