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REV. ROBERT J. SPITZER, S.J. President
Since Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., became president in 1998, Gonzaga has grown significantly in national notoriety, academic offerings, physical plant, faculty and student body. Enrollment has grown from 4,400 to more than 6,700, and the University has added additional staff and nearly 20 new or renovated buildings on an expanding campus to accommodate the growing student body.
Father Spitzer oversaw a $150 million capital campaign that ended in 2005, resulting in increased financial aid for students, expanded resources for faculty, improved technology and 13 building projects.
The president's vision for Gonzaga's growth has been guided by a foundation in finance and accounting, a 30-year-career in higher education and a passion for his alma mater.
"Gonzaga has contributed so much to everything I have done and will continue to do. Indeed, except for my family and the Jesuits, it has formed me more than anyone or any place else," Father Spitzer said.
University president is not Father Spitzer's only gig. He is a Jesuit priest, an author, speaker, teacher and participant in community affairs. His fresh and innovative approach stems from his diverse areas of interest: public accounting, finance, theology, physics, metaphysics, leadership, ethics and Gonzaga. He averages more than 100 major business and public presentations a year, including to: Tony Blair's Cabinet in London, officials of the Russian Orthodox Church, leaders of both sides of the Northern Ireland conflict, and members of the current leadership in Costa Rica.
Father Spitzer received his bachelor's degree from Gonzaga in 1974, a master's degree in philosophy from St. Louis University in 1978, a master's of Divinity degree from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1983, a master's of theology degree in scripture from the Weston School in Cambridge, Mass., in 1984, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 1988.
Father Spitzer began his teaching career at St. Louis University as a teaching assistant in 1978. He continued at Seattle University as an instructor of philosophy from 1978 to 1980. He taught as an assistant professor of philosophy at Georgetown University from 1984 to 1990, where he received the Bunn Medal for Most Outstanding Faculty Member in 1989. He then proceeded to Seattle University (1990-1998) where he was tenured as an associate professor of philosophy in 1996. During that time he held the Frank Shrontz chair of professional ethics (1997-1998) and won the award for outstanding faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1997.
Father Spitzer was born in 1952 and raised in Honolulu, receiving his high school diploma from Punahou High.
