Christendom College Announces its Next President is Dr. George Harne Succeeding Dr. Timothy O'Donnell
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Christendom College Announces Dr. George Harne is the College’s next president.
A widely respected and accomplished scholar of music history and the liberal arts, Harne earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and received master’s degrees from Princeton, St. John’s College, and the University of Washington. Harne, who previously served as the Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences for the University of St. Thomas in Houston and as President of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts, brings with him extensive experience in both the administrative and academic dimensions of higher education, making him ideally suited to serve as Christendom’s fourth president.
“We are thrilled to announce Dr. George Harne as our next president,” says Stephen O’Keefe ’93, chairman of the college’s Board of Directors and co-chair of the special committee leading the presidential search. “Dr. Harne will bring experience, leadership, vision, and humility to his role as president of Christendom College, thanks to his extensive background in higher education administration, fundraising, and teaching. The college has never been in a stronger position, and Dr. Harne will help guide our institution into its exciting next chapter.”
Harne’s transition will begin in June, with his official term as president starting in July 2024.
“Christendom College has stood as a beacon for what Catholic higher education can be in America since its founding,” says Harne. “I am honored to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Timothy O’Donnell and the other previous presidents of this institution. There is much work ahead, and I am humbled to play a part in the history of this extraordinary college.”
Michele Velasco ’90, co-chair of the Presidential Search Committee, praised O’Donnell for his leadership and contributions to the college.
“For nearly forty years, Dr. Timothy O’Donnell has been instrumental in the history of Christendom College, first as a professor and then as president. No one has worked harder to advance the work of Christendom, and for that, we are deeply indebted to him,” says Velasco. “On behalf of the Board of Directors and our entire Christendom family, I want to express our gratitude for his humble service and his incredible leadership of our institution.”
Dr. O’Donnell announced in May of 2023 his intention to retire as president and requested the Board of Directors to begin the search process at that time. After much hard work, consideration, and prayer, Harne was named president on March 25, 2024.
Harne, who was born in Florida, received his undergraduate degree in music from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1994 before earning his M.A. in Historical Musicology from the University of Washington in 1996. He then continued his graduate studies at St. John’s College, earning a Master of Liberal Studies degree in 1998. Finally, he completed his graduate work in Musicology at Princeton, earning an M.F.A. in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2008. Since then, his scholarly work has focused primarily on medieval music theory and topics related to liberal education.
During his time in college and graduate studies, Harne also experienced a change in his faith. After growing up in southern Pentecostalism, Harne and his wife were married in a Presbyterian church and became Episcopalian in graduate school. This move through ‘higher’ forms of liturgical practice ran parallel to his growing interest in the Catholic intellectual tradition and Church history. His reading of Newman and magisterial documents, the examples of Popes Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and questions of ecclesiology ultimately led him and his wife on a journey of conversion. In 2005, Harne and his family entered the Catholic Church.
After earning his Ph.D. from Princeton, Harne joined Magdalen College as a member of the faculty in 2008 and became its academic dean in 2009, substantially expanding and renewing the college’s curriculum. Following his two years as academic dean, Harne was named president of the college in 2011, serving for nine years. In this role, he championed the founding vision of the college, transformed its student culture, and brought back its founding president, Dr. Peter Sampo, as a member of the faculty. During his tenure, the college also reached record enrollment and fundraising goals, received the American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s (ACTA) “A” rating for its curriculum, recruited nationally respected faculty, and achieved regional accreditation for the first time.
In 2020, Harne stepped down as president and accepted the position of Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. In this role, Harne worked diligently to clarify and strengthen the university’s Catholic identity through a renewal of the university’s core curriculum, in which he was helped by professor, and Christendom alumnus, Dr. Andrew Hayes ‘04. He also collaborated in the creation of new, mission-centered academic programs, “Formation for Mission” seminars for new faculty, and a culture conducive to liberal learning and the principles of Pope St. John Paul II’s Ex Corde Ecclesiae. During this time, he also co-created and taught a new fine arts course animated by the philosophy of Joseph Pieper and Etienne Gilson.
Harne will be the college’s fourth president, following Founding President Dr. Warren Carroll (1977-1985), Dr. Damian Fedoryka (1985-1992), and Dr. Timothy O’Donnell (1992-2024). He will not formally take office until July of 2024, and, for the next few months, he will transition into his new role alongside Dr. O’Donnell, who intends to return to the classroom following a well-deserved sabbatical.
Harne will begin his tenure at a pivotal moment for Christendom College, which is consistently recognized for its rigorous, authentically Catholic liberal arts education. The college recently celebrated its 45th anniversary with the dedication of its new Christ the King Chapel, while also setting records in admissions and fundraising. The college also recently was awarded reaffirmation of its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), following several years of hard work and preparation by the college’s accreditation team.
“I truly believe that Christendom will play a leading role in the renewal of the Church and Catholic higher education in the next fifty years,” says Harne. “As the college soon moves into its fifth decade, it will stand courageously as the model of Catholic higher education in this country, providing young men and women with the education they need to become wise, serve as salt and light in our world, and renew the very foundations of our society. May Our Heavenly Father bless our efforts, and I ask for your prayers in the years ahead.”
Harne and his wife, Debbie, have five children.
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