Biography

Robert B. Lawton, S.J., was named the 14th president of Loyola Marymount University in May 1999. Since that time, he has led the educational institution through a time of rapid and progressive change.

During Father Lawton’s nine years as president, the university has seen steady increases in student enrollment. The total number of students has grown from 7,146 students in 1999 to 8,972 students in 2007, with the largest growth occurring at the undergraduate level. The number of full-time tenured faculty has increased by almost 30 percent.

LMU was ranked in the top four universities in the West with master’s degree programs in the annual evaluation of universities in the United States by US News & World Report for 2008. In 2008, the Princeton Review named LMU as one of the best colleges in the West.

In 2006-2007, LMU was named as a "top producer" of Fulbright awardees among institutions with master's degree programs by the Institute of International Education, with three awards and one teaching assistantship granted to students. In addition, five faculty members at LMU were recently awarded Fulbright Awards to share their expertise and research in various parts of the world.

The university is located in urban Los Angeles, which Father Lawton describes as the “largest classroom in the world” representing people richly diverse in culture, interests and backgrounds, access and opportunities. The student body represents this diversity and LMU has been recognized as the university “Hottest for Hispanics” by Newsweek/Kaplan’s 2006 “How to Get into College” Guide. For fall 2007 enrollment, LMU’s student population was 21% Latino, 13% Asian American, 8% African American and 1% American Indian.

Born in Cumberland, Md., Father Lawton entered the Society of Jesus in July 1965. In 1971, he was graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University, where he studied classics and was accepted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in 1977 in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where he was a Danforth and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He was ordained a Catholic priest on June 13, 1981.

From 1977 to 1979, Father Lawton served in several positions at Georgetown University, including assistant professor in the Department of Theology. After additional studies in Germany, he taught Hebrew and Aramaic at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1982 to 1984. In 1984, he became an assistant dean of Georgetown College, the college of arts and sciences of Georgetown University, and in 1989 he was named its dean.

Father Lawton is active in the Los Angeles community. He served on the Selection Committee for the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District that appointed David L. Brewer and also served on the Ambassador Hotel Commission to determine the most appropriate treatment for the site of the Robert F. Kennedy shooting, balancing history with the educational needs of poor urban students.

Father Lawton is a trustee of Loyola Marymount University, Boston College and Loyola High School of Los Angeles. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the William H. Hannon Foundation, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles. Father Lawton also served two years as the chairman of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU).

(March 2008)