Royden B. Davis, S.J.

Royden B. Davis, S.J. (c. October 19, 1923/1924 – April 2, 2002) served as Dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University from 1966 to 1989.

Born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, Davis served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945 as a gunner in an anti-aircraft battery. He earned a bachelor of science degree in economics in 1947 and a law degree in 1949 from Georgetown University. In 1950, he entered the Society of Jesus at the Novitiate of Saint Isaac Jogues in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. In 1955, he earned a master's degree in political science and a licentiate in philosophy from Saint Louis University. He received a licentiate in theology from in 1960. Following a year of study in Belgium, he returned to Georgetown University for additional graduate studies in government from 1961 to 1965.

Ordained to the priesthood on June 21, 1959, by Archbishop Francis Patrick Keough, he pronounced his final vows in the Society of Jesus on February 2, 1967.

Davis began his career at Georgetown University in 1965 when he was named dean of freshmen and assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1966, he was appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a post that he would hold until 1989.

In 1969, Davis welcomed the admission of the first women students to Georgetown's College of Arts and Sciences. He oversaw the inauguration of the American Studies Program, the expansion of the Fine Arts Department, the establishment and growth of the Psychology Department, and the creation of the Sociology and Computer science departments.

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