James Henry Dolan

James Henry Dolan (June 4, 1885 – August 1, 1977) was an American Jesuit and educator. He served as president of Boston College from 1925 to 1932, and later was one of the founders of Fairfield University, serving as its second president from 1944 to 1951.

Early life Dolan was born on June 4, 1885, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to James B. Dolan and Ellen T. Dolan (née Mulry). He was educated at St. Joseph's Parochial School in Roxbury and then at Boston College High School. In 1904, Dolan matriculated at Boston College. At the end of his freshman year, Dolan decided to enter the Society of Jesus, proceeding to the Jesuit novitiate of St. Andrew-on-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, New York, on August 14, 1905.

From 1907 to 1909, Dolan remained at St. Andrew-on-Hudson to complete his juniorate, and then went to Woodstock College in Maryland, where he studied philosophy until 1912. Afterwards, Dolan taught Latin to junior and senior high school students and freshman and sophomore students at Georgetown University until 1917.

During Dolan's seven-year tenure at Fairfield University, the State of Connecticut chartered the school to grant degrees in 1945. In 1947, the College of Arts and Sciences admitted its first class of 303 male students. The State of Connecticut accredited the College of Arts and Sciences and the university held its first summer session of undergraduate courses in 1949.

From October 1951 until January 1972, Dolan lived at Boston College, serving as director of construction and new building in the Province and as revisor of the Province finances. He also taught classes while at Boston College: from 1951 until 1956 he taught natural theology and psychology and from 1956 until 1965 he served as confessor of students at the college.

In 1972, due to ill health, Dolan moved to the Campion Center, Weston, Massachusetts, where he died on August 1, 1977, aged 92.