Office of the President

Vincent D. Rougeau, a nationally respected expert in legal education and Catholic social thought, became the 33rd president of the College of the Holy Cross in July 2021.

As president, his early focus includes investing in student, faculty and staff experience, strengthening shared governance with faculty, administration and the Board of Trustees, and deepening partnerships across the City of Worcester.

Under President Rougeau’s leadership and in collaboration with faculty, staff, alums and students, Holy Cross has advanced Aspire, its new strategic vision for the future. 

Rougeau previously served as dean of the Boston College Law School and the inaugural director of the Boston College Forum on Racial Justice in America. Prior to his role at Boston College, Rougeau was a tenured professor of law at Notre Dame Law School, and served as their associate dean for Academic Affairs from 1999-2002.

Rougeau has written extensively on law and religion with a particular focus on Catholic social teaching and the law. His book “Christians in the American Empire: Faith and Citizenship in the New World Order” was released by Oxford University Press in 2008. 

His research considers the relationships among religious identity, citizenship and membership in highly mobile and increasingly multicultural democratic societies. He served as senior fellow at the Centre for Theology and Community in London, where he researched broad-based community organizing, immigration and citizenship in the United Kingdom as part of the Just Communities Project.