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Reverend Dennis Dease
The Reverend Dennis Dease has served as the 14th president of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota since his election in 1991.
Father Dease was ordained a priest in 1969. He was associate pastor at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Hopkins, taught theology at the University of St. Thomas and served as spiritual director and dean of formation at the Saint Paul Seminary. From 1985 to 1991, he was rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. He is a tenured faculty member at the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity.
Under Father Dease’s leadership, St. Thomas has continued its growth in programs and facilities, adding six major buildings to its St. Paul campus and establishing a Minneapolis campus of four buildings for its Opus College of Business, Schulze School of Entrepreneurship, School of Education, Graduate School of Professional Psychology and School of Law. He also established nationally recognized Centers for Catholic Studies and Irish Studies. He opened a residential campus in Rome and semester-abroad programs in Rome for Catholic Studies majors, in London for business majors, in Paris for liberal arts majors and in Glasgow for English majors. In addition, he has established a number of faculty and student exchange programs with universities throughout the world, including a covenant with the University of Havana in 2000 which was celebrated by a series of baseball games played both in Havana and in the Twin Cities.
Father Dease has served on numerous boards and committees, including the national Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Minnesota Private College Council, Research Foundation and Fund, and The Catholic Digest, all three of which he has chaired. He also has been a board member of the National Catholic Education Association and has served on the Priestly Life and Ministry, Domestic Policy and Education committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is the American representative on the International Federation of Catholic Universities board and serves on the Policy Analysis and Public Relations Committee of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities board.
He is active philanthropically in Armenia, serving on the Board of Directors of the Cafesjian Family Foundation, and in Uganda, where he serves on the Board of Directors of MicroClinics.
He serves on the boards of Packaging Incorporated and Premier Banks in the Twin Cities, and formerly served on boards of Allianz Life of North America and the former American National Bank of St. Paul.
Father Dease has served as a founding member of the board of directors of Southern Catholic College in Georgia since 2001, and on the board of trustees of St. Thomas since 1982.
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National Catholic Educational Association
