From The New York Times:
Fordham University, one of the most prominent Jesuit universities in the United States, announced its new president on Thursday, unveiling a choice that breaks with tradition in two significant ways: For the first time in its nearly 200-year history, the school will be led by a laywoman instead of a priest.
Tania Tetlow, a former law professor and the current president of Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit school in Louisiana, will be installed as the new president on July 1 when the Rev. Joseph M. McShane steps down after 19 years.
The decision makes Fordham the 21st Jesuit college or university to be led by a layperson and the sixth to be led by a woman. Ms. Tetlow, who has served as president of Loyola University since August 2018, was also the first woman and the first layperson to lead that institution.
In its announcement, Fordham went to great lengths to emphasize Ms. Tetlow’s personal connection with the Jesuit order.
Her uncle, the Rev. Joseph Tetlow, is a well-known Jesuit writer and former head of the Secretariat for Ignatian Spirituality in Rome and the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, now part of Santa Clara University.
Her father spent 17 years as a Jesuit before he left the order to start a family, and her parents met as graduate students at Fordham. In a video message to the university community, Ms. Tetlow said, “Fordham is the reason that I exist” and described herself as the product of “a family full of Jesuits.”
“They taught me that faith and reason are intertwined,” she said. “They instilled in me an abiding curiosity to find God in all things. They sang me to sleep with a Gregorian chant and taught me the absolute joy of learning.”
There are 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. For generations, they have been led by members of the Society of Jesus, also called the Jesuit order, which is well known for its work in education and intellectual pursuits.
And you can read the full announcement from Fordham here.
