John I. Jenkins

John I. Jenkins

The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., (born December 17, 1953) is president of the University of Notre Dame. He was elected by the Notre Dame Board of Trustees on April 30, 2004, and became the University’s 17th president on July 1, 2005 after previously serving as vice president and associate provost.

A Notre Dame alumnus, Jenkins earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from the University in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and was ordained a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus in 1983. While earning bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy from Oxford University in 1987 and 1989, respectively, he also taught in Notre Dame’s London Undergraduate Program. He earned a master of divinity degree and licentiate in sacred theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1988.

Jenkins has been a member of the Notre Dame philosophy faculty since 1990; he received a Lilly Teaching Fellowship in 1991-1992. He served as director of the Old College program for Holy Cross seminarians from 1991 to 1993 and as religious superior of the Holy Cross priests and brothers at Notre Dame from 1997 to 2000. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles published in The Journal of Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy and Theology, and The Journal of Religious Ethics and of the book Knowledge and Faith in Thomas Aquinas.

Jenkins is a member of the Board of Directors for the Commission on Presidential Debates.