John J. DeGioia (C’79, G’95) announced he is stepping down from his role as university president after 23 years and will become president emeritus and will continue as a member of the faculty.
DeGioia is the longest-serving president in Georgetown’s history. Over his tenure as Georgetown’s 48th president, DeGioia has expanded the impact and footprint of the university while strengthening its Catholic and Jesuit identity and deepening its commitment to academic excellence. He is the first lay person to lead a Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S.
DeGioia is transitioning to his new role as he continues to recover from a stroke he suffered in June.
Robert M. Groves, provost and executive vice president, has been appointed interim president as Georgetown’s board of directors launches a search for the next president of the university. Joseph A. Ferrara (G’96), vice president and chief of staff to President DeGioia, has been appointed to a new role as senior vice president and chief of staff.
“Serving as the president of Georgetown has been the privilege of my lifetime,” DeGioia said in a message. “I look forward to continuing to advance and support Georgetown’s mission and the university community that means so much to all of us. I remain deeply proud of the work we have done together to strengthen the Georgetown community, our nation and our world.”
After graduating from Georgetown as an undergraduate in 1979, DeGioia joined the university’s administration and served in a variety of administrative roles before becoming president on July 1, 2001.
While president, he continued to teach an undergraduate course as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy. Most recently, he taught first-year students as part of a seminar program inspired by the Jesuit theme of cura personalis, or “care for the whole person.”
Former Secretary of the University Ed Quinn (left) swears in DeGioia (right) as the president of Georgetown University on Oct. 13, 2001.
“The question before us — now and always — is how we live our mission and identity. I believe that framing this question is one of the deepest and most important exercises we could ever undertake.”
President DeGioia during his inaugural address
Advancing Excellence at Georgetown
Since 2001, DeGioia has guided Georgetown in its efforts to advance academic excellence and expand its impact in the nation’s capital and as a global institution of higher learning.
With DeGioia’s vision, Georgetown has grown new and existing academic programs, deepened opportunities for student learning and engagement, and advanced Georgetown’s mission of education and service globally.
In 2013, for example, Georgetown established the McCourt School of Public Policy — its first new school in nearly 60 years. A decade later, in 2023, McCourt moved into a newly constructed, landmark building on Georgetown’s expanding Capitol Campus in downtown Washington, DC — one of the recent transformational efforts launched during DeGioia’s presidency.
“It is hard to put in words the depth of Jack’s impact at Georgetown,” said Thomas A. Reynolds III (B’74), chair of the Georgetown board of directors. “Since first arriving on campus as an undergraduate student in 1975, Jack has spent his entire career at Georgetown and has helped shape every facet of the university. Under Jack’s leadership as president over the past 23 years, Georgetown University has grown and flourished as a global leader in higher education.”
Deepening Catholic, Jesuit Identity
In 2022, DeGioia visited a booth for Campus Ministry at the university’s annual student organization fair, also known as CAB Fair.
For the past two decades, DeGioia has guided many new efforts to engage Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity.
Early in his presidency, he formed the role of vice president for Mission & Ministry to deepen the university community’s understanding of Ignatian spirituality. Over the years, he helped to expand and support one of the largest Campus Ministry programs in the country.
He continued to strengthen Georgetown’s engagement with the Catholic Church, forming new partnerships and collaborations with the Vatican and traveling annually to Rome to engage with Catholic and Jesuit leaders.
The university has also held many significant events to mark milestones in the Church and the mission and role of the Church in the world. Gatherings over the past two decades have reflected on Vatican II and landmark documents such as Nostra Aetate; Church history and events such as the Council of Trent; Church engagement with other religious traditions; and papal encyclicals such as Pacem in Terris, Laudato si’, and recently, Fratelli Tutti, as part of an ongoing project to reflect on the culture of encounter described by Pope Francis.
DeGioia in 2016 at the Building Bridges Seminar, which fosters dialogue between Muslim and Christian theologians.President DeGioia and Theresa DeGioia meet with Pope Francis in 2023.Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (left) and DeGioia (right) at the 2014 Faith, Culture and the Common Good conference hosted by Georgetown, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and the Archdiocese of Washington.
The Office of the President has also collaborated on faith-based initiatives with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, a center established in 2006 that’s dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion, ethics, and public life. For the past 16 years, the Office of the President and the Berkley Center have hosted a regular Faith & Culture series to engage writers and artists whose work is at the intersection of these issues as well as a Building Bridges Seminar to foster dialogue between Muslim and Christian theologians.
