For nearly a quarter century, John J. DeGioia has helped to define and strengthen Georgetown University as a premier institution for education and research. He was named Georgetown’s 48th president in July 2001.
Under Dr. DeGioia’s leadership, Georgetown completed the largest fund-raising effort in University history, the Third Century Campaign. The $1 billion capital campaign benefited Georgetown’s Main, Medical, and Law Center campuses and secured endowment funds for curriculum and faculty support, increased student financial aid, and facilities renovation. In 2002-2003, Dr. DeGioia oversaw the largest expansion of campus facilities, with the Southwest Quadrangle, a one million square-foot complex of student living and learning space.
The first lay president of a Jesuit university, Dr. DeGioia is deeply committed to sustaining Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity and its responsibility to serve as a voice and an instrument for justice. As a critical element of that responsibility, Georgetown serves as a venue for international and interreligious dialogue.
Dr. DeGioia addresses broader issues in higher education as a board member of the American Council on Education, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and as an executive committee member of the Council on Competitiveness. He is chair of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education and serves on the Business-Higher Education Forum. Dr. DeGioia is a member of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. He represents Georgetown on the Council of Foreign Relations and at the World Economic Forum. In 2004, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Academia from the Sons of Italy.
Dr. DeGioia has spent 30 years on the Georgetown campus as a student, a senior administrator, and a faculty member. He graduated from Georgetown with a degree in English in 1979, and earned his doctorate in philosophy in 1995. Immediately prior to his appointment as president, Dr. DeGioia served as senior vice president, responsible for University-wide operations. He is currently a member of the faculty of the Department of Philosophy and has most recently taught courses on ethics and global development, human rights and a seminar on “Ways of Knowing.”
