June 10, 2020 — Fr. Michael Engh, SJ, has been appointed associate chancellor of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, effective fall 2020. As associate chancellor, Fr. Engh will support and collaborate with Fr. Robert Walsh, SJ, chancellor, in serving the LMU community as advocates for Catholic higher education.
Fr. Engh previously served at LMU for 20 years, from 1988-2008. As dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, he promoted an ambitious initiative in inter-religious dialogue by establishing the Huffington Ecumenical Institute, the Doshi Professorship in Indic Religions and the Jewish Studies Program.
Fr. Engh then served as the 28th president of Santa Clara University from 2009 to 2019. Among his achievements, he expanded academic offerings by creating nearly 20 degree, certificate or online degree programs and transformed the size, diversity and caliber of the student body by growing the number of applicants by 60 percent and simultaneously improving the graduation rate by nearly 10 percent.
Fr. Engh earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University of Los Angeles, now LMU; a master’s degree from Gonzaga University; a Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; and a doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A generous teacher and astute historian, Fr. Engh has widely published on the history of Los Angeles and the role of religion in the American West.
Fr. Engh has served on several boards and continues on the board of trustees of Boston College and on the board of directors of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, housed at the University of Southern California. Previously, he served on the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group; the board of directors of the Bay Area Council; the board of directors of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities; the board of trustees of the Graduate Theological Union; and the board of trustees of Bellarmine College Preparatory.
He chaired the President’s Council of the West Coast Conference and held an appointment on the executive board of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. Fr. Engh was also a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference Working Group on Catholic Higher Education. [Source: Loyola Marymount University]