Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,
With great pleasure, I write to announce that the Board of Directors has unanimously elected Eduardo M. Peñalver, J.D., as the 49th President of Georgetown University. President-Elect Peñalver will begin his new role on July 1, 2026.
The President of Seattle University since 2021, he is an accomplished leader in higher education, with a deep understanding of the mission of Catholic and Jesuit education. To read more about President-Elect Peñalver and watch a video message from him, please visit Georgetown’s website.
President-Elect Peñalver previously served as the dean of Cornell University’s Law School and as clerk to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. He studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and law degree from Yale Law School.
In addition to his role as dean, he also served on the faculty at Cornell Law School, has held faculty appointments at Fordham Law School and the University of Chicago, and was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. A scholar of property law and land use, law and religion, he has published two co-authored books, Property Outlaws (Yale University Press 2010) and An Introduction to Property Theory (Cambridge University Press 2011), and numerous articles in scholarly law journals. His expertise—shaped by the ideas of Catholic social teaching—focuses on the role of property law in community formation and the relationship between property rights, social responsibility, and the common good.
President-Elect Peñalver joins our community with his wife, Sital Kalantry, J.D., a Professor of Law and founding Director of the Roundglass India Center at Seattle University, and their two sons.
He will succeed John J. DeGioia (C’79 G’95), who concluded his 23-year tenure as President last year.
Our presidential search committee engaged in this search for several months with dedication and diligence. The committee began its work by hosting 11 listening sessions with students, faculty, staff, and alumni earlier this year. I would like to thank the members of our University community who participated in these sessions or submitted comments online. Your perspectives on the qualities needed in our next President helped inform the committee’s work in important ways. I am especially grateful to our search committee Chair Kevin Warren (B’84) and Vice Chair Jeanne Ruesch (P’02 P’09) for their leadership, and I thank each member of the search committee for their hard work.
On behalf of the Georgetown community, I would once again like to express my gratitude to Interim President Robert M. Groves and the senior leadership team for their leadership over the last year and their continued efforts as we prepare for President-Elect Peñalver’s transition next summer.
We look forward to the contributions that President-Elect Peñalver will make as Georgetown’s 49th president. His strong and effective leadership will help Georgetown meet the challenges of this moment and respond to opportunities before us in the years ahead.
Please join me in welcoming President-Elect Peñalver and his family into the Georgetown University community.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Reynolds III (B’74)
Chair, Georgetown University Board of Directors