Margaret J Weber, PhD

As an advocate for women of faith to become influencers and share their voices, she is excited to bring her expertise in women’s leadership, religion and identity, and gender roles to the Program Director at IGE’s Center for Women, Faith & Leadership (CWFL). In her new role, Margaret advises on issues of gender, religion, and peacekeeping. She manages the CWFL Fellowship Program (which focuses on leadership advancement for women religious leaders) and is an advocate for advancing the leadership of women of faith for marginalized populations.  She has been involved with CWFL since 2014 as a Senior Fellow.  Before joining IGE, Dr. Weber served as Dean and Professor at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) at Pepperdine University and served in leadership positions at Oklahoma State University.

As a global citizen, Dr. Weber focused on the development and participation of graduate students in global programs, including an international leadership course in the Organizational Leadership doctoral program and the Global Leadership Internship in the Social Entrepreneurship and Change master's program. Examples of student experiences she led on educational/immersion trips include India with a focus on Corporate Social Responsibility, to Kenya to partner with NGOs for responding to teen addiction in the urban slums, and to Ethiopia to partner with a faith-based group serving in the government projects to educate young children in the slums.

Caring about diversity issues, especially gender and racial/ethnic diversity, Dr. Weber initiated several projects at Pepperdine University, increasing the diversity of the student body, the staff, and the faculty. She founded the Women and Leadership: Work-Life Integration Project with interviews with over 700 women globally and 25 dissertations published. An important finding from the research is that women are hesitant to share their voices until later in life and wish they had been comfortable sharing their leadership perspective and faith at a younger age.  She is the Founder of a consulting group, Influencing Voices, which advocates for women to share their voice through their leadership opportunities.

Dr. Weber served on the Board of the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles (one of the oldest and largest missions) that serves the homeless. Her particular focus is women and children who have experienced trauma and abuse and are homeless.

She started her career as a teacher in a rural community in central Illinois where poverty, public housing, and lack of educational aspirations had a major impact on the opportunities for adolescent children. After earning her doctorate from the University of Missouri, she focused on social and access issues for educational attainment, mentorship of graduate students, and faculty development in her work. She has published widely on these topics with journal articles, book chapters, and editorships.

​Margaret is married to Dr. Joseph A. Weber, a sociologist specializing in gerontology, and they enjoy spending time with their sons, Daniel and Travis, and their families.  They experience joy in learning with and sharing with their grandchildren (Lucy, Penny, Ellie, Elora, Elias, and Max).