Portraits by Eva G. Kramer, Class of 2026
Major: Painting
Minors: Psychology and Anthropology
Senior Eva G. Kramer grew up in rural southern Indiana and loves creative writing, making and listening to music, and reading.
“I chose Bellarmine because of the welcoming community that I felt when I first visited campus.”
Across the university’s history, four leaders have shaped the institution into its present-day form, with the president of Ursuline College also playing her own vital role as she led her organization’s evolution and ultimate merger with Bellarmine, bringing co-education to campus. Each tenure, each president unique—bringing their own respective brand of change, resilience, and vision. From navigating periods of immense social and political upheaval to driving groundbreaking academic initiatives and unprecedented campus expansion, each president left an indelible mark. They molded Bellarmine’s identity, responded to its challenges, and charted its future—one that sets the stage for generations to come.
ALFRED HORRIGAN
(Tenure: 1950–1972)
The founding president of Bellarmine College, Monsignor Alfred F. Horrigan, was also well known and respected as a parish priest and as a human rights advocate, known for his kindness, intelligence, and eloquence.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, he moved with his family to Kentucky at age 5, eventually settling in Louisville. Horrigan attended St. James School and Church, where he later served as pastor. As a child, he was fascinated with the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. “Galahad’s search for the (Holy) Grail became for me the search for priesthood,” Horrigan told a biographer. Years later, that fascination inspired the naming of Bellarmine’s athletic teams (Knights), newspaper (“The Concord”), and the yearbook (“The Lance”).
In 1949, Archbishop John A. Floersh selected Fr. Horrigan to serve as Bellarmine’s founding president. In this role, he oversaw the inception and ultimate success of Louisville’s first and only men’s Catholic college. During his 24-year tenure, Msgr. Horrigan was responsible for establishing the high quality and dedication of teaching that has become Bellarmine’s trademark. He also oversaw the merger with Ursuline College, which formed Bellarmine’s first co-educational student body.
As president, Horrigan worked to promote racial desegregation. He served as vice chairman of the Louisville Human Relations Commission from 1962 to 1966, when he was named chairman of the merged Louisville-Jefferson County Human Relations Commission. A second enduring component of his lasting presidential legacy is the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine. The foundation of the center can be traced to a meeting Msgr. Horrigan had in 1960 with his friend Thomas Merton, when Horrigan offered Bellarmine’s library to Merton as the repository for his writings and manuscripts. They agreed that scholars coming from all over the world would be best served by establishing the Merton Center at Bellarmine.
Perhaps a lesser-known figure, but no less impactful, was Fr. John Loftus, the first registrar and director of student personnel at Bellarmine College. The Louisville Times described him as a “forceful presence who cropped up in all sorts of places and didn’t know the meaning of the phrase ivory tower.” He embraced civil rights, Vatican II ecumenicalism, education, the arts, and peace.
He was a close adviser to Msgr. Alfred Horrigan and worked diligently to connect Bellarmine and its values in the community. A guest essay profiles his life and impact on the university, the city, and far beyond.
SISTER M. ANGELICE SEIBERT
(Ursuline College, 1964-1968)
An Ursuline Sister for 64 years, Sister Angelice Seibert served as president of Ursuline College through its merger with Bellarmine College in 1968. Previously, at Ursuline, she was a faculty member, academic leader, director of development, and director of college relations.
Once the successful merger was complete, Sister Angelice went on to become a Fulbright-Hays Lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Galway, Ireland, and a visiting professor of biochemistry at Smith College, and she developed the Division of Allied Health Professions at Jefferson Community College. In 1979, she was named a fellow in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Later, Sister Angelice also lectured and published extensively locally, nationally, and internationally in the area of biomedical ethics, and was a consultant in medical ethics at Marian Home.
Sister Angelice served each of her communities in a number of service organizations, with many recognizing her for contributions to science and education. Bellarmine University named her Alumna of the Year in 1980, awarded her an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1992, and recognized her as "President Emerita" in 1995.
