Province News

Xavier University celebrates inauguration of president Michael J. Graham, S.J.
Sunday, September 02, 2001

CINCINNATI, OHIO – Xavier University faculty, administration, staff and students are celebrating "Jesuit Education in a New Century” with the inauguration of Michael J. Graham, S.J., as the institution’s 34th Jesuit president.

Inauguration festivities begin on Saturday, September 8, with a 2 p.m. mass at St. Xavier Church, 607 Sycamore St. in downtown Cincinnati, the point of origin for all the later Jesuit ministries in Cincinnati.

Mass will be followed by a 5:30 p.m. reception in the James and Caroline Duff Banquet Center at the Cintas Center on the Xavier campus and a 7 p.m. dinner on the floor of the arena in the Cintas Center. After dinner, Fr. Graham will receive his call to service from a member of the Xavier faculty, student body and alumni as well as a representative from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. In addition, Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk will offer a charge in regard to Fr. Graham’s role in the Cincinnati Catholic community. Fr. Graham’s presidential address will follow the calls to service.

On Sunday, September 9, it is the students’ turn to celebrate the inauguration of their new president. Fr. Graham will celebrate mass for students at 10 p.m., followed by a party. Both the mass and party will be held on the academic mall.

Fr. Graham began his duties as Xavier’s 34th Jesuit president on January 1, 2001.
He will lead Xavier into the next century, guided by the Jesuit traditions of academic excellence, care of the whole person and service to God and community.

Fr. Graham entered the Society of Jesus on September 3, 1978 and was ordained a priest on June 11, 1988. He came to Xavier as an assistant professor of history during the 1984-1985 academic year. Fr. Graham left Xavier to pursue his Masters of Divinity from The Weston School of Theology, which he earned in 1988. He returned to Xavier the following year and has never left.

In 1994, Fr. Graham was appointed vice president for university relations, overseeing the offices of development, marketing and public relations, alumni and parent relations, special events and WVXU. In that role, Fr. Graham presided over The Century Campaign, the most ambitious and successful fundraising campaign in Xavier's history. In 1999, Fr. Graham was named executive assistant to then Xavier President Fr. James E. Hoff, S.J.

Fr. Graham is 48 years old. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He earned a BSS with majors in philosophy and psychology in 1975 from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He earned an MA in American studies in 1977 and an MA in 1978 in psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1983, he earned his Ph.D., also at the University of Michigan in American Studies.

During his eight months as Xavier president, Fr. Graham began a series of listening sessions with members of every facet of the University. Information gathered at these listening sessions will be considered as Fr. Graham and his staff begin a new round of strategic planning for the University. He is also playing a strategic role in the Cincinnati community as a member of Cincinnati Community Action Now (C-CAN), a task force established by the mayor to improve race relations.

Fr. Graham also continues to teach one honors class per year at Xavier and is active in parish work at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in the Cincinnati suburb of Montgomery.

Xavier University enrolls approximately 6,500 undergraduate and graduate students in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Social Sciences and the Williams College of Business.