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Notre Dame

Breaking: Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins to step down after academic year

IMG_7504by: Jack Soble10/13/23jacksoble56
fr. John Jenkins
University of Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins. (Michael Caterina/South Bend Tribune)

Shortly after Pete Bevacqua replaces Jack Swarbrick as Notre Dame’s athletics director, the university will also swear in a new president. Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., will step down as University President at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, he announced Friday.

Father Jenkins is the university’s 17th president, and he has served as such since 2005.

“Serving as president of Notre Dame for me, as a Holy Cross priest, has been both a privilege and a calling,” Father Jenkins said in a university release. “While I am proud of the accomplishments of past years, I am above all grateful for the Trustees, benefactors, faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends who made them possible. There is much to celebrate now, but I believe Notre Dame’s best years lie ahead.”

Among other accomplishments, the university credits Jenkins with getting Notre Dame admitted into the Association of American Universities (AAU) and allowing students to attend school in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Notre Dame is and has been incredibly blessed by Father Jenkins’ courageous and visionary leadership,” Board of Trustees chair John J. “Jack” Brennan said. “Together with the remarkable leadership team he has assembled, he has devoted himself to advancing the University and its mission, fulfilling the promise he made when he was inaugurated — to work collaboratively to build a great Catholic university for the 21st century. This is an extraordinarily exciting time for Notre Dame, and we are confident that the next leader will take the University to even greater heights of accomplishment.”

Additionally, the university’s Board of Trustees elected John Veihmeyer to succeed Brennan as board chair. Veihmeyer joined the board in 2017, and he currently serves on the board of Ford Motor Company and chairs the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) board, as well as the Catholic Charities of Washington D.C. board.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be elected Board chair. For all of us who love Notre Dame, it is an incredible privilege to support the University in any capacity, and I am grateful that my fellow Trustees have given me the opportunity to serve them, and Notre Dame,” Veihmeyer said. “Jack Brennan has been an extraordinary leader for Notre Dame, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him over the next eight months.”

Brennan was elected chair in 2015. Jenkins’ time as president began July 1, 2005. When he steps down, he will have served for 19 years.

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