Christendom College names George Harne as next president

Christendom’s president-elect, George Harne, is currently a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Before then, he served as president of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts for nine years. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Christendom College

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Christendom College, a Virginia-based Catholic liberal arts college, announced on Monday that George Harne will serve as the college’s fourth president.

Currently a professor at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Harne is a music history and liberal arts scholar who formerly served as president of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire, for nine years until 2020.

Harne will succeed Timothy O’Donnell, who has served as Christendom College president for more than 30 years, or two-thirds of the college’s lifetime. 

“On behalf of the entire college, I want to congratulate and welcome Dr. George Harne as our new president,” O’Donnell said in a March 25 press release. 

“Christendom will be in good hands, and we are blessed to have him as our incoming president.”

Harne earned a master’s of liberal studies in 1998 from St. John’s College and completed his graduate work in musicology at Princeton, where he earned an M.F.A. in 2000 and his Ph.D. in 2008. 

“For many years, I’ve admired Christendom College and President O’Donnell’s leadership from afar,” Harne said in a video statement. “Christendom has always been a model of what is possible for truly faithful Catholic liberal education.”

A convert to Catholicism, Harne grew up in Florida as a southern Pentecostalist. He and his wife were married in a Presbyterian church, but he became Episocopalian in graduate school. As his interest in Church history and the Catholic intellectual tradition grew, he and his family decided to become Catholic and joined the Church in 2005.

“I truly believe that Christendom will play a leading role in the renewal of the Church and Catholic higher education in the next 50 years,” Harne said in the press release.

“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,” he continued. 

Harne will begin transitioning into the role in June, with his official term beginning in July.

“I am blessed to have known Dr. Harne for years,” O’Donnell said in the announcement. “Dr. Harne and his lovely and talented wife, Debbie, together will make an outstanding team for Christendom. He will lead this college with wisdom and courage, building upon the past and leading it into a bright future.”

O’Donnell leaves behind a legacy of campus growth at Christendom, from the new Christ the King Chapel — a Gothic-inspired chapel that seats more than 500 — to the college endowment, which grew from $200,000 to more than $28 million under his tenure.

The cornerstone of Christ the King Chapel was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. 

“I want to give thanks to Christ the King for the opportunity to have served the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and board of this college, which holds such an important place in Catholic higher education and in the work of the Church at large,” O’Donnell continued.

“Christendom College has stood as a beacon for what Catholic higher education can be in America since its founding,” Harne said. “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.” 

“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,” said chairman of the college’s board of directors, Stephen O’Keefe, in the announcement. 

“The college has never been in a stronger position, and Dr. Harne will help guide our institution into its exciting next chapter.”

O’Keefe co-chaired the special committee that led the presidential search.

“To all those who love Christendom, I pledge that I accept this role as a sacred trust. I pledge continuity and organic development, animated by fidelity to the founding,” Harne said in the video announcement. “I will seek to build wisely on the foundation that has been faithfully laid. Our Church and society, now more than ever, need Christendom graduates serving as salt and light in the world.”