Bio

A higher education and nonprofit leader with a demonstrated commitment to social justice and diversity and a track record of facilitating innovative programs, Sharon M. Meagher is a search consultant at Spelman Johnson and a collaborative researcher with the Philosophy and Public Space Research Group, the Institute of Philosophy, the University of Porto, Portugal.

She served as Interim Provost and Senior Vice President at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She retired from Marymount Manhattan College (MMC), where she served as Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Philosophy. Meagher was responsible for assessment and accreditation, faculty, institutional research, a $23 million annual budget, academic support, and the curriculum.  She chaired the Enrollment Leadership Team and chaired the Institutional Effectiveness and Planning Committee.  An experienced fundraiser, Meagher played a leading role in securing a $25 million gift in support of scholarships and a visual arts center.  She facilitated numerous community partnerships, including establishing a new instructional site at the Taconic Correctional Facility.  Meagher retired from the Marymount Manhattan faculty in 2024.

Before arriving at MMC, Meagher served as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Widener University in Chester, PA.  She served as co-PI for a grant awarded by the Barra Foundation for the development of collaborative creative placemaking strategies in the city of Chester, entitled Boundaries and Bridges.  An expert in fostering university-community partnerships and civically engaged learning, Meagher facilitated several community development projects that connected Widener with community partners in Chester. 

Meagher is a scholar-activist who served as a founder and leader of three non-profit organizations:  Empowering Women for Education, an organization that raises funds and supports women pursuing advanced degrees; The Public Philosophy Network that supports and promotes engaged philosophical scholarship and teaching; and Mulberry Central Neighborhood Development Corporation. Meagher led all three start-ups through fundraising, board development and staffing, marketing, and program development and management. 

She has served as a consultant and as a board member for community-based and higher education organizations with a focus on sustainability, women and LGBTQ advocacy, and community development.  Meagher has published and made dozens of presentations on these issues for both academic and wider audiences. 

From 1999-2001, Meagher worked as Director of Education at The Union Institute's Office for Social Responsibility in Washington, DC, an academically-based public policy center where she worked on issues concerning university social responsibility, nonprofit organizations and democratic values, and women's issues.  From 1989-2014 (on leave 1999-2001), Meagher served as a professor of philosophy and the founding chair of the Department of Latin American Studies and Women’s Studies at the University of Scranton. 

Meagher was a founding consultant and faculty member for the master’s program on Gender, Culture, and Development at the Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda (now at the University of Rwanda) and was a co-founder of CARES21 in Costa Rica, a research center on sustainable development.