Contact: Bill Avington Director of Alumni and Public Relations 215-978-1962/ [email protected]

ST. JOSEPH’S PREP NAMES REV. JOHN W. SWOPE, S.J. AS 32nd PRESIDENT

PHILADELPHIA – The St. Joseph’s Prep Board of Trustees, under the leadership of Chairman Paul Geraghty, has named Rev. John W. Swope, S.J., as the school’s 32nd President. He succeeds Rev. George W. Bur, S.J., who will step down in June after seven years at the helm of his alma mater.

Fr. Swope, a 1972 graduate of the Prep, was selected after an extensive national search, chaired by Board Vice Chair, Jim Mergiotti, President of Peirce College and a 1971 Prep graduate. After being approved by the Board, the appointment was confirmed by the Maryland Provincial of the .

Fr. Swope comes to the Prep having served as Founding President of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in since 2006. There, he helped establish the school, which brings high-quality Jesuit education to families who might not otherwise have the opportunity to send their children to private school. Indeed, the school has become a wonderful resource for families from Baltimore City’s most under-served neighborhoods, and as the school’s Founding President, Fr. Swope worked closely with benefactors, community leaders, corporations and foundations to help set the school on a firm footing. And it is – nearly all Cristo Rey Jesuit students become first generation college students, and 100% have been accepted into college.

“I am very excited by the executive capabilities that Fr. Swope brings to the Prep,” says Geraghty. “We are thrilled to have his leadership and administrative expertise to build upon the Prep’s long-held mission of academic excellence and urban outreach, especially the more recent accomplishments made during Fr. Bur’s tenure. I know that Fr. Swope, as an alumnus and a Jesuit, believes in the mission of St. Joseph’s Prep and we look forward to him taking us to all-new heights.”

Fr. Swope has held many positions, both in the U.S. and in Chile. Before his tenure at Cristo Rey Baltimore, he spent four years (2002-06) as Executive Assistant to the Provincial of the Maryland Jesuits and two years (2000-02) as the Executive Director of the Secretariat for the Church in Latin America of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he served for seven years in Chile, working as Director of Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de la Educación in Santiago and as an Adjunct Professor in the in the Department of Educational Theory and Policy and the Institute of Sociology at the Catholic University of Chile.

“I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to be the next President of St. Joseph’s Prep and to continue the legacy that has stretched over 160-plus years,” says Fr. Swope. “I believe that the Prep occupies a unique place among independent boys’ schools in the area and offers families an outstanding, Catholic, Jesuit college prep education for their sons. I look forward to working with the Prep’s talented faculty and staff to educate men of conscience, competence and compassion.”

Fr. Swope holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of London, Licentiate in Theology and Master of Divinity degrees from the Weston School of Theology, and he is a graduate of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre. He served as a Trustee at St. Joseph’s Prep, Saint Joseph’s University, Loyola Blakefield in Baltimore and Cristo Rey Philadelphia. Fr. Swope is a native of Drexel Hill who joined the Society of Jesus in 1976.

“I thank Jim Mergiotti and the search committee for their hard work in finding such an outstanding candidate as Fr. Swope to be the Prep’s new President,” Geraghty says.

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ST. JOSEPH’S PREP PRESIDENTS

From 1851 until 1941, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School operated under Saint Joseph’s College and recognized the College President as its President. Rev. John P. Smith, S.J., served as the first President solely in charge of St. Joseph’s Prep.

1. Rev. Felix J. Barbelin, S.J. (1851-56) 2. Rev. James Ryder, S.J. (1856-57) 3. Rev. James A. Ward, S.J. (1857-60) 4. Rev. Felix J. Barbelin, S.J. (1860-68) 5. Rev. , S.J. (1868-93) 6. Rev. Patrick J. Dooley, S.J. (1893-96) 7. Rev. William F. Clark, S.J. (1896-1900) 8. Rev. Cornelius Gillespie, S.J. (1900-07) 9. Rev. Denis T. O’Sullivan, S.J. (1907-08) 10. Rev. Cornelius Gillespie, S.J. (1908-09) 11. Rev. Charles W. Lyons, S.J. (1909-14) 12. Rev. J. Charles Davey, S.J. (1914-17) 13. Rev. Redmond J. Walsh, S.J. (1917-20) 14. Rev. P.F. O’Gorman, S.J. (1920-21) 15. Rev. Albert G. Brown, S.J. (1921-27) 16. Rev. William T. Tallon, S.J. (1927-33) 17. Rev. Thomas J. Higgins, S.J. (1933-39) 18. Rev. Thomas J. Love, S.J. (1939-41) 19. Rev. John P. Smith, S.J. (1941-47) 20. Rev. Allen F. Duggin, S.J. (1947-49) 21. Rev. Dennis J. Comey, S.J. (Pro Tempore) (1949-50) 22. Rev. Joseph A. Cawley, S.J. (1950-56) 23. Rev. J. William Michelman, S.J. (1956-62) 24. Rev. Lawrence J. Hak, S.J. (1962-67) 25. Rev. Anthony J. Zeits, S.J. (1967-72) 26. Rev. Michael J. Smith, S.J. (1972-77) 27. Rev. Milton E. Jordan, S.J. (1977-81) 28. Rev. David A. Sauter, S.J. (1981-2002) 29. Rev. Bruce M. Bidinger, S.J. (2002-06) 30. Rev. William J. Byron, S.J. (2006-08) 31. Rev. George W. Bur, S.J. (2008-15) 32. Rev. John W. Swope, S.J. (2015- )