From Jan. 5, 2009 to June 30, 2019, Fr. Engh led the University as its 28th President, defining SCU's vision and setting the course for the future with the bold new plan, Santa Clara 2020.

Prior to his role at SCU, he served as Dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and professor of history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. A teacher and historian of the American West, Fr. Engh has published on the history of Los Angeles and the role of religion in the history of the American West. He was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus in 1981. He holds a B.A. from Loyola University of Los Angeles, now Loyola Marymount University; an M.A. from Gonzaga University; a Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; and a Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.