WASHINGTON (AP) - The first layman named president of Georgetown University said Friday that Jesuit educational traditions will remain a guiding force at the nation's oldest Roman Catholic university.
``You feel it every day. It's part of the fabric of the place,'' said John DeGioia, who has been connected with the school for 26 years. Now Georgetown's senior vice president, he will succeed the Rev. Leo O'Donovan, who retires July 1.
DeGioia, 44, graduated from Georgetown in 1979. He also attended graduate school there and has taught philosophy courses since 1995.
``The laity must be prepared to assume greater responsibility in partnership with the clergy as stewards of the Catholic and Jesuit university and the church itself,'' DeGioia said.
He said one his greatest challenges will be raising money. ``We are underendowed in comparison to the schools we are competing with,'' DeGioia said.
The university's directors set a goal of raising $1 billion in by 2003 for its Third Century campaign, which began in 1995 with a $500 million goal. The deadline for the Third Century campaign has been extended twice to reach its doubled goal.
Georgetown's 6,400 undergraduate students pay annual tuitions of $23,952, and room and board runs an additional $9,000 a year. About 80 percent of students live on campus. Construction now under way will boost that capacity to 90 percent within two years.
About 6,000 students are enrolled in Georgetown's graduate, law and medical school programs.
DeGioia's selection came after a search for a successor that was opened to secular candidates 10 months ago when no suitable Jesuit could be found, said John R. Kennedy, chairman of Georgetown's board of directors.
DeGioia was appealing, Kennedy said, because he ``knows Georgetown as a student, a faculty member, an administrator and an alumnus.''
DeGioia's appointment also drew praise from faculty and staff.
``To bring someone from the inside to take over speaks very well for the university,'' said Wendy Perdue, associate dean of the Georgetown University Law Center.
``Jack's greatest quality in my opinion is that he listens well,'' said John Thompson, who coached the Georgetown basketball team until retiring two years ago.
DeGioia will be the 48th president of the institution, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll as the nation's first Catholic university. The school's first 12 students enrolled three years later.
Today it is among 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in 19 states as well as the District of Columbia.
Conservative Catholics had pressed Georgetown to stay close to its roots by appointing a Jesuit, but progressives saw the move as an inclusive signal.
``He is known and respected as a fine Catholic educator,'' said Cardinal-designate Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington. McCarrick expressed disappointment that no Jesuit priest could be found to maintain the unbroken tradition.
On the Net: Georgetown University: http://www.georgetown.edu/
AP-NY-02-16-01 1548EST
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.