Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., Ph.D., became the twenty-fourth President of The University of Scranton on July 1, 2003. His tenure has been marked by several historic initiatives at Scranton. The University is well on its way to implementing a 2005-2010 strategic plan entitled Pride, Passion, Promise -- Shaping Our Jesuit Tradition, which includes the largest capital campaign in Scranton’s history, a $100 million campaign that entered its public phase in April of 2008. One of the centerpiece projects of the plan is a $35,000,000 new campus center adjacent to a football field-sized campus green that have transformed the heart of the campus. Construction began in June of 2006 and the building, named the Patrick and Margaret DeNaples Center, opened in January of 2008. The John & Jacquelyn Dionne Campus Green was dedicated in August of 2008.

Another component of the plan called for a new sophomore residence hall to create a cluster of sophomore housing to replicate the close housing arrangement experienced by first-year residential students at Scranton. In August of 2008, this phase was completed with the opening of the 386-bed, 108,000 sq. ft, seven-story Christopher and Margaret Condron Hall.

In the spring of 2009, the University announced the largest capital project in its history, a more than 200,000 square foot unified science center that will be completed by the fall of 2011.

The leadership skill of Father Pilarz was recognized through his inclusion among the 38 successful individuals profiled by Ronald Shapiro in The New York Times bestseller Dare to Prepare: How to Win Before You Begin. In addition, Father Pilarz received the Slovak Republic St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Sciences Great Medal of St. Elizabeth Award in 2008, as well as the Lackawanna Bar Association Chief Justice Michael J. Eagan Award for Dedicated Service. In the spring of 2009, Father Pilarz received the John Carroll Award from Georgetown University, which is the highest honor bestowed by the Georgetown University Alumni Association. The award honors alumni whose achievements exemplify the ideals and traditions of Georgetown University and its founder, Archbishop John Carroll. Father Pilarz was also recognized by the Georgetown Alumni Association in 2002 with the William Gaston Award for Outstanding Service and, while serving as a professor there, was chosen by the graduating class of 1999 to receive the Edward B. Bunn, S.J., Award for Faculty Excellence, which recognizes outstanding teaching and service.

As a scholar, Father Pilarz has delivered numerous papers at scholarly conferences on various aspects of medieval and Renaissance literature. He has also lectured and published on topics related to Jesuit education. His articles on John Donne, St. Robert Southwell, S.J., and medieval drama have appeared in academic journals and collections of essays. His book, Robert Southwell, S.J., and the Mission of Literature 1561-1595: Writing Reconciliation, has been published by Ashgate Press. In 1998, he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he has received three research grants and a competitive junior faculty research leave from Georgetown.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University, Father Pilarz entered the Society of Jesus in 1981 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He received a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University, and master’s degrees in divinity and theology from the Weston School of Theology, Cambridge, Mass. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in English at the City University of New York, and his dissertation, Sacerdotal Self-Fashioning: Priesthood in the Poetry of Robert Southwell, S.J., and John Donne, won the 1997 CUNY Alumni Achievement Prize for Dissertation Excellence.

While a student at Weston, Father Pilarz served as a lecturer in the philosophy department of Ss. Peter & Paul Seminary and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. While completing doctoral studies, he was appointed to the English faculty of St. Joseph’s University in 1994. In 1996, he joined the Georgetown faculty as an assistant professor of English. In 2002, he was appointed interim University Chaplain.

As University Chaplain, Father Pilarz served as a member of the President’s Cabinet and was responsible for leading campus ministry efforts on Georgetown’s main, medical and law campuses. He worked with the President to promote Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit character, sponsored inter-religious dialogue, and coordinated interfaith activities on all three of Georgetown’s campuses.

Father Pilarz serves as the Association of Jesuit Colleges Universities representative to the American Council on Education board of directors. He also serves on the boards of Boston College; Marquette University; the United Nations of Northeastern Pennsylvania; the Scranton Preparatory School; Scranton Tomorrow; and as president of the board of Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill, N.J., from which he graduated. Father Pilarz also served from 2005 to 2008 on the State Ethics Commission for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

His professional memberships include the Academy of American Poets, the John Donne Society, the Renaissance Society of America, the Shakespeare Association of America, the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, and the Modern Language Association.

Father Pilarz has served as a member of The University of Scranton’s Board of Trustees since 2000.