John J. DeGioia, Ph.D.

John J. "Jack" DeGioia Ph.D., made history when he became Georgetown University's 48th president in July, 2001 and the first lay president of the 212 year old Jesuit university.

"I have been taught that the laity must be prepared to assume greater responsibility in partnership with the clergy as stewards of the Catholic and Jesuit University and the Church itself," DeGioia says. "From the day I walked onto this campus in 1975, I have been a member of a community that acknowledged as part of its corporate responsibility the preparation for a future in which the role of the laity would become even greater."

In the late 1970's, while earning a Bachelor degree in English from Georgetown, he participated in sports, volunteered with the developmentally disabled and worked as a Resident Assistant. DeGioia began his professional career at Georgetown after graduating in 1979. He held various leadership positions throughout the University for more than two decades before becoming President.

This long-time administrator understands classroom issues first-hand. DeGioia has served as a faculty member in Georgetown's Department of Philosophy and has taught undergraduate Philosophy courses at Georgetown every year since receiving his doctorate from Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1995.

DeGioia and his wife, Theresa Miller DeGioia, have a son, John Thomas, who was born in June 2001.