Faith Gabelnick

“We weave the narratives of our lives into our work”

I met Faith thirty years ago when she joined the A.K. Rice Institute. She was interested in leadership, both in conferences (she was subsequently on staff in over sixty A.K. Rice and Praxis International institutes in the U.S., Germany, France, and Israel) and in her roles as professor, director, dean, and president at various academic settings over the next three decades. She wrote and taught about leadership and authority based on her experiences in training events, university classrooms, boards of directors, women's groups, organizational consultations, and in the larger community. She used her personal and professional experiences to enrich her group and organizational work. She did not get into more traditional authority roles in conferences, instead experimenting with many possibilities. Her open stance made her a good model and mentor for younger staff members, particularly women. Her literary background meant she drew on literature, not just mental health disciplines, in her work as a conference director. She did not focus on pathology, which was a rewarding experience for staff and participants alike.

From 1995 to 2003 Faith was President, Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon.

She was a National Learning Communities Project Fellow and a longstanding learning community leader. For over two decades she wrote and consulted about learning communities. She was particularly interested in collaboration within programmes and across learning community leadership groups. Faith was a public intellectual whose curiosity, knowledge, and systems awareness were reflected in an astonishing diversity of activities and associations. Hundreds of faculty members and administrators were transformed through their work with Faith. She fostered inclusive honours education, from accountancy to creative writing. She was a remarkable woman with a passion for everything connected to education. Faith made a difference, particularly