About the Interim President

Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J.

Stephen Sundborg, S.J.—or “Father Steve,” as he is more widely known—served as Seattle University’s 21^st president from 1997 to 2021 and led the university through a remarkable period of growth and innovation.

During his presidency, the campus was transformed by a renovated Lemieux Library and new McGoldrick Learning Commons, the Eisiminger Fitness Center, residential housing and the Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation.

The longest serving president in SU’s history, Father Sundborg guided the university in articulating a mission statement rooted in its Jesuit, Catholic tradition and centered on the wellbeing and success of its students. His leadership was essential to enriching SU’s curricular and co-curricular programs, advancing the university’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, strengthening engagement with our neighborhood and community and returning to Division I athletics. He also took on numerous leadership roles with regional and national organizations, extending his influence well beyond SU’s campus and earning broad recognition for his service.

Father Sundborg was appointed president emeritus of Seattle University by the Board of Trustees in June 2021. After a sabbatical and two years assisting the president at Georgetown University, he returned to SU in 2024 to take on the role of chancellor and support the university in activities focused on mission and community discernment. He was appointed interim president, effective April 2026, after his successor, Eduardo Peñalver, left to become president of Georgetown.

Father Sundborg grew up in the Territory of Alaska. He entered the Jesuits in 1961 and was ordained a priest in Seattle in 1974. He completed his doctoral studies in spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1982, taught theology at Seattle University from 1982-1990, was appointed rector of the SU Jesuit community in 1986 and served as provincial of the Northwest Jesuits from 1990 to 1996.