John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRAD ’95), Georgetown’s 48th president, announced he would be stepping down effective immediately, in an email sent to the Georgetown University community at 2:02 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21. This comes after Georgetown’s Board of Directors announced that he would be temporarily stepping back from his role after suffering a stroke this past June.
The email also included a letter from Thomas A. Reynolds III, Chair of the Georgetown Board of Directors, naming Provost Robert M. Groves, Ph.D., Interim President, and announcing that the board of directors will launch a search for a new president to be appointed by July 1, 2026.
In the email, DeGioia noted that this was “the most difficult decision [he] has ever made.”
“I have informed the Board of Directors that I will be stepping down from my role as the President of Georgetown,” DeGioia wrote. “While I continue to recover from the stroke I suffered this past June, I will need to devote my energies to my ongoing recovery.”
In his letter, Reynolds praised DeGioia’s tenure as president, emphasizing his commitment to Jesuit ideals.
“Under Jack’s leadership as President over the past 23 years, Georgetown University has grown and flourished as a global leader in higher education,” Reynolds wrote.
University Communications did not have additional comment, directing the Voice to DeGioia’s email and Georgetown’s webpage recognizing his service to the community.
DeGioia’s journey at Georgetown began in 1975, when he arrived at Georgetown as an undergraduate. After graduating with a degree in English in 1979, DeGioia has served in many leadership roles on campus, including as a hall director in New South, as an assistant to former President Timothy S. Healy, and as Dean of Student Affairs.
In 1992, DeGioia was named associate vice president and chief administrative officer of Georgetown’s main campus, and received a doctorate of philosophy from Georgetown’s graduate school of arts and sciences in 1995.
On July 1, 2001, DeGioia became the President of Georgetown University, and the first lay, or non-Jesuit or clergy member, president of any Jesuit University in the United States.
“Serving as the President of Georgetown has been the privilege of my lifetime,” DeGioia wrote. “Going forward, I will transition to serve as President Emeritus and as a member of the faculty. In these and many other ways, I look forward to continuing to advance and support Georgetown’s mission and the University community that means so much to all of us. I remain deeply proud of the work we have done together to strengthen the Georgetown community, our nation, and our world.”
As the longest serving president in university history, DeGioia has seen the university through immense changes, including the founding of the Georgetown University campus in Qatar and the McCourt School of Public Policy, the university’s reconciliation and remembrance efforts for its ownership and sale of over 314 enslaved people, and the creation of the first fully-fledged LGBTQ center at a Jesuit university.
In his letter, Reynolds also announced the appointment of DeGioia’s current Chief of Staff, Joseph A. Ferrara (GRAD ’96), as Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff of Georgetown University.
In his closing remarks as president, DeGioia emphasized his hope for the university and its community.
“In many settings over the years, I have shared with you the great hope I have for the future of this University and how we will continue to be ever more true to our mission and purpose,” DeGioia wrote.
“This responsibility is one that each of us shares by virtue of our membership in this community,” DeGioia wrote. “All of us can find reassurance in knowing that we share in this work together and that, over many generations, we have built the type of community that will enable Georgetown to thrive for years to come.”