In 2013, DeGioia helped to establish the university’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, a program that promotes dialogue, builds bridges across political, religious and ideological lines, and encourages young Catholic lay leaders in their faith.
Georgetown’s financial aid budget has grown to $285 million in 2024, with about 50% of undergraduate students receiving financial aid. The expansion of financial aid was accompanied by the creation of the Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP) in 2004, founded to provide wraparound support for first-generation college students and students from low-income backgrounds. Twenty years later, GSP has served more than 2,600 students and prepared students to succeed at Georgetown and beyond.
Georgetown has continued to attract more talented and more diverse classes of students. Undergraduate admissions has seen a record-breaking number of applicants in recent years, this past year receiving more than 25,000 applications.
DeGioia has also supported efforts to strengthen belonging at Georgetown. In 2008, for example, Georgetown became the first Catholic university to open a LGBTQ Resource Center. And in 2023, Georgetown was the first Catholic and Jesuit university to establish a Disability Cultural Center to celebrate, connect and support members of the disability community.
Panelists gather for the Women’s Center’s annual Biondi Copeland Lecture on Women in Higher Education.In 2013, alumni gathered to cut the ribbon at the new Black House in Georgetown’s neighborhoodIn 2018, DeGioia spoke at the 10-year anniversary of the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Out for Change campaign.In 2018, alumni of Georgetown’s Community Scholars Program gathered in Gaston Hall to celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary.In 2017, DeGioia hosted the presidents of local community colleges and universities to discuss the contributions of the nearly 2,000 undocumented students on their campuses.In 2024, Georgetown opened a new space that provides a shared home for the Office of Student Equity and Inclusion. In 2023, community members gather for the inaugural DisCo Grad, or Disability Community Graduation Celebration.
DeGioia has been a longtime advocate for undocumented students and the Dream Act. In 2011, he testified before the U.S. Congress in support of the Dream Act, and in 2017, he served as a founding member of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, an alliance of U.S. college and university leaders committed to addressing the ways immigration policies impact students.
He has also advocated for student mental health, hosting a number of national convenings of higher education leaders, partnering with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Steve Fund, and the Mary Christie Institute, to focus attention on the mental health needs of college students.
“From the peer leaders in the residence halls to the centers for counseling and psychiatry, health education outreach, and support groups — our campuses have deep and strong programs in support of the health and well-being of our young people,” DeGioia said at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ conference he led on mental health in higher education in 2019. “And we are asking ourselves, given the mental health challenges of our students, what can we do to strengthen our communities to meet their needs.”
Fostering Religious Diversity, Interreligious Dialogue
In his work to welcome students of all backgrounds, DeGioia sought to strengthen Georgetown’s commitment to interreligious engagement and supporting students of all faith traditions.
Over the past two decades, Georgetown has renovated and created new sacred spaces, including renovations to Dahlgren Chapel and Copley Crypt, the campus sacred space where Orthodox Christian liturgies and Catholic masses are held, and the renovation and renaming of a chapel for Protestant and Catholic faith communities in honor of Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA, a Black Catholic religious sister.
Most recently, Georgetown created a larger sanctuary space in Makóm, a Jewish gathering space on campus; opened the first-of-its-kind masjid on a college campus; and built the Dharmālaya, a meditation center for members of Dharmic spiritual traditions.
Community members attend the 2014 blessing of Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart after it was renovated. The university’s newly renovated space for Jewish Life was officially named the Ammerman Makom in 2024. The Office of Campus Ministry hired the first Hindu priest to serve as a chaplain at a U.S. university.Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, at the naming ceremony for the Sister Thea Bowman Chapel in 2022.In 2023, community members worship in the Yarrow Mamout Masjid, the first-of-its-kind mosque on a U.S. college campus.DeGioia speaks at a retreat for first-year students at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in 2024.DeGioia presents Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople with a ceremonial gift symbolizing religious unity in Copley Crypt in 2021.
The university also created a retreat space in the mountains of Virginia for Georgetown community members. The Calcagnini Contemplative Center, which opened in 2013, offers retreats for faculty, staff and students.
Promoting Innovation in Higher Education
In 2024, DeGioia honored Reena Aggarwal, the Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance and director of the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, with the President’s Award for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers, an annual award that celebrates faculty excellence in teaching and research.
