President, St. John’s University
Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M. assumed the Presidency of St. John’s University in 1989. As the 15th President of one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States, he has provided leadership for an ambitious initiative to position the institution as a leader in higher education for the 21st century.
His vision has resulted in an extraordinary transformation of the University into a “new” St. John’s, with enhanced facilities, expanded academic initiatives, and an increasing global presence. The vision has been enabled by Fulfilling the Dream, a capital campaign that ended in May 2006, exceeding its goal and raising more than $271 million, the largest amount ever realized by a Catholic institution in New York State. Already completed are several new buildings, including St. Thomas More Church, the gift of alumnus John V. Brennan and his wife, Anita, which stands at the center of the Queens campus; DaSilva Hall, a state-of-the-art classroom building, which opened in September 2004 on the Staten Island campus; and Taffner Field House, which is located adjacent to Lou Carnesecca arena on the Queens campus and named for alumnus Donald Taffner and his wife Eleanor, an honorary alum and member of the University’s Board of Trustees. These projects complement others that have been completed within the last five years, including a 2,500 seat soccer stadium, named for trustee and longtime benefactor Jerome Belson; and the Kelleher Center, a multipurpose building on the University’s Staten Island campus, named for trustee Denis Kelleher and his wife.
Academic initiatives include new degree programs on both the graduate and undergraduate levels and implementation of a new university-wide core curriculum. In order to assure that students acquire technological proficiency, all incoming first-year students receive laptop computers that can be used on the wireless network that covers all indoor and outdoor areas on each of the University’s campuses. The laptop initiative, launched in 2003, is the largest of its kind in the U.S. Intel Corporation recognized St. John’s advanced use of technology by naming the University to its list of “Top 10 Unwired Colleges” in both 2004 and 2005. While expanding its outreach through technology, the University has also increased its physical presence within the metropolitan area and beyond. In fall 1995, St. John’s opened its third campus and first international site – The Graduate Center in Rome, Italy in facilities provided by the Vatican. A decision to develop a fourth campus on Eastern Long Island was implemented in summer 1999 with the purchase of the 175-acre La Salle Center in Oakdale. A fifth campus was acquired in December 2000 when the College of Insurance, located in Manhattan, was consolidated into St. John’s. In spring 2007 the University launched its new study abroad program for undergraduates – Discover the World. Plans are to establish sites across the globe. The inaugural initiative, Discover Europe, provides an opportunity for students to study and live in three cities: Paris, Rome, and Salamanca during a single semester and to combine classroom instruction with cultural activities and a component unique to the program – the opportunity to engage in service activities.
Perhaps the most transformative aspect of the University’s impressive growth has been the transition to residence life, created through construction of six residence halls. The first three buildings, one of them named for John Cardinal O’Connor, the beloved prelate of the Archdiocese of New York, were completed in August 1999. Two more halls were opened in September 2000, and one additional building, named for alumnus, benefactor, and former Chairman of Mellon Bank Corporation Thomas Donovan, was opened in September 2002. Complementing the residence hall complex is a dining facility named for alumnus and trustee William Montgoris, retired CFO of Bear, Stearns. The residence halls were supplemented in 2005 by acquisition of two complexes on Union Turnpike that provide off-campus housing in apartment style facilities. Apartment style living accommodations are also available in buildings adjacent to the Staten Island campus.
Shortly after his ordination as a Vincentian priest in 1973, Father Harrington was assigned to Niagara University, which, like St. John’s, is sponsored by the Vincentians. He served as Instructor in Religious Studies, as Director of Student Activities, and as Executive Vice President before being named the institution’s 22nd president – at 38 years of age, the youngest ever appointed.
Father Harrington has amassed a striking record of community and professional activity. He completed three terms as a trustee of Niagara University, two terms on the Board of Directors of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU), and six years on the Board of Trustees of Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, New York. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) within the State of New York.
Born in Brooklyn, Father Harrington attended Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and on Long Island and graduated from Manhattan’s Regis High School in 1963. He then entered the junior college seminary of the Vincentian Fathers in Princeton, New Jersey, before completing his studies for the priesthood at Mary Immaculate Seminary in Northampton, Pennsylvania. He pursued graduate studies at the Catholic University of America and the University of Toronto.
Father Harrington holds honorary doctorates from several colleges and universities in the United States, including Niagara University, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and The Catholic University of America and has also been honored by such international institutions as Fu Jen University in Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China; the American University in Rome, Italy; and Kokushikan University in Tokyo, Japan. He was awarded the honor Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in 1989 and was named a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in 1999. He received the Order of Merit (Cavalieri) of the Republic of Italy in June 2003 and the Grand Ufficiale in October 2003.
April 2008