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Dateline: 4/14/2009

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

President Rev. Spitzer Announces Future Plans

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Gonzaga University President Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., today announced his plans following the conclusion of his presidency at Gonzaga in July. His goal is to bring his message to the masses to further impact societal culture for the common good.

Gonzaga President Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J.
Gonzaga President Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J.
Rev. Spitzer said he plans to do this by developing and expanding two institutes that he founded and has nurtured over the past 15 years, the Magis Institute in Irvine, Calif., and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership in Ann Arbor, Mich.

He plans to do this through a three-pronged approach:

  1. He will complete work on and publish three academic books. He will also write six popular versions of academic books he has authored.
  2. Through the Magis Institute he will create a curriculum based on his perspectives on faith and reason as outlined in his books, and deliver it via DVD, e-mail and through broadband technology that will allow him to provide question-and-answer sessions in real time, with students throughout the world.
  3. Through the Spitzer Center he will develop a program to reach business and religious communities with his leadership curriculum that will extract from his five pillars of spiritual life and his extensive background in business ethics. The broadband, real-time sessions with his students will be a key to program success.

To learn more about these two institutes, visit the following Web sites: www.magis.us, and www.spitzercenter.org.

Rev. Spitzer announced in March 2008 that he will step down from the Gonzaga presidency this summer after serving his alma mater for 11 years. He and his administration have created a strategic plan that will provide a blueprint for Gonzaga through 2012.

“I am going to really miss the students here, and the empathy I share with them and their parents,” Rev. Spitzer said. “But this opportunity to write books, develop leadership curriculum for the Spitzer Center and develop a faith and reason component to the Magis Institute will provide a means to reach hundreds of thousands of people with the word of God.”

For more information, contact Dale Goodwin, Gonzaga’s director of public relations at (509) 313-6133.