Our Mission
The Ann Ida Gannon, BVM Center for Women and Leadership advances women’s leadership and social justice through reflective leadership formation, impactful research, and engagement in a vibrant intellectual community. By fostering leadership, scholarship, and collective action, the Center equips persons and communities to help shape a just and humane world.
Vision
A just and humane world shaped by women’s leadership, scholarship, and collective action.
Leadership
The Gannon Center’s Leadership Formation pillar advances women’s leadership and a more socially just world through education and training in reflective, value-based leadership. We believe authentic leadership is shaped by a person’s life stories, strengths, and values – including the challenges and opportunities unique to women – that influence growth, resilience, and purpose. Through our signature programs such as the Gannon Scholars and Gannon Graduate Leaders, we support people in reflecting on their journeys and aspirations to better understand their leadership identities and vocational calling. This formation is both personal and collective. By fostering a deliberate progression from “I” to “We” in our programming, we connect self-awareness and purpose to the collaborative skills needed to advance social justice and meaningful change on local and global levels.
Research
The Gannon Center’s Research pillar promotes investigations that deepen our understanding of women’s leadership and social justice issues and broadly advances women’s contributions to scholarship, research, and intellectual life. Inspired by the BVM tradition of education that encourages persons to think critically and to respond to the pressing needs of their times, the Center prioritizes research that centers marginalized voices and promotes equity. However, all types of research are supported across our undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research programs. These programs include Women in Science Enabling Research (WISER), Johnson Scholars, Gannon Faculty Fellows, and Visiting Scholars. The Center also advances archival research and inquiry through the Women and Leadership Archives (WLA), which preserves and amplifies the voices and contributions of women leaders and social justice movements that form its historical foundation.
Community
The Gannon Center’s Community pillar strengthens and expands our intellectually vibrant, supportive, and action-oriented community, which is committed to advancing women’s leadership and social justice. Rooted in the legacies of Mundelein College and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs), our approach to community-building emphasizes mentorship, dialogue, collective care, and enduring relationships across generations and geographies. These relational layers are actively interwoven through participation in community events and collaborative initiatives such as the Baum Speaker Series. Participants across our programs join committees and advisory boards and contribute to the exchange of expertise, networks, and resources that are unique to who they are as whole people. Across our programming and events, our approach to building community mutually reinforces the connections between leadership formation, research, and service – amplifying personal and collective impacts while fostering a lasting sense of belonging and purpose.