Robert A. Dowd

Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. is an American Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and the current president of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Biography
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Dowd grew up in Michigan City, Indiana and attended Marquette Catholic High School. He earned his B.A. in psychology and economics from the University of Notre Dame in 1987, and an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1993. He later earned an M.A. in African Studies from UCLA in 1998, followed by a Ph.D. in political science in 2003.

Before his election as president, Dowd served at Notre Dame as Vice President and Associate Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives, Assistant Provost for Internationalization, Director of the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, and the director of the Notre Dame Millennial Development Initiative in the Mpigi District in Uganda, an initiative to advance agriculture, education and health initiatives. He also served as religious superior of the Holy Cross Priests and Brothers at the University of Notre Dame.

Dowd's 2015 book titled Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy was praised by many and called "groundbreaking" by reviewer Muhammed Haron. In it, he makes the case that religious tolerance in Nigeria and other African countries happens because of a variety of religions, rather than in spite of it.

On December 4, 2023, Dowd was announced as the 18th university president, to succeed John I. Jenkins on June 1, 2024.

Works

 * Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa. Oxford University Press, 2015.