Fr. Karel San Juan is Ateneo de Davao University’s next President

Fr. Karel San Juan is Ateneo de Davao University’s next President 

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 November) – Fr. Karel San Juan, currently President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU) has been named as President of Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) effective September 2023. 

ADDU’s outgoing President, Fr. Joel Tabora,  made the announcement through Memorandum 2022-058 addressed to the community after the Board of Trustees met on Saturday morning.  

Tabora, who assumed the post of ADDU President in 2011,  said San Juan will assume the ADDU presidency for a three-year term beginning September 14, 2023. 

^{Fr. Karel San Juan, President of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, has been named as President of the Ateneo de Davao University effective September 2022. Photo courtesy of Ateneo de Zamboanga Mindanao Institute}

The 57-year old San Juan assumed the post of ADZU President in November 2013 as the city was rehabilitating and recovering from the Zamboanga Siege. He has since been part of the Board of Trustees of ADDU, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. 

San Juan was born in Marikina City on June 16, 1965, earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, cum laude and valedictorian, at the ADMU in1980. He finished his MA in Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati in 1993 and Doctorate in Leadership Studies at the Gonzaga Uniersity in Spokane, Washington in the United States in 2007. 

San Juan served as instructor and program officer for advocacy and social development offices of ADMU, became a consultant for strategic planning, development and management and organizational development several government organizations in the Philippines including g the Department of Environment and Natural Resources from 1993 to 1994, Department of Trade and Industry in 1993 and the Department of Agrarian Reform from 1996 to 1997. He also taught management courses at the AIM in 1997. 

He joined the Society of Jesus in May 1998, served as consultant and facilitator of the Ateneo de Manila University Office for Mission, Identity, and Organizational Development from 2000 to 2004, was Program Officer of the Center of Ignatian Spirituality (CIS-Philippines), and Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan (SLB) from 2000 to 2002. 

In 2007, he earned his PhD in May 2007 and  became Executive Director for the Emmaus Center for Psycho-Spiritual Formation a month later. He was ordained priest in April 2010.

In September this year, the Ateneo de Zamboanga launched its Ateneo Zamboanga – Mindanao Institute (AZMI), a research and resource arm of the university that aims to “curate, stimulate, collaborate, and inform – all in the name of deepening the appreciation and the knowledge of the Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu Archipelago, and Mindanao.”  (MindaNews)