The Rev. Robert A. Dowd to replace Jenkins in July as president of University of Notre Dame

Dowd, a Michigan City native who graduated from Notre Dame in 1987, will begin his duties July 1. In the meantime, he will work closely with outgoing president the Rev. John Jenkins, according to a statement from Notre Dame Board of Trustee Chair Jack Brennan.

Since 2021, Dowd has been Notre Dame's vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives. He's also a political science professor and a religious superior of the university's Holy Cross community, where ordained priests and brothers of the Holy Cross live.

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In the fall of 1987, having earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and economics that spring, Dowd entered the Moreau Seminary to explore priesthood. He was ordained as a priest in 1994. He went on to work as associate rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and an assistant rector in a Notre Dame residence hall.

He later earned a master's degree in African studies — recalling the 18 months he spent in East Africa during seminary — and a doctoral degree in political science at UCLA. He became an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame in 2004.