President Amy C. Novak, EdD, announced today that Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, CM, EdD, will give the keynote addresses at the 2025 Spring Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17. He will also be recognized with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for his significant humanitarian efforts.
Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, CM, EdD, a Vincentian priest, has dedicated his life to Catholic higher education and caring for vulnerable populations. Since 1985, Fr. Holtschneider has been a professor and administrator at multiple universities rising to president of DePaul University in 2004, a position he held for more than a decade. There, he became a national advocate for financial aid reform and a voice for immigration reform for DACA students. He went on to become president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities where he focused on creating tools and training opportunities to help leaders at these institutions find strategic ways to survive the highly competitive environment in which they exist.
Prior to his tenure at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, he served as Chief Operations Officer of Ascension – a Catholic healthcare system. Working with his colleagues, he joined 2,600 healthcare sites into a nationwide wide system to save costs and deliver compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to those most vulnerable. He notably organized and set up 13 health-related companies to sell services to other healthcare systems and use the profits for the unsubsidized care of the poor.
Co-founder of the Institute for Global Homelessness, Fr. Holtschneider has contributed significantly to the issue of homelessness around the globe. The organization provides advice to mayors of major cities on all six continents and serves as the primary advisory on homelessness to the United Nations. He also chaired the National Pastoral Migratoria, leading its growth from a Chicago-based organization to one which provides services to newly arrived immigrants in 13 U.S. cities.
Currently the Cardinal Joseph Bernadin Fellow of Church Leadership at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Fr. Holtschneider serves as a mentor and model for students on how to be skilled and passionate leaders in the Catholic Church. Fr. Holtschneider holds degrees in mathematics, theology, and a doctorate in higher education policy from Harvard University, where he continues to teach strategy and governance in its summer professional programs. He also teaches in the Boston College Institute for Administrators in Catholic Higher Education, which he helped establish 25 years ago.
Spring Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at the Vibrant Arena at The Mark beginning at 11:30 a.m. For more information, visit the 2025 Spring Commencement webpage.
