On May 5, Saint Mary’s College announced Margaret Gower, assistant professor of religious studies and theology, as its new vice president for mission.
Gower attended Mercyhurst Preparatory School in Erie, Pennsylvania, founded and sponsored by Catholic sisters. She later went to Mount Holyoke College, an all-women’s college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she majored in religion and minored in history. She then graduated with a master’s of theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and received a doctorate in Christian theology, history of Christianity and spirituality from Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
“All through graduate school, I knew that the thing that I wanted most in my professional life was to work at a women’s college. I went to a women’s college. It had a deep and formational impact on me,” Gower said. “I think women’s colleges are really rare and really special places, so I knew that this was the kind of community I wanted to be a part of.”
Since 2012, Gower has held different positions at the College, including as interim vice president for mission from 2021 to 2022. She discussed the challenges of this role, especially those related to COVID-19.
“In some ways, it was a really unusual time. Even in the midst of those special challenges, there were wonderful opportunities … We were experimental with our kinds of prayer opportunities and spiritual formation opportunities for students,” Gower said.
Gower helped develop the Center for the Study of Spirituality.
“We thought about acknowledging and honoring the Center for the Study of Spirituality as a really important resource, something like a scholarly hub, a hub of intellectual and scholarly and academic work on spirituality,” she said.
She also worked to strengthen connections across the tri-campus community.
“We affirmed our relationship with the sisters and the tri-campus community and the networks of Catholic organizations that we know we’re embedded within,” Gower said.
Throughout her various roles at Saint Mary’s, she has also secured religious artifacts and art to be displayed around the campus. She emphasized the importance of broadening the way people see art and the mediums they are presented with.
“I think that the images that we see in the halls and on the walls of our campus community are … one way that we tell our story to ourselves and to visitors,” she said. “We added a lot of different images of Mary to campus, but they were different kinds of images, created by artists of all different identities and experiences.”
Gower went on sabbatical during the spring semester as part of the Visiting Scholar Programme at the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies in Amman, Jordan.
“I went to the Royal Institute to work on one of my areas of academic work, Christian theological notions of the common good and also religious reflection on friendship. I went to Amman thinking that I would work on Christian ideas about the common good and learn about Islamic notions of the common good. I think I learned more about friendship, though … just what the scholars there were interested in [and] what they asked me to offer presentations on,” she said.
Gower plans to focus on serving both the Center for Faith, Action and Ministry (CFAM) and the Center for the Study of Spirituality. She also wants to find ways to narrate the history of the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the College.
“I’m really looking forward to being a part of the leadership team at Saint Mary’s because this enables me to work closely with colleagues [and] students across departments and divisions,” Gower said. “I’ll offer special attention to the two centers that are within what we call the division for mission. I think these are some of the jewels in the crown of Saint Mary’s College.”
She expressed her excitement and gratitude for her new role and said she was inspired by the hard work of the College administration and the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
“I feel very fortunate to be at a Catholic women’s college with such a robust and expansive notion of the liberal arts. I’m excited to be a part of Katie Conboy’s leadership team,” she said.
