John B. Creeden | |
|---|---|
 Creeden in 1922 | |
| 37th President of Georgetown University | |
| In office 1918–1924 | |
| Preceded by | Alphonsus J. Donlon |
| Succeeded by | Charles W. Lyons |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 12, 1871 Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | February 26, 1948 (aged 76) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1905 by James Gibbons |
John Berchmans Creeden SJ (September 12, 1871 – February 26, 1948) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit, who served in many senior positions at Jesuit universities in the United States. Born in Massachusetts, he attended Boston College, and studied for the priesthood in Maryland and Austria. He taught at Fordham University and then at Georgetown University, where he became the dean of Georgetown College in 1909, and simultaneously served as the principal of Georgetown Preparatory School.
Creeden became president of Georgetown University in 1918, in the aftermath of the First World War. During his presidency, the School of Foreign Service was founded, for which he was awarded the Medal of Public Instruction from the president of Venezuela. In order to support the post-war enrollment boom, he expanded the size of the campus and established the university's first endowment. Creeden also significantly reformed the university's organization, including relocating Georgetown Preparatory School to a new campus, installing Jesuit regents to oversee each of the professional schools, and improving the Law School's curriculum and admissions standards.
In 1924, Creeden returned to Boston College as the dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, before founding Boston College Law School in 1926 and serving as its first regent until 1939 and simultaneously as the regent of Georgetown Law School from 1929 to 1939. In his final years, he was a spiritual counselor at Jesuit schools in Western Massachusetts, and then became the dean of Boston College's Evening Division, which later became the Woods College of Advancing Studies.