Eduardo Peñalver Named 49th President of Georgetown University

Georgetown's board of directors has unanimously voted to name Eduardo M. Peñalver, the president of Seattle University, a Rhodes Scholar and former dean of Cornell Law School, as the 49th president of Georgetown University.

He will begin his new role on July 1, 2026.

Peñalver has served as the 22nd president of Seattle University, a Catholic, Jesuit institution, since 2021. He was the first layperson to lead the university since its founding in 1891.

Peñalver will succeed Interim President Robert M. Groves, who has led Georgetown for the past year after former President John J. DeGioia stepped downfrom his role in 2024 to recover from a stroke.

"We are pleased to welcome Eduardo Peñalver to Georgetown University," said Thomas A. Reynolds (B'74), chair of the board of directors, who shared the news in a message to the Georgetown community. "President Peñalver is an exceptional leader steeped in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition who brings a wealth of experience in higher education, a global mindset, a commitment to social justice and academic excellence, and a bold vision for Georgetown's future. We look forward to him joining our Georgetown community."

Prior to Seattle University, Peñalver served as the dean of Cornell Law School. He studied philosophy and theology at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his bachelor's degree from Cornell University and law degree from Yale Law School. He also clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

As a leading scholar on property law, Peñalver has taught law at Fordham Law School, the University of Chicago Law School and Cornell Law School. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale law schools.

"I'm deeply honored to have the privilege of serving as Georgetown's next president," Peñalver said. "I would like to thank the Presidential Search Committee and Georgetown's board of directors for entrusting this role to me at such a pivotal time for Georgetown and for higher education. I am also grateful to Jack DeGioia for his decades of transformative leadership and to Interim President Bob Groves for his careful stewardship this past year."

Play Youtube Video

His Catholic Upbringing

As Peñalver takes the helm of the nation's oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, his own Catholic faith has animated and guided his work.

"It gives meaning to my work," he said during an interview. "I find great personal comfort in my faith, but also it helps me work through the challenges of my job."

Peñalver was raised in a Catholic family in Puyallup, Washington, a small town near Tacoma. His father, a retired pediatrician, immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 from Cuba, and his mother, a retired school nurse, is the daughter of Swiss immigrants who became dairy farmers in Washington.

(Left) Peñalver attended All Saints, his parish's elementary school. (Right) Peñalver (top left) with his family in Puyallup, Washington.

Peñalver attended his parish's elementary school, All Saints, and then Henry Foss High Schoolin Tacoma. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from Cornell University in 1994.

After earning his law degree in 1999, Peñalver clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. He later spoke at a memorial servicefor Justice Stevens in 2022 hosted by the Supreme Court Bar.

His Academic Career

Peñalver began his academic career at Fordham Law School, where he discovered his passion for teaching.

"I learned how much I loved teaching and how much I enjoyed interacting with students," he said. "I found a great synergy between my teaching and my research."

At Fordham, Peñalver began to research property law. In the years since, he has been published in scholarly law journals at Yale University, the University of Michigan, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. He has published two books, Property Outlawsand An Introduction to Property Theory, and he is considered a leading scholar of progressive property theory, with many of his insights informed by Catholic social teaching.

After teaching at Fordham, Cornell Law School and the University of Chicago Law School, Peñalver was appointed dean of his alma mater's law school in 2014.

His Leadership in Higher Education

Peñalver at a Mass celebrating his inauguration as the president of Seattle University at St. James Cathedral in Seattle, Wash., on Sept. 23, 2021. Photo by Yosef Kalinko.

Peñalver took the helm at a particularly challenging time for American law schools. Enrollment rates were at a 40-year lowas the economy steadied following the Great Recession.

Against this backdrop, Peñalver led Cornellto fundraise and double its spending on financial aid to increase access for law school candidates. By the end of his term, more than 40% of students graduated from Cornell without debt - an increase from about 12% when he began. In addition, he increased the quality of applicants and diversity of the student body, launched new degree programs on its New York City campus and online, recruited new faculty, and established three clinical programs: the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic, the First Amendment Clinicand the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic.

Peñalver at his presidential inauguration at Seattle University on Sept. 24th, 2021. Photo by Yosef Kalinko.

"President Peñalver has demonstrated innovation, courageous leadership and a commitment to elevating the academic excellence of every institution he has served," said Kevin Warren (B'84), chair of the Presidential Search Committee. "We are excited for him to advance Georgetown's legacy of excellence."

In 2021, Peñalver was appointed president of Seattle University.

In the years since, he led the university to establish the new Cornish College of the Arts, located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. During his tenure, the university received the largest gift of artever given to a U.S. university, which will be used to create the Seattle University Museum of Art. He also helped the university accelerate its commitment to the environment and sustainability by signing onto Pope Francis' Seven-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology.

"President Peñalver brings valuable experience in creating an excellent academic environment and a community focused on cura personalis," said Jeanne Ruesch, vice chair of the search committee. "As Georgetown expands its academic programming and campuses on the Hilltop and Capitol Campus, we know he will continue to foster a community of care where all students can thrive."

A New Chapter at Georgetown

Eduardo Peñalver will begin his role as the 49th president of Georgetown on July 1, 2026.

As he begins his new role, Peñalver plans to bring his experiences guiding another Jesuit university to Georgetown.

"At the center of our work, [Jesuit universities] share an interest in students as whole persons, focusing on their experiences both inside and outside the classroom," he said. "We share an aspiration to do more than teach a skill or impart knowledge, but to get students to grapple with the deeper questions, to pursue more ambitious goals like wisdom and understanding and meaning, in their academic work and in their lives."

Peñalver was drawn to Georgetown for its leadership in higher education, as an R1 research university, location in the heart of Washington, DC, and commitment to student formation and academic excellence in the Jesuit tradition.

"As a member of the Search Committee, I sought a leader who could actively promote Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit identity and mission, in partnership with Jesuit and Church leaders," said Rev. Daniel Patrick L. Huang, S.J., a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. "I am thrilled that we found in Eduardo a committed Catholic, a deeply spiritual man, immersed in the Jesuit educational and the Catholic intellectual traditions, incredibly thoughtful and passionate about the mission of a Catholic and Jesuit university for our complex world today."

(Left) Eduardo Peñalver received his pilot's license while living in Washington, DC, at the beginning of his career. (Right) Peñalver with his two sons and wife Sital Kalantry.

Washington, DC, was the city where Peñalver and his wife, Sital Kalantry, a law professor, first began their careers. Peñalver also received his pilot's license while living here, and hopes to continue flying in the region.

Peñalver said he is looking forward to returning to DC in what feels like a "full-circle moment" and engaging with the Georgetown community.

"This is an exciting moment in Georgetown's history - with the expansion of the Capitol Campus, the creation of new, interdisciplinary programs, a renewed focus on access and affordability, and a commitment to finding innovative solutions to society's most pressing issues," he said.

"I look forward to working with the students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Georgetown to deepen the university's impact on our country and on our world."