'Jesuits Revealed' - Fr. Jeffrey von Arx, SJ - 'Ignatian Spirituality'

In July 2004, the Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., became the eighth Jesuit to be named President of Fairfield University since the institution's founding in 1942.

Fr. von Arx brings to Fairfield broad academic interests and an integrated view of learning. His zest for student life is born of having lived in undergraduate residence halls throughout his years at Georgetown and Fordham. His approach to the intellectual life reflects the best of what Jesuit education offers the world - the integration of knowledge and values as the foundation for unity of mind, body, and spirit.

An historian by discipline, Fr. von Arx began his academic career at Georgetown University, where he taught in the History Department from 1982 to 1998, and was its chair from 1991 to 1997. He then moved into administration at Fordham University, serving as Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1998 until his selection as President by the Fairfield University Board of Trustees in 2004.

He graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and entered the Society of Jesus that summer. He subsequently earned an M.A. and M.Phil. in history at Yale University, and completed his Ph.D. there in 1980. A year later, Fr. von Arx received an M.Div. from the Weston School of Theology and was ordained a priest.

Fr. von Arx has served or is currently on the boards of trustees of Boston College, Canisius College, Loyola Marymount University, and Xavier University, as well as Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NEASC). He was appointed to the Fairfield Board in 2002 and as president, continues to serve as a trustee.