When John T. “Jack” Butler, S.J., assumes the presidency of Boston College on July 31, the administration of William P. Leahy, S.J—the longest and most significant in University history—will come to a close.
In the three decades under Fr. Leahy—whom the Board of Trustees honored this summer with the title president emeritus—Boston College experienced an unparalleled transformation in American higher education, rising from an emergent national university to an internationally respected Jesuit, Catholic, liberal arts, research university consistently ranked among the nation’s best schools.
Within those 30 years, Boston College steadily enhanced its academic reputation, enabling the University to compete for the nation’s best and most accomplished high school students. Between 1996 and 2026, the number of applicants increased from 16,500 to nearly 42,000 while the percentage of accepted BC students fell from 41 percent to approximately 13 percent today. The average SAT scores increased steadily from 1248 to 1471, and AHANA student enrollment at the University rose from 17 percent to 38 percent.
At the same time, Boston College expanded its full-time faculty by more than 350 to its present total of 932. BC faculty—whose ranks include a Nobel laureate and two MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship recipients—have earned multiple Fulbright and Beckman fellowships and National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation grants reflecting BC’s burgeoning research acumen.
Among other highlights of Fr. Leahy’s presidency:
•The University was named an RI research institution by the Carnegie Foundation in 2016, the highest research designation in higher education, leading the way for the establishment of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, which features academic programs in integrated science and design thinking, data analytics, and public health. BC broke new ground by launching an Engineering Department in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, offering undergraduate students a degree in human-centered engineering. To meet its growing needs, BC unveiled 245 Beacon Street, a facility for integrated science, entrepreneurship, innovation, and engineering, in 2021 to complement a renovated Higgins Hall for biology and physics that opened in 2001, and Stokes Hall, a humanities building which opened in 2012.
•With the support of a committed alumni base, Boston College completed two successful capital campaigns during this three-decade period—raising $441 million and $1.605 billion, respectively—and set ambitious strategic goals that included the University becoming a national leader in the liberal arts and formative education, and the world’s leading Catholic university and theological center. In September of 2023, BC announced Soaring Higher, a $3 billion campaign to support academics, financial aid, and student life, which to date has raised $2.25 billion.
•Annual contributions to Boston College increased significantly during the past 30 years, from $24 million in 1996 to more than $260 million in 2026, and the University’s endowment has grown from $590 million to more than $5 billion today. In addition, annual sponsored research has risen from $18 million to more than $84 million, and undergraduate need-based financial aid has more than tripled from $47 million to $197 million annually; BC is one of approximately two dozen private universities in the United States that are need-blind in admission and meet the full demonstrated need of all accepted domestic undergraduate students. Boston College has also established nearly 200 endowed faculty funds, currently valued at $320 million, in support of more than 400 named faculty positions.
•The caliber of students also rose steadily, with BC students winning hundreds of prestigious academic awards, including Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater, and Churchill scholarships, and Fulbright grants. In 2020, in recognition of its academic reputation and its commitment to meeting the financial need of its students, Boston College was invited to join QuestBridge, a select, non-profit program that helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and full scholarships to 55 of the nation’s best colleges and universities.
•The BC campus greatly expanded during the past 30 years, with the University acquiring 65 acres across Commonwealth Avenue from the Archdiocese of Boston in what is now the Brighton Campus; 79 acres in Dover for the Connors Retreat Center; and eight acres at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway in Chestnut Hill for administrative office space. In recent years, BC added 50 acres through an integration with Pine Manor College to create what is now the Brookline Campus and also purchased the 24-acre site of the former Mt. Alvernia High School campus in Newton, which in 2027 will become the home of the BC School of Social Work on what is now called the Newton East Campus.
•The University also reaffirmed its commitment to its Jesuit, Catholic heritage through the 2002 establishment of the Church in the 21st Century Center, which has hosted more than 700 events and attracted a global audience of more than one million followers, and the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, an internationally respected school and theological center.
•BC has consistently been recognized for its national leadership in formative education, which seeks to integrate the intellectual, social, and spiritual dimensions of students’ lives and encourages them to develop their gifts and talents to use in the service of others. Based in part on this commitment, BC students are among the nation’s most active volunteers in non-profit organizations, with approximately 8,000 BC students and employees contributing 770,000 volunteer hours that serve more than 52,000 people annually in the local community. BC students also continue to report among the highest levels of student satisfaction in national surveys of graduating college seniors.
•To expand access to a Boston College education to more low-income, first-generation students, in 2021 the University established the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success, a $100 million initiative that includes a cost-free summer enrichment program for Massachusetts students in grades 8-12 called the Academy, and an associate’s degree-granting two-year residential program called Messina College, which opened in 2024 on the Brookline Campus and currently serves more than 200 students.
•Fulfilling its commitment to intercollegiate athletics, in 2003 Boston College joined the Atlantic Coast Conference—one of the premier Autonomy Four conferences in NCAA sports—and has maintained 31 varsity sports for its 750 varsity student-athletes. Between 2017 and 2023, BC constructed more than $300 million in campus athletics facilities, including an indoor football practice facility, the Fish Field House; baseball, softball, and intramural fields in the Harrington Athletics Village; the Pete Frates Center for indoor baseball and softball; and the Hoag Pavilion practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball.
•This summer will see the opening of the Catholic Religious Archives on the Brighton campus to assist in the collection, preservation, and study of institutional records and documents belonging to Catholic religious orders and congregations in the United States and Canada. Recently, BC announced a record-breaking $125 million commitment that will help enable the renovation of Carney Hall to become a hub of the social sciences—including the departments of psychology, sociology, political science, and economics—and home to the Office of Campus Ministry, solidifying the University’s commitment to a Jesuit, Catholic, liberal arts education.
In recognition of Fr. Leahy’s service, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to honor him with the title president emeritus, the first such designation in University history. He will spend time traveling and then serve Boston College as an assistant to Fr. Butler as needed.
Read more about the evolution of Boston College over the past three decades.
