COVER STORY did not work out, he would not leave me in the position
Pointing to examples from the doubling of the capacity of
beyond a year.” Things did work out. The young monk was
the Geisel Library to his more recent determination to bring
there for five years in the days when RAs were called proctors
about a new core curriculum, Father Augustine Kelly,
and he knew them all by name.
O.S.B. ’83, dean of the college, says that the developments
Next came graduate studies in canon law before a return
on campus over the past two and a half decades demonstrate
from Rome to teaching at the college and formation work
“Father Jonathan’s profound commitment to the college’s
in the monastery. Mike Sheehan ’82 former chair of the
primary mission of promoting academic excellence.”
college board of trustees and CEO of Hill Holliday, still has his notebook from Father Jonathan’s Christian Social Ethics
Merging classroom learning with the lived experience of students became an integral part of Saint Anselm’s mission, including the establishment of what would become The Meelia
“I would never have imagined that I would someday lead the college — and for so long.”
Center for Community Engagement in 1989. The Center’s diverse opportunities for student volunteerism and leadership as well as service learning became a signature aspect of the Saint Anselm experience. Campus Ministry started the Spring Break Alternative program, which expanded into the Service and Solidarity Missions sending students on hundreds of domestic and foreign
course. He still lives according to a lesson he learned in the class: “Every bit of humor has a little bit of truth, and it can
trips in 23 years. Father Jonathan tears up each year as he listens to students describe the impact these trips have on their lives.
hurt people.” In 1986, with the election of Father Matthew Leavy, O.S.B., as abbot, Father Jonathan was made prior and formation director. He continued to teach theology.
Presidential Commitment When Brother Joachim asked for a sabbatical after 10 years as president in 1989, Abbot Matthew asked Father Jonathan to fill in. After several months, Brother Joachim said he did not want to return as president and Father Jonathan’s appointment was made permanent. “It took me some time at the beginning to get up to speed on what was happening; not just here, but with the world of Catholic higher education and higher education in general. I saw some things that we were doing well and others that I thought could be vastly improved for the long-term good of the college. I was concerned from the beginning about doing things that made sense for our identity as a distinctive liberal arts college—I wanted us to be deliberate about our choices about majors and programs, residential life, faculty and curriculum.” 13