John J. DeGioia

Additionally, a new, 154000 sqft science building, Regents Hall, opened in 2012, and the John R. Thompson, Jr. Intercollegiate Athletic Center opened in 2016.

Several new academic components were created during his tenure.

John Joseph DeGioia (born 1957) is an American academic administrator and philosopher who has been the president of Georgetown University since 2001.

He is the first lay president of the school and is currently its longest-serving president.

Upon his appointment, he also became the first lay president of any Jesuit university in the United States.

Having spent his entire career at Georgetown, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, DeGioia was the dean of student affairs and held various vice presidential positions before becoming president.

John Joseph DeGioia was born in Connecticut in 1957, and was raised in Orange, Connecticut, and Hanford, California.

He attended Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge, Connecticut, graduating in 1975.

He then attended Georgetown College at Georgetown University, where he majored in English.

DeGioia also played sports and founded the Georgetown chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979.

Upon graduation, DeGioia became a hall director at one of Georgetown's freshman dormitories, New South Hall.

In 1982, he became an assistant to university president Timothy S. Healy, where he oversaw the office of the president.

Three years later he was named dean of student affairs, during which time he led the university's committee on free speech, expanded the university's psychological and counseling services, and implemented a program to track the performance of student athletes.

He also participated in two fundraising campaigns, one of which raised money for the construction of the Leavey Center.

As dean of student affairs, he also was involved in the conflicts over Georgetown's Catholic identity during the tenure of Healy's successor, Leo J. O'Donovan.

DeGioia was criticized by some Catholics for allowing the formation of a student abortion rights group in 1991; the Vatican later ordered that the university could not fund the group.

O'Donovan named DeGioia the associate vice president and chief administrative officer of Georgetown's main campus in 1992.

DeGioia received his Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy from the university's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1995.

He has taught undergraduates at the university as a professor of philosophy since that time.

That same year, DeGioia was promoted to vice president, overseeing all operations of the main campus, including the university's finances, undergraduate admissions, financial aid, athletics, and student affairs.

Upon assuming office, he oversaw the successful completion of a $1 billion fundraising campaign (equivalent to $ in ), which the board of directors had begun in 1995.

He was promoted to senior vice president in 1998, where he was responsible for all university-wide operations.

In this capacity, he managed the Georgetown Medical Center's financial and academic strategy, and ultimately negotiated the sale of the Georgetown University Hospital to MedStar Health in 2000, while retaining university ownership of the School of Medicine.

On July 1, 2001, DeGioia became the president of Georgetown University.

Succeeding O'Donovan, upon his appointment, DeGioia became the first lay president of any Jesuit university in the United States.

It was the board of directors' initial intention to hire a Jesuit for the job, but they determined that there was not a suitable candidate for the office.

In his inauguration speech on October 14, DeGioia expressed his commitment to carrying on the Jesuit tradition of the university.

The largest of these were the Georgetown campus in Qatar, which opened in 2005, and the McCourt School of Public Policy, which was founded in 2013.

Permanent programs also were established in Shanghai and London.

DeGioia has been involved in several controversies as president.

DeGioia began another major fundraising campaign in 2011, which reached its goal of $1.5 billion in 2015 (equivalent to $ in ), one year ahead of schedule.

A number of construction projects have been undertaken during DeGioia's presidency.

He assumed office midway through the construction of the Southwest Quadrangle, and oversaw its completion.

In 2012, he publicly came to the defense of a student at the Georgetown University Law Center, Sandra Fluke, following her testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate, when political pundit Rush Limbaugh made disparaging comments about her.

That same year, DeGioia was criticized by prominent Catholics, including the Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, for Georgetown's invitation of Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and author of the contraceptive mandate, to be honored as a graduation speaker.

This prompted William Peter Blatty, a Georgetown alumnus, to file a canon lawsuit with the Vatican, requesting that it order the university to comply with Ex corde Ecclesiae.

DeGioia became the longest-serving president in Georgetown's history in 2014.

In addition to his role as university president, DeGioia is involved in a number of national education organizations.

In 2016, DeGioia convened a systemic study of and apology for the university's 19th-century connection to slavery.