NEW YORK -- The BIG EAST Conference announced that it has renamed its Presidents' Award in honor of John J. DeGioia, the former long-time President of Georgetown University, effective immediately. The decision was made by a unanimous vote at the BIG EAST Conference Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Nov. 6 in New York City.
Established by the league’s presidents in 2015, the John J. DeGioia Presidents' Award is bestowed annually to the BIG EAST institution that has excelled at the highest levels in academics, athletic accomplishments, and citizenship during the previous academic year. Fittingly, this year's recipient was Georgetown University, which earned the prestigious honor for the fourth time.
"The BIG EAST Conference is deeply indebted to Jack DeGioia for his extraordinary contributions to our sustainability and success and for his thoughtful and collaborative leadership as our conference and college sports have navigated a decade of unprecedented change," said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. "The BIG EAST of today was made possible because of Jack's vision and his long-standing determination to preserve the league's priorities, values and history, and his continuing input played a critical role as we managed key decisions and steadily rebuilt our operation and standing. Most of all, Jack implicitly understood the value of athletics in the context of higher education, and the many successes of Georgetown student-athletes are a testament to his ideals."
DeGioia expressed his appreciation to the BIG EAST for this recognition. Speaking on behalf of the University, Joseph A. Ferrara, longtime chief of staff to DeGioia and Georgetown’s current representative to the BIG EAST Board, said, “Working alongside Jack for 13 years, I saw every day his deep commitment to intercollegiate athletics and his care for student-athletes. This is a meaningful tribute by the BIG EAST to Jack’s decades of leadership and his belief in the power of sport to bring out the very best in our students' academic and athletic achievement.”
For nearly four decades, DeGioia worked to define and strengthen Georgetown University as a premier institution for education and research. He served as the 48th President of Georgetown University from 2001 to 2024 and was the longest-serving president in Georgetown's history. During his tenure, DeGioia expanded the impact and footprint of the university while strengthening its Catholic and Jesuit identity and deepening its commitment to academic excellence. He was the first lay person to lead a Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S. and now serves as President Emeritus and a member of the university's faculty. DeGioia earned his bachelor's degree in English from Georgetown in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University in 1995.
Throughout his career, DeGioia had a significant impact on intercollegiate athletics by helping to reshape the national landscape of college sports, both through his direct leadership at Georgetown and his influential roles within national governing bodies. As the president of one of the seven founding schools, he was a key figure during the period of national conference realignment and the subsequent reorganization of the BIG EAST Conference in 2013. His leadership was instrumental in securing and retaining the conference's brand identity, the rights to the men's basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden, and a crucial media rights deal with Fox Sports. He served as the first Chair of the Board of Directors of the newly reconfigured league.
DeGioia was the Chair of the NCAA Board of Governors - the association's top governing body - from 2020 to 2022. He also served as a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and was the chair of the Division I Committee on Academics. Additionally, DeGioia also served as a commissioner on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and was part of the first working group on name, image, and likeness with the NCAA Board of Governors Federal and State Legislation Working Group in 2019.
He is a past chair of the board of directors for the American Council on Education and was chair of the board of directors of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education.
BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman will present the 2024-25 John J. DeGioia Presidents' Award as part of an on-court ceremony at the Georgetown men's basketball home game versus Clemson on Saturday, Nov. 15.