Past Bellarmine Presidents

Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan

Known widely as the founding president of Bellarmine College (now Bellarmine University), Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan also was well known and respected as a parish priest and as a human rights advocate. Because he touched so many lives, Msgr. Horrigan leaves many legacies, but is remembered by all who knew him for his kindness, intelligence, and eloquence. Read more here.

Dr. Eugene V. Petrik

In 1973, Dr. Eugene V. Petrik became Bellarmine College's second president. When Dr. Petrik took the helm at Bellarmine, the college was in a period of declining enrollment and financial peril. Over the next several years, Dr. Petrik energized the college, expanded it significantly and built it into one of the region's leading private colleges. Read more here.

Dr. Joseph J. McGowan

Dr. Joseph J. McGowan was appointed Bellarmine University’s third president in 1990. He came to the position uniquely qualified, having served for twenty-one years at Fordham University in New York as vice president and dean. Before that he was an admissions and financial aid officer at the University of Notre Dame. He received his doctorate in higher education from Columbia University in New York and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Notre Dame. He also is a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management. Read more here.

Dr. Doris A. Tegart

Doris A. Tegart, Ed.D, was appointed to the position of interim president by the Bellarmine University Board of Trustees, after the death of the university’s president, Dr. Joseph J. McGowan on March 1, 2016.

During nearly 25 years at Bellarmine, Dr. Tegart has served as a professor, department chair, and dean, then honed her leadership skills through a variety of senior-level positions including vice president for academic affairs, vice president and executive assistant to the president, and vice president for enrollment management. Read more here.