Beginning the Next Chapter Together

Dear Members of the Georgetown Community,

As I begin my time as Georgetown University’s 49^th president, I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude to the many students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and friends—as well as members of the Georgetown Jesuit community—who have extended such an extraordinarily warm welcome to me and to Sital since this transition was announced last October. I am also grateful to Jack DeGioia for his two decades of transformative leadership, and to Bob Groves for his steady stewardship of Georgetown as Interim President over the past two years. Georgetown’s foundation is solid, and their efforts have only made it stronger.

These are challenging times for higher education. Public trust has eroded. Changes in federal policy have undermined established models for research and students’ ability to pursue their educational ambitions. Attacks on academic freedom and freedom of speech have chilled expression on many campuses across the country. And the rise of artificial intelligence has disrupted longstanding methods of teaching, learning, and assessment, even while creating new opportunities for research and innovation.

As Pope Leo recently observed, compounding our challenges, in higher education and beyond, is a crisis of values and meaning. We have become a deeply divided and rudderless society in which people “know many things, but struggle to find direction.” We suffer from “an inability to connect information with deeper knowledge or…a sense of purpose.” Georgetown’s distinctive strengths are directly responsive to this challenge.

Our excellence in teaching and research, our location in the nation’s capital—enhanced by the recent expansion of the Capitol Campus—and, above all, our values give us an opportunity to lead the way for the rest of higher education as we accompany our students towards a hope-filled future. As a student-centered research university strongly rooted in our Jesuit, Catholic tradition, Georgetown stands apart as a place where relevant research advances understanding and changes the world; where diverse people and perspectives are celebrated; where dialogue thrives; and where the pursuit of knowledge is given deeper meaning by our commitment to both faith and reason, utraque unum.

Over the coming weeks and months, I look forward to engaging with all of you as we begin this next chapter at Georgetown. During the summer and into the fall, my priority will be to spend time listening and learning about this remarkably vibrant and diverse community. I will be visiting each school and all of our administrative teams. I will meet with students, faculty and staff, as well as alumni and supporters. I will listen to your hopes and aspirations for Georgetown—to hear about the things you treasure, the things you would never want to change, and where you see opportunities to grow and to improve. Together, we have an opportunity not simply to respond to this moment, but to demonstrate how this university can help shape what comes next.

I am excited to share this work with you. Hoya Saxa!

Respectfully,

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President