Robert Gallucci, Dean of the School of Foreign Service, has been chosen as the fourth President of the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Gallucci’s post at the Foundation will begin this July, when he will begin to oversee one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world.
Dean Gallucci at his desk in the ICC
Gallucci has served as SFS Dean since 1996 and was instrumental in creating the School of Foreign Service in Qatar and the Mortara Center for International Affairs. Before coming to Georgetown, he worked in the State Department, rising to the rank of Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
According to University Spokesperson Julie Green-Bataille, President John DeGioia and Provost James O’Donnell will establish a formal search committee to recruit a permanent successor to Gallucci.
Gallucci is the second Dean to leave Georgetown in the past two years, following Jane McAuliffe’s departure last year from her position as Dean of the College to become President of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. The University has not yet appointed a permanent successor for McAuliffe, though Chester Gillis is currently serving as Interim Dean.
The MacArthur Foundation began in 1978 when John D. MacArthur, an insurance magnate and real estate developer, left 92 percent of his estate to endow the Foundation. According to Gallucci, the Foundation’s endowment currently stands at over five billion dollars, down from a high of nearly eight billion in 2007 due to the financial crisis.
“As a matter of policy, [the Foundation] decided to maintain their grant level and fulfill all commitments, which is very laudable,” Gallucci said. “Another decision will have to be made about next year, and I’ll be involved with that. My instinct is that you try to do as much as you can.”
Dean Gallucci also sees the mission of the Foundation as united with his own values, and he compared the Foundation’s goals to some of his experiences at Georgetown.
“It’s a funny thing, because a few years a go we launched an initiative here called an initiative to improve the human condition,” Gallucci said. “The interesting thing is that phrase captures the core mission objective of the MacArthur Foundation. I like that a lot, and I want to advance that mission with their programs.”
