What began as a curiosity about art and history at Gonzaga Prep grew into a career studying seventeenth-century Italian art and teaching at Brown University. Along the way, Annie Maloney `10 discovered how the skills, mentors, and Ignatian values she encountered at Prep would continue to shape her work as a scholar, educator, and lifelong learner.
For Annie Maloney `10, Gonzaga Prep was where curiosity met calling. A member of the choir program, Ancilla, Campus Ministry, and several sports teams, she found her rhythm in both the classroom and community life. But it was in her AP European History class with Tony Maucione that a spark turned into a lifelong passion.
“I began to understand how much art can teach us about ourselves and our culture,” she says.
A paper comparing two works of art—paired with lessons in church history and the role of art in the Counter-Reformation—ignited a fascination that led her all the way to Rome, and eventually, to a professorship at Brown University specializing in Baroque and early modern Italian art.
Annie credits her Prep experience for shaping both her academic interests and her confidence to thrive in a competitive field.
“There were so many incredible female educators and mentors at Prep,” she says. “Being surrounded by strong, capable women was inspiring. Of course, my biggest role model was my mom, Peggy Haun-McEwen, who served the Prep community with compassion, resilience, and joy.”
Teachers like Taryn League, Mike Haugen, and Colin Steigleder nurtured her love of history and writing, while choir director Sean Kane encouraged her to “take up space” and lead—skills she now carries into the university classroom.
Her Prep foundation also gave her an early start in research. “Writing my junior thesis on my great-grandfather’s immigration from Ireland to Walla Walla taught me how to find sources, synthesize ideas, and tell a story,” Annie explains. “Those are skills I still use every day as an art historian.”
Now, as a scholar of Rome's Baroque art, Annie finds her research intertwined with the faith and formation that began at Prep. “Much of the art I study was made for and by Jesuits. Understanding Ignatian spirituality from my own education makes that work even more meaningful.”
As an educator, Annie strives to bring the same care and intentionality to her students that she once received from her teachers. “I think often about the ‘Profile of the Graduate.’ I want my students to be intellectually engaged, open to growth, loving, and committed to justice,” she says. “Cura personalis—care of the whole person—guides how I mentor and teach.”
Her advice to today’s students, especially young women considering careers in the arts or humanities, is both heartfelt and urgent: “We need people trained in the humanities now more than ever. Studying history, art, and literature makes us more empathetic humans, capable of identifying real problems and fighting for meaningful change.”