Georgetown University

Biography

For nearly three decades, John J. DeGioia has helped to define and strengthen Georgetown University as a premier institution for education and research. Since graduating from the University in 1979, he has served both as a senior administrator and as a faculty member. On July 1, 2001, he became Georgetown's 48th president.

University Leadership

As president, Dr. DeGioia is deeply committed to sustaining academic excellence at Georgetown. He has helped to recruit intellectual leaders to the faculty and secured substantial funding for scholarly research and academic programs.

Under Dr. DeGioia's leadership, the University completed in December 2003 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 to secure endowment funds for curriculum and faculty support, increase student financial aid, and build and renovate facilities. In 2002-2003, Dr. DeGioia oversaw the largest expansion of campus facilities, with the Southwest Quadrangle - a one million square-foot complex of student housing; study, seminar and music rooms; and a new Jesuit Community Residence - at the forefront.

Dr. DeGioia addresses broader issues in higher education as a Chair of the Board of Directors of Campus Compact and of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education.  He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; the Board of Directors for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities; the Executive Committee of the Council on Competitiveness; the Business-Higher Education Forum; the Steering Committee of the Talloires Network; the Big East Conference Executive Committee; and is a Commissioner on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Institutional Priorities

To prepare young people for leadership roles in the global community, Dr. DeGioia has expanded opportunities for intercultural and interreligious dialogue, welcomed world leaders to campus, and convened international conferences to address challenging issues. He represents Georgetown at the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, where he recently served as Chair of the Education Committee.

Dr. DeGioia has enhanced Georgetown's relationship with the many political, cultural, corporate, and economic resources of Washington, D.C. He serves on the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Federal City Council. Dr. DeGioia is also a strong supporter of Georgetown's social justice initiatives that seek to improve opportunities for Washington's underserved neighborhoods.

As the first lay president of a Jesuit university, Dr. DeGioia places special emphasis on sustaining and strengthening Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit identity and its responsibility to serve as a voice and an instrument for justice. He has also been a strong advocate for inter-religious dialogue. He is a member of the Order of Malta, a lay religious order of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to serving the sick and the poor.

Academic, Professional, and Personal

Dr. DeGioia is a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Georgetown University in 1979 and his PhD in Philosophy from the University in 1995. He has most recently taught "Ethics and Global Development," "Human Rights: A Culture in Crisis," and a seminar on "Ways of Knowing."

Prior to his appointment as president, Dr. DeGioia held a variety of senior administrative positions at Georgetown, including senior vice president, responsible for university-wide operations, and dean of student affairs.

In 2004, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Academia from the Sons of Italy.  And he was named a Washingtonian of the Year by The Washingtonian magazine in 2008.

Dr. DeGioia was raised in Orange, Connecticut, and Hanford, California. He and his wife, Theresa Miller DeGioia, a Georgetown alumna, and their son, John Thomas, live in Washington, D.C.