Dr. Katia Passerini Begins Role as Gonzaga University’s 27th President

Gonzaga President Katia Passerini standing in front of a stained glass window with her arms crossed
Gonzaga President Katia Passerini
July 15, 2025
Gonzaga University News Service

A new chapter opened in the storied history of Gonzaga University today as Dr. Katia Passerini took the helm as the Jesuit institution’s 27th president. She is the second layperson to serve in the role, succeeding Dr. Thayne McCulloh.

President Passerini was selected to lead Gonzaga following a national search and unanimous selection by the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees earlier this year. She is a native of Italy and lifelong Catholic who most recently served at Seton Hall University in New Jersey as provost and senior executive vice president from 2020-2025, a tenure that included a one-year stint as Seton Hall’s interim president during the 2023-24 academic year.

“Gonzaga is clearly a very special place: a dynamic university with a national reputation for quality. Coming to know this community and discovering together how it will continue its success is going to be a wonderful journey,” said President Passerini. “I’m excited to lead the University and honor its mission of teaching, learning and the holistic formation of students.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting as many members of the Gonzaga community as possible in the coming months, as well as our partners and friends in Spokane and the Pacific Northwest who, together with the University, create such a rich educational ecosystem. It’s a challenging time for higher education, but also a time of incredible opportunities for innovation and advancement, and I look forward to working alongside Gonzaga’s students, faculty and staff in pursuit of academic excellence and a more just world.”

President Passerini has served as an administrator, educator, researcher and expert in higher education with a focus on project management, information systems management, knowledge management and IT strategy. Previous to her tenure at Seton Hall University, she served as a professor and administrator at St. John’s University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and she’s been awarded numerous grants and academic recognition for her excellence in research and teaching.

President Passerini holds undergraduate degrees in political science (LUISS University, Italy) and economics (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy), MBA and Ph.D. degrees from The George Washington University, and a Certificate in Business Project Management from New York University. She was a Fulbright Student Scholar and Fulbright Administrator Scholar, as well as an Italian National Research Council Fellow.

Mike Reilly, chair of the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees, welcomed President Passerini, describing her as the right person to lead Gonzaga into the future.

“On behalf of the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees, I want to say how thrilled we are to have Dr. Passerini lead this next chapter in Gonzaga’s remarkable story, one defined by excellence, purpose and an unwavering commitment to shaping lives for the common good,” Reilly said. “Welcome, President Passerini, to the Gonzaga community!”

Reilly on Monday also announced that the Board of Trustees had elected to honor Dr. Passerini’s predecessor, bestowing the title of President Emeritus upon former President Thayne McCulloh. It is the first such designation in Gonzaga’s nearly 140-year history, and serves as acknowledgement of the dramatic growth at Gonzaga — in academic excellence, in national and international prestige, in athletic competitiveness and improvements to the physical campus — under his 16-year tenure as president. “President McCulloh has absolutely transformed this University in extraordinary ways,” Reilly says.

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