From the beginning of his presidency, DeGioia supported faculty in developing innovative approaches to research and teaching.
In 2013, DeGioia launched the Designing the Future(s) of the University initiative, which invited community members to explore issues facing higher education and experiment with new ways to deliver Georgetown’s educational mission into the future.
“What we in the university do — the contributions we make to advancing knowledge, the young people we prepare for lives of meaning and service — we do for the common good too. As much as we do it for the students who happen to be on campus and the faculty there to engage them and their own scholarship efforts, that effort extends beyond the campus.”
President DeGioia at the Designing the Future(s) of the University initiative launch
The Red House, an educational research and development unit within Georgetown, emerged from this process, and it has since designed new immersive and interdisciplinary academic offerings. The Baker Trust for Transformative Learning in the Red House, for example, has made strategic investments in pilots across Georgetown’s schools that develop the skills, mindsets and values necessary for graduates to take on the world’s greatest problems and shape a more just world.
DeGioia has also bolstered interdisciplinary collaboration and the creation of a wide range of academic centers across Georgetown.
Recently, Georgetown formed a cross-campus network of centers and institutes to further interdisciplinary collaboration, research and action on technology, ethics and governance. The Tech & Society Initiative includes the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, the Center for Digital Ethics, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, Communication, Culture & Technology, the Department of Computer Science, the Ethics Lab, the Institute for Technology Law & Policy, the Knight–Georgetown Institute, and the Massive Data Institute.
Focusing on Health
President DeGioia spoke at the School of Health’s commencement in 2024.
Before he was president, DeGioia led the university in forming an academic health system partnership with MedStar Health in 2000. Less than two decades later, Georgetown and MedStar Health reaffirmed their commitment to expand and strengthen their partnership with a new 50-year agreement.
As president, DeGioia oversaw the launch of two new schools: the School of Nursing, which reflected a renewed commitment to the largest healthcare profession; and the School of Health, which focused on the university’s interdisciplinary strengths in health, health care and policy. The two schools evolved from Georgetown’s former School of Nursing and Health Studies.
“For more than a hundred years, Georgetown has been a home for nursing education. As we begin this new chapter with the School of Nursing, we are so excited to see what will unfold,” DeGioia said when the two schools were announced. “The School of Health represents a new phase of our work to positively impact the health of people around the world.”
(From left to right) Wayne Turnage, DC’s deputy mayor for Health and Human Services; Lucile Adams-Campbell, director of the center; David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s son and president of the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation; and DeGioia cut the ribbon on the new Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention in 2023.
In recent years, the university expanded its commitment to global health.
In 2019, Georgetown established the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, which employs nearly 500 Georgetown colleagues who work locally in seven African and Caribbean countries to help improve international health outcomes.
Georgetown’s university-wide Global Health Institute, created in 2022 as the successor to the Global Health Initiative, brings together faculty, students and staff through research, teaching and service to develop concrete solutions to global health problems.
In 2017, Georgetown celebrated the 10th anniversary of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, which responds to the need for innovative solutions to the most pressing global health concerns. Georgetown Lombardi is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Washington, DC, area. The NCI renewed Georgetown Lombardi’s designation in 2024.DeGioia speaks at the 2017 launch of the Global Health Initiative, an interdisciplinary platform for supporting research, teaching scholarship and service in global health. In 2009, DeGioia recognized Jeanne Ruesch (center) and her son Matthew Ruesch (C’02, L’09) (far left) in Riggs Library. Jeanne’s $6.75 million gift founded the Ruesch Center at Georgetown Lombardi, which researches, provides care and works to cure gastrointestinal cancers.
Caring for Our Common Home
Throughout his presidency, DeGioia promoted academic initiatives to study the environment and the urgent environmental challenges facing our world. This work was inspired in recent years by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home.
“As a Catholic and Jesuit university, we believe caring for our environment is one of the most urgent moral and practical concerns of our time,” DeGioia said in 2017. “[We] seek to strengthen our ongoing efforts to bring the intellectual and spiritual resources of our community to bear on the important work of being ever more sustainable as a university and contributing to our environment in beneficial and concrete ways.”
Since 2009, Georgetown has achieved LEED Silver or above on all new buildings. Most recently, the university achieved LEED Platinum on the 55 H St. residence hall, its first building to receive the highest LEED certification.
