Rev. John “Jack” Butler, S.J., Named 26th President of Boston College

/EIN News/ -- CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Boston College Board of Trustees has named John T. “Jack” Butler, S.J., Haub Vice President for University Mission and Ministry, as Boston College’s 26th president. He will succeed University President William P. Leahy, S.J., who will step down in the summer of 2026.

A well-respected and trusted administrator who has served on the president’s senior leadership team since 2010, Fr. Butler has played a key role in advancing the University’s strategic priorities in formative education, curriculum renewal, and student wellness. He has worked closely with faculty, administrators, students, and alumni to enhance the mission, culture, and heritage of Boston College as a top-ranked Jesuit, Catholic institution of higher education.

One of the architects of formative education at Boston College, which seeks to integrate the intellectual, religious, social, and affective dimensions of students’ lives to help them discern their calling and develop their gifts in the service of others, Fr. Butler partners with the provost and vice president for student affairs to further this fundamental element of the BC educational experience.

He also was part of the team of institutional leaders and faculty committed to renewing Boston College’s Core Curriculum, and has served on the search committees for all senior administrator positions during the past 15 years.

In addition, Fr. Butler has directly assisted undergraduate and graduate students, providing counseling and guidance on personal issues and career goals, and engaged with student-athletes, serving as chaplain to the Boston College football program since 2010. A gifted speaker and homilist, he has inspired many BC students to find their calling, with the ultimate formative goal of helping them to lead lives of meaning and purpose. He is frequently invited to address students, staff, alumni, and parents at lectures, discussions, retreats, and reunions, and to speak at high schools, colleges and universities throughout the country.

As Haub Vice President for University Mission and Ministry, Fr. Butler is responsible for all programs and efforts that promote BC’s Jesuit, Catholic culture and heritage, and administers a number of mission-based outreach programs including Campus Ministry, the Center for Student Formation, the Volunteer and Service Learning Center, the Office of First Year Experience, and the Montserrat Coalition for students, as well as the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and BC’s Intersections program for faculty and staff.

Since 2019, he has also worked with University Advancement to raise nearly $40 million for BC initiatives supporting academics and student life.

In announcing the selection, Board of Trustees Chair John Fish said that Fr. Butler possessed the vision, leadership, and relational skills needed to help the University maintain the institutional stability, continuity, and momentum it has experienced during the past decades.

“After an extensive search process and much careful consideration by the search committee, the Board of Trustees has enthusiastically selected Fr. Jack Butler to be the next president of Boston College,” said Fish. “He is a dynamic leader, proven bridgebuilder, and problem-solver who understands the University’s strengths and aspirations and is fully committed to its mission. We are very excited for him and the future of Boston College.”

Fr. Butler said he was humbled to be named president and honored to continue the important work of advancing Boston College as the world’s leading Jesuit, Catholic university.

“I am deeply honored to be named the next president of Boston College, a university that I love and have served for the past 22 years,” said Fr. Butler, who began his tenure at Boston College in Campus Ministry in 2002. “I look forward to spending the coming year preparing for the presidency, and I promise to devote myself to continuing BC’s upward trajectory and making this great university an even stronger beacon of light and hope for the world.”

Prior to being named vice president at Boston College, Fr. Butler served as director of vocations for the former New England Province of Jesuits and director of Manresa House on the BC campus, which provided information and guidance for students considering a vocation to the priesthood and religious life.

Before entering the higher education apostolate, Fr. Butler worked with incarcerated individuals within the prison system, serving as the assistant director and inside counselor at St. Joseph Prison Ministry in Framingham, Mass.

An Atlanta native and 1987 graduate of St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, where he earned a degree in religious studies, Fr. Butler received a master’s degree in theology from Providence College before entering the Society of Jesus in 1991. He received both a master’s degree and a doctorate in pastoral counseling from Loyola University Maryland and holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the former Weston Jesuit School of Theology, now the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. Ordained to the priesthood in 2000, he took final vows as a Jesuit in 2015.

Fr. Butler will assume the presidency of one of the nation’s foremost universities, a Carnegie Institute Research 1 university consisting of nine top-ranked schools and colleges that draw students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries, an endowment of $4 billion, and more than 200,000 alumni worldwide.

“After graduating from college, I worked as a teacher and administrator at a K-8 parish school and upon entering the Society of Jesus I taught at both the high school and college level,” said Fr. Butler. “I have been involved in education as a teacher and administrator since my early 20s, so it is with great humility and gratitude that I prepare to embark on this new role of leading one of the nation’s best institutions of higher learning.

“Boston College is a university blessed with wonderful opportunities to become stronger, better, and more distinctive. I believe our future is full of promise because what we offer—an education with a heart, soul, and imagination—is essential for the world today and in the decades to come.

“I look forward to working closely with the BC community so that together we can lead Boston College to even greater heights, ever mindful of the responsibility that has been entrusted in me as the University’s next president.”

MEDIA CONTACT
Jack Dunn
Office of University Communications
Boston College
617-552-3350
jack.dunn@bc.edu