EUGENE V. PETRIK
(Tenure: 1973–1990)
When Dr. Eugene Petrik took the helm at Bellarmine, the college was facing declining enrollment and financial peril. In the next several years, Petrik energized the college, expanded it significantly, and built it into one of the region's leading private colleges.
During his tenure, enrollment doubled, and the university’s endowment grew from
$134,000 to $7 million. The number of undergraduate programs also doubled, and five new graduate programs were launched. The campus grew by five buildings, and Bellarmine later named a residence hall in his honor: Petrik Hall.
Petrik led Bellarmine through steady expansion, diversity, and professional growth, eventually becoming the state’s largest private college at that time. At the same time, he remained faithful to the institution’s roots as a comprehensive liberal arts college in an ecumenically Catholic tradition. Above all, Petrik envisioned a distinctive Bellarmine education as one that fostered “greatness of heart” in its students as both experience and expectation.
JOSEPH J. MCGOWAN
(Tenure: 1990–2016)
As the third president of Bellarmine, Dr. Joseph J. McGowan was uniquely qualified, having served for 21 years as vice president and dean at Fordham University in New York, and in previous roles 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 was also a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.
McGowan led the transformation of Bellarmine College to Bellarmine University. Under his leadership, the University’s operating budget and endowment experienced periods of growth, and campus facilities grew from 15 buildings to 57, including four new residence halls, and providing 940,000 square feet of teaching and living space. With the creation of five new schools and centers, and more than 30 new academic programs, Bellarmine experienced dramatic, sustained enrollment increases while maintaining a 12:1 teacher-to-student ratio, the hallmark of the university’s liberal arts experience. Student life was enriched by the establishment of Campus Ministry, a Student Counseling Center, Health Center, and Commuter Student Center.
In Vision 2020, McGowan envisioned Bellarmine University as the premier independent Catholic university in the south and thereby the leading private university in the Commonwealth and region. He was also active in the civic and service life of the community, state, and nation.
DORIS A. TEGART
(Tenure: 2016-2017)
With the unexpected passing of Joseph McGowan in 2016, Dr. Doris Tegart guided the university, providing seamless leadership even before her official appointment as interim president by the Board of Trustees in March 2016. She led the university until Dr. Susan Donovan’s appointment in 2017.
At the time of McGowan’s death, Tegart was the senior executive vice president, with more than two decades of service at Bellarmine. She was 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.
SUSAN M. DONOVAN
(Tenure: 2017–present)
Known for her deep understanding of higher education and her commitment to cura personalis — care of the whole person — Dr. Susan M. Donovan was named Bellarmine’s fourth president in February 2017. She previously enjoyed a 32-year career at Loyola University Maryland, where she had been executive vice president since 2011, including a term as acting president in 2015.
In Donovan’s first year leading Bellarmine, the university improved undergraduate retention rates, as well as its financial standing; achieved a then-record fundraising year with $12.5 million; and expanded its campus by purchasing the Watterson Medical Center, an 80,000-square-foot healthcare facility on 7.3 acres that houses a mix of primary care and specialty services.
Donovan’s leadership has reshaped Bellarmine into an institution focused on partnerships that position the university and its growing number of academic programs as workforce development leaders in Louisville and the surrounding region. As a result, graduates achieve employment and salary outcomes that far exceed regional benchmarks. She guided the university through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully moving traditional undergraduate instruction to an all-online experience in just one week in March 2020.
Upon arriving at Bellarmine, Donovan launched a comprehensive strategic planning process, resulting in Tradition and Transformation, a plan for the future that won approval by the university’s Board of Trustees in 2019 with a focus on student success and academic innovation. The strategic planning process also formalized her vision to elevate the university’s athletics programs to the NCAA Division I level, which occurred in 2020 through an invitation to join the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Her steadfast focus on student access and community service resulted in two prestigious new Carnegie Classifications: the Elective Classification for Community Engagement and the Opportunity College and University – Higher Access, Higher Earnings designation. In 2024, she surpassed her own record to achieve the most successful year of fundraising in Bellarmine’s history, with more than $18 million in total giving.