In 2013, Georgetown created an Office of Sustainability to lead operational efforts advancing sustainability on campus. The university’s efforts were recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in 2023, which named Georgetown a 2023 Green Ribbon School Postsecondary Sustainability Awardee for its innovation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and becoming more energy efficient.
Under DeGioia’s leadership, Georgetown has expanded its research and academic studies on the environment and climate change.
In 2015, the university established the Georgetown Environment Initiative to accelerate collaboration and research on the environment. In 2022, Georgetown launched the Earth Commons, the university’s Institute for the Environment & Sustainability, which focuses on research, education, and action in areas such as environmental justice, climate change and energy transitions, environmental health, food and water security, and biodiversity conservation. It has partnered with multiple schools within Georgetown to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the environment.
Engaging with Past and Present
During his tenure, DeGioia has addressed some of the most challenging issues of the day.
In 2015, he launched a working group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, which resulted in a public apology from Georgetown, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Society of Jesus for the 1838 sale of 272 children, women and men by the Maryland Province of Jesuits, who ran Georgetown at the time.
The university has committed to a long-term process to respond to Georgetown’s role in slavery and the legacies of enslavement in the nation through the Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation initiative. Georgetown has engaged with members of the Descendant community and has founded centers and institutes like the Racial Justice Institute and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Its Legacies to contribute research, scholarship and public programming to better understand the past and build a more just future.
Georgetown’s ongoing work on racial justice builds on years of engagement with the District of Columbia.
In 2003, DeGioia established the Martin Luther King Jr. Initiative, which invites Georgetown community members and the greater Washington, DC, community to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts every year.
During the celebration, Georgetown honors local leaders who are working to solve key issues in DC with its John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award, named for the legendary Georgetown head basketball coach emeritus, advocate and community leader.
In January 2020, DeGioia attends rehearsal for the Let Freedom Ring Choir with Nolan Williams Jr., the concert’s artistic director.The Let Freedom Ring Choir performs at the 2011 celebration at the Kennedy Center.DeGioia (center) greets the late Dikembe Mutombo (C’91) (right), the 2010 Legacy of a Dream recipient, with President Barack Obama (left).In 2023, Georgetown honored honored Paula Fitzgerald, a nonprofit leader who’s expanded support for low-income immigrants in the metropolitan DC region.2024 John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award Winner Reginald Douglas (C’09) (left), with DeGioia (center), and Tiffany Thompson (right), daughter of John Thompson Jr.
Georgetown has also expanded engagement with the District of Columbia and beyond through the Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI), which was established in 2016 with financial support from the Office of the President. Now, PJI supports a number of academic initiatives in partnership with schools at Georgetown, including a professional development and entrepreneurship program and a paralegal program for formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as a bachelor’s degree program in a Maryland prison and a scholars program in the DC Jail for incarcerated students.
Building a Global University
In addition to his leadership in DC, DeGioia spearheaded Georgetown’s efforts to engage the global community.
DeGioia attends the commencement ceremony for Georgetown University in Qatar students in 2018.
The university has also maintained offices in Singapore; Nairobi, Kenya; and Rome, Italy, to expand its global engagement.
Most recently, Georgetown initiated a new program, Georgetown Asia Pacific, which launches in Indonesia next year, as well as an executive MBA program in Dubai.
In 2020, university leaders formed the Georgetown Americas Institute, an academic center dedicated to addressing key challenges and opportunities in Latin America.
In 2024, Georgetown awarded an honorary degree to Liberian peace leader Leymah Gbowee during the Oliver Tambo lecture series.
In 2013, DeGioia launched the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to examine and highlight the roles of women in fostering peace and security and growing economies worldwide.
DeGioia also helped to create and curate an ongoing lecture series named for the South African leader Oliver Tambo, in partnership with African Studies at Georgetown. Over the years, Georgetown has welcomed South African President Thabo Mbeki, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee through the series.
Enhancing Georgetown’s Fundamentals
Over his tenure, DeGioia navigated the university through multiple national and global crises, including the September 11th attack just a few months into his tenure as president, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through these times, he provided steady leadership and ensured the strongest possible framework was in place to support Georgetown’s students, faculty and staff. In addition, DeGioia maintained a strong commitment to shared governance and the role of faculty in guiding the academic work of the university.
He modernized Georgetown’s operations and strengthened its financial position, expanding the resources it has to support its people and academic programs.
