Gonzaga Announces New Commencement Speaker

On Monday, May 7, Gonzaga President Father Stephen Planning, SJ, announced that, due to a serious illness, Bishop George Murry, SJ of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, will be unable to serve as the 2018 Commencement Speaker as originally planned. “I ask that all members of the Gonzaga school community please pray for Bishop Murry for his complete recovery,” said Father Planning.

“Albeit with a heavy heart for my Jesuit brother,” he continued, “I am very pleased to announce that our new graduation speaker will be Gonzaga alumnus Dr. Joseph McCarthy of the Class of 1968.”

Dr. Joseph J. McCarthy served for many years as Senior Associate Dean and Director of Degree Programs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In that capacity he oversaw the administration of the school’s several masters and Ph.D. programs, which altogether enrolled 1,000 students annually. He also served on numerous school-wide and university-wide committees, as well as outside boards.

Earlier in his career, McCarthy served as Chief of Staff to the Founding Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School and later as Assistant Dean for Academic Planning in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where for many years he was also on the Board of Freshman Advisors.

Prior to these administrative posts, he taught in the English Department at Boston College and the Expository Writing program in Harvard College. Other professional experiences include teaching and counseling in the Boston College Upward Bound Program as well as a decade of teaching, coaching, and administrative posts in public and independent schools in the U.S. and in Europe.

McCarthy holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Boston College and an Ed.D. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University. He is married to Dr. Marina C. McCarthy, Chair of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. They reside alternately in the Washington D.C area and Cambridge, MA.

The Gonzaga community looks forward to welcoming Dr. McCarthy at its one-hundred-ninety-seventh commencement exercises in just a few short weeks—where he will have the special honor of participating in the graduation both as its commencement speaker and as a member of Gonzaga’s Jubilarian reunion class.