Michael E. Engh, S.J. took office as the 28th president of Santa Clara University in 2009. He served as the chief executive officer with overall responsibility for its operational affairs.
Father Engh led the University in defining the University's vision and setting the course for the future with the bold new plan, Santa Clara 2020.
Fr. Engh served on a number of boards, including the Board of Trustees of Boston College, the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Council, the Board of Directors of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), the Council of Presidents of the Graduate Theological Union, and the Board of Trustees of Bellarmine College Preparatory. He chaired the President’s Council of the West Coast Conference and hed appointments on the Executive Board of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, and the Executive Committee of the AJCU. He also was a member of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
Prior to his appointment as president, Fr. Engh 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.