On July 1, Georgetown University will name John J. DeGioia as its first non-Jesuit president.

This is also the first time any Jesuit university in the nation will have a lay-person as a president.

“Georgetown’s unique mission as a Catholic and Jesuit student-centered research university has never been more important on the national higher education landscape,” said DeGioia in an interview with The Hoya, Georgetown’s student newspaper.

Fr. John Padburg, S.J., who is on Georgetown’s Board of Trustees and also served on the search committee, believes that DeGioia was the best person for the position. At Saint Louis University, Padburg is the director of the Institute for Jesuit Studies.

“He (DeGioia) knows the Jesuit community and is well liked and most important he has a deep appreciation of Georgetown’s tradition,” said Padburg.

SLU President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., was asked to apply for the position earlier in the year, but turned down the opportunity.

“I’m not interested; I want to stay here. I want to make our lives more productive,” said Biondi in a town hall forum in late September.

According to Padburg, the idea of a non-Jesuit president is one that could spread to other Jesuit universities. “It could develop because there is a diminishing number of Jesuits and because a university needs to pick the best possibility for president.”

Biondi believes they found an excellent layman to fill the position, according to Bridget Fletcher, assistant to the president.

He also thinks the appointment shows the need to orient and foster a commitment to the Jesuit tradition in all laypersons working throughout Jesuit universities.

DeGioia graduated from Georgetown University in 1979 and went on to become a faculty member of philosophy.

He then moved on to assistant to the President and eventually dean of student affairs.

DeGioia has been senior vice president of Georgetown since 1998 and has spent a total of 26 years with the university.