Br. Jack Curran

Brother Jack Curran, FSC, Ph.D., returned to Manhattan College in October 2013 to serve as the Vice President for Mission. In this role he primarily assists the faculty and staff in their actualization and integration of the College’s Lasallian Catholic core identity with the distinctive academic and societal mission as well as the College's Strategic Plan.  Brother Jack's previous service at Manhattan College was in the 1990s in the Counseling Center and Residence Life Office. 

Brother Jack is known to be passionate in his desire to work collaboratively with faculty and staff in support of their efforts to apply and integrate aspects of the distinctive Lasallian Catholic perspective with their areas of academic and professional expertise.  Together and by association with his colleagues, Brother Jack works to deepen and widen the Lasallian educational mission so that more young people who may come from particularly vulnerable circumstances might be meaningfully engaged and supported by our faculty, staff, and administrators so as to be successful in their life’s journey. In this regard, faculty, staff, and students report being particularly grateful for the meaningful opportunities they have to collaborate and engage with colleagues at the other 64 Lasallian colleges and universities across the globe.

Current College Service Includes:

• President’s Cabinet;
• Co-Chair, Strategic Plan Committee;
• President’s Cabinet Liaison to the Trustee Mission and Strategic Planning Committee:
• Coordinate the annual Distinguished Lasallian Award nomination process and Chair the Selection Committee;
• Enrollment Advisory Committee;
• College Policy Committee;
• Employee Onboarding and Retention Self-Directed Team;
• Diversity Council Advisory Committee;
• Diversity Council LGBTQ Task Force;
• Provost Group;
• Student Life Directors Group;
• Center for the Study of the Future of Education Advisory Board;
• Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center Advisory Board
• The College’s Administrative Liaison for The Collegium Colloquy on Faith and the Intellectual Life;
• The College's Administrative Liaison for the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts;
• The College's Administrative Liaison for the International Symposium on Lasallian Research

 Highlights of Accomplishments at Manhattan College:

• Established Academic Partnerships, Exchanges, and Collaborations with faculty colleagues and students within the International Association of Lasallian Universities (IALU): Ethiopian Catholic University-La Salle (2016); Bethlehem University, Palestine (2016 & 2017); Universidad de La Salle, Bogota, Colombia (2018); and UniLaSalle, Beauvais, France (2018)

• Transformed De La Salle Week to Mission Month (annually in April since 2014), a College-wide commemoration and affirmation of the College’s Lasallian Catholic core identity

• Created the interdisciplinary College Core Identity Seminars for new faculty, staff and administrators (annually since October 2014)

• Co-founder of the Lasallian Higher Education Colloquy on Racial Justice (held annually from January 2015 – January 2019)

• Founder of the Lasallian Higher Education Retreat Colloquy between Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and Manhattan College (held annually from Summer 2016 – Summer 2019)

• Coordinator of the Responding to Racism: A Lasallian Dialogue livestream (June 25, 2020 with more than 1,600 people from 34 countries participating)

The 2021-2022 academic year marks Brother Jack's 30th year of service in Lasallian higher education and his 43rd year as a De La Salle Christian Brother. In addition to his work at Manhattan College, Brother Jack previously served as Vice President for Student Affairs at Saint Mary's College of California (1997-2003) and Vice President for Development at Bethlehem University in Palestine (2003-2013).

Brother Jack received the religious habit of the De La Salle Christian Brothers in 1979 and has served as a teacher (elementary and secondary school), clinical social worker, vocation director, and higher education administrator. He earned his BA, summa cum laude, in physics and religious studies from Manhattan College (1980) - and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, Epsilon Sigma Pi, Theta Alpha Kappa, and Sigma Pi Sigma.  His graduate degrees were granted by the State University of New York at Albany: the MSW in 1987 and PhD in social work in 1997.

Brother Jack currently serves on the Board of Trustees of a number of educational enterprises:

• Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota (2018-present);
• International Association of La Salle Universities, IALU (2018-present);
• La Salle University, Philadelphia (2017-present)
• La Salle Institute, Troy, New York (2013-present);
• The District Council (2015-present) of the De La Salle Brothers of the District of Eastern North America (DENA).

While at Bethlehem University, Brother Jack established the University Foundation Office in the United States and successfully led its Board of Directors in conducting the university’s first-ever capital campaign of $25 million over a 5 year timeframe. In recognition of his service to the Church and the people of the Holy Land, the Vatican's Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem inducted Brother Jack into the Eastern Lieutenancy in September 2013.

At Saint Mary's College of California, Brother Jack oversaw NCAA Division I athletic programs, public safety, residence life, career development, counseling and health, and other student life departments. He led the establishment of the Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action (CILSA) as a vehicle to promote service learning, especially within the academic curriculum.

Brother Jack has published in the areas of Catholic school administration as well as human rights attitudes among Muslim and Christian adolescents and young adults. Additionally, Brother Jack is interested in the experience of those who embrace the Lasallian charism while professing a faith other than the Christian faith.

Born in Troy, New York, Brother Jack is the oldest of 7 children and a graduate of La Salle Institute in Troy, New York, where he graduated as class valedictorian and lieutenant colonel in the JROTC program. Brother Jack enjoys spending time with his family, including his 15 nieces and nephews and 7 great nieces and nephews - as well as gardening and enjoying the Adirondacks.