J. Havens Richards | |
|---|---|
 Portrait, c. 1890s | |
| 31st President of Georgetown University | |
| In office 1888–1898 | |
| Preceded by | James A. Doonan |
| Succeeded by | John D. Whitney |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Havens Cowles Richards November 8, 1851 Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | June 9, 1923 (aged 71) Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | August 29, 1885 by James Gibbons |
Joseph Havens Richards SJ (born Havens Cowles Richards; November 8, 1851 – June 9, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a prominent president of Georgetown University, where he instituted major reforms and significantly enhanced the quality and stature of the university. Richards was born to a prominent Ohio family; his father was an Episcopal priest who controversially converted to Catholicism and had the infant Richards secretly baptized as a Catholic.
Richards became the president of Georgetown University in 1888 and undertook significant construction, such as the completion of Healy Hall, which included work on Gaston Hall and Riggs Library, and the building of Dahlgren Chapel. Richards sought to transform Georgetown into a modern, comprehensive university. To that end, he bolstered the graduate programs, expanded the School of Medicine and Law School, established the Georgetown University Hospital, improved the astronomical observatory, and recruited prominent faculty. He also navigated tensions with the newly established Catholic University of America, which was located in the same city. Richards fought anti-Catholic discrimination by Ivy League universities, resulting in Harvard Law School admitting graduates of some Jesuit universities.
Upon the end of his term in 1898, Richards engaged in pastoral work attached to Jesuit educational institutions throughout the northeastern United States. He became the president of Regis High School and the Loyola School in New York City in 1915, and he was then made superior of the Jesuit retreat center on Manresa Island in Connecticut. Richards died at the College of the Holy Cross in 1923.