President Jonathan J. Sanford, PhD
Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., is the 10th president of the University of Dallas, having assumed the position in 2021. As president, Dr. Sanford has dedicated his efforts to leading the University of Dallas to more fully realizing its calling as a premier Catholic liberal arts university by means of a thoroughgoing commitment to academic excellence, a distinctive and thoroughly nurturing approach to forming the character of our students, and the cultivation of true magnanimity in service to church and country.
President Sanford originally came to the university as the dean of Constantin College in 2015 and was elevated to provost in 2018. Dr. Sanford, a tenured professor in the Philosophy Department, graduated summa cum laude from Xavier University (Ohio) with a degree in classical languages and philosophy in 1997. Dr. Sanford received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Buffalo, State University of New York in 2001 and a postdoctoral fellowship from Fordham University in 2001-2002. Dr. Sanford served at Franciscan University of Steubenville in professorial and leadership roles for thirteen years before joining the University of Dallas.
An active scholar, Dr. Sanford has published widely on philosophical figures and topics, especially in foundational questions of moral philosophy. His books include the critically acclaimed Before Virtue: Assessing Contemporary Virtue Ethics (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015) and The Philosophical Legacy of Jorge J. E. Gracia (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022). He frequently speaks, provides interviews, and publishes on central issues in higher education, virtue theory, Catholicism, and culture.
Dr. Sanford is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hildebrand Project, a member of the American Academy of Catholic Scholars and Artists, a Board Director of Great Hearts Texas, a member of the Dallas Chapter of Legatus, and a member of the Higher Education Working Group of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’s Committee on Education. He and his wife Rebecca, a founding board member of the Catholic women’s ministry Mighty is Her Call, have nine children and six grandchildren, and live in Irving, Texas.
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