The Georgetown endowment has grown from $0.7 billion (ranked 70th in higher education) in 2001 to $3.6 billion (ranked 44th) in 2024, enabling the university to significantly increase the support that the endowment provides to the operating budget. Research funding has grown from $141 million to $389 million.
DeGioia has led three university capital campaigns during his tenure, including the final years of the “Third Century Campaign,” a $1 billion campaign; the “For Generations to Come” Campaign, raising $1.67 billion; and the ongoing “Called to Be” Campaign, which has raised $2.3 billion toward a $3 billion goal.
Developing Major Campus Infrastructure
During his presidency, DeGioia oversaw the construction and renovation of a significant number of buildings across the university’s campuses, creating new academic, research and student spaces that have shaped Georgetown’s living learning community.
Pedro Arrupe, S.J. Hall (2016)Rafik B. Hariri Building (2009)In 2023, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital opened the Verstandig Pavilion, a medical and surgical pavilion.Southwest Quadrangle (2003)Cooper Field (2020)Henle Village, which is being redeveloped and will open in fall 2025.
In 2016, the District of Columbia Zoning Commission unanimously approved a historic 20-year campus plan to support the university’s future development, which Georgetown developed in close collaboration with neighborhood leaders through the Georgetown Community Partnership.
DeGioia also guided the development of Georgetown’s Capitol Campus, anchored around Georgetown Law. In May 2024, DeGioia outlined his vision for the Capitol Campus and its growing impact in downtown DC.
The Eric E. Hotung International Law Center Building opened in 2004.In 2019, Georgetown Law dedicated its campus green in honor of DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (H’18) with (from left to right) Mayor Muriel Bowser, Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor, Norton, Rep. Jamie Raskin, and DeGioia.The terrace of the McCourt School of Public Policy’s new building, which opened in 2024.McCourt’s new headquarters at 125 E.
Shaping Intercollegiate Athletics
Going back many decades, DeGioia has been involved in the national landscape of intercollegiate athletics. He served as Chair of the NCAA Board of Governors from 2020 to 2022, as well as a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and as Chair of the NCAA Division I Committee on Academics. He also served as a commissioner on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
He played a central role in the reorganization of the Big East conference in 2012 and has played a significant role on the Big East Executive Committee.
(From left to right) Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president of basketball; Larry Jones, executive vice president of FOX Sports; Joel Fisher, executive vice president of Madison Square Garden Entertainment; Val Ackerman, commissioner of the Big East; Mike Tranghese, the former commissioner; Bill Raftery, FOX Sports announcer; and DeGioia celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Big East conference in 2019.
Leading in Higher Education
DeGioia’s impact has extended far beyond Georgetown University.
From 2016-2017, he served as chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE), and he has also chaired the Board of Directors of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and was formerly a member of the National Association of Independent Schools.
He has also served on numerous higher education leadership boards related to business, Washington, DC, mental health, immigration, global engagement, health, civic engagement, and Catholic and Jesuit identity.
DeGioia has been recognized for his leadership, excellence and impact in higher education.
He has been presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Academia by the Sons of Italy and the Catholic in the Public Square Award by Commonweal in 2012. He was honored as a “Brave Thinker” by The Atlantic in 2012 and as “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian magazine in 2008.
DeGioia has received honorary degrees from Miami Dade College (2008); Loyola University, Maryland (2009); Queens University, Belfast (2009); Sacred Heart University (2011); Mount Aloysius College (2015); Seattle University (2016); and Regis University (2018). He has also received an honorary fellowship at Glyndŵr University (2010), as well as the “Esteemed Friend” award from Sophia University in Tokyo (2014). He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010.
Personal History
DeGioia (center) with his son, John Thomas, and wife, Theresa Miller DeGioia (C’89).
DeGioia earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University in 1979 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the university in 1995. Prior to his appointment as president in 2001, DeGioia held a variety of senior administrative positions at Georgetown, including Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs.
DeGioia spent his early years in Orange, Connecticut, and Hanford, California. He and his wife, Theresa Miller DeGioia (C’89), a Georgetown alumna, and their son, John Thomas, live in Washington, DC.
In many settings over the years, I have shared with you the great hope I have for the future of this university and how we will continue to be ever more true to our mission and purpose. On behalf of myself and my family, I offer our deepest appreciation for the prayers of support during this time. I look forward to being with you again in the future.