Announcing Rev. Howard Gray, S.J., Ph.D. as Interim Vice President for Mission & Ministry

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

Earlier this year, I wrote to share with you that Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., (C’88), our Vice President for Mission and Ministry, was named the new Dean of the Jesuit School of Theology (JST) of Santa Clara University.  Kevin will begin his service at JST later this summer, and I wish to once again express my sincerest appreciation for his dedicated leadership in our community.

It is with deep gratitude that I write today to share that Rev. Howard Gray, S.J., Ph.D. will serve as Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry, effective August 1, 2016.  Howard is a former member of our University Board of Directors and a distinguished leader in our community.  He currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and is known nationally and internationally for his scholarship and teaching on Ignatian spirituality.  During his time here at Georgetown, he has chaired searches for a number of positions in Mission and Ministry and served as a spiritual director for many members of our community, leading many through the 19th Annotation Retreats. 

Prior to joining our University in 2007, Howard served in many administrative positions within higher education and the Jesuit Order.  He served as Rector of the Weston School of Theology from 1976-1982 and then served as Dean of the School from 1982-1983 before he was named Provincial for the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus, a position he held from 1983-1989.  He later served as Tertian Director for the Detroit Province and Director of the Detroit Province Spirituality Team and has taught at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Fordham University, John Carroll University—where he also served as Rector of the Jesuit Community from 1991 to 1996—Loyola  University of New Orleans, and the University of Detroit Mercy.  He has also lectured at Boston College, where he served as the first Director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality, and he is the author of over 60 articles and essays, including An Experience in Ignatian Government from Studies in the Spirituality of the Jesuits.

Please join me in welcoming Howard to this new role and thanking him for his ongoing commitment to our University and for his willingness to lead our Office of Mission and Ministry as we continue our search for a new Vice President for Mission and Ministry.  We will be consulting with members of our community in the coming weeks as we engage in this search process, and I look forward to sharing an update with you soon.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia