Michael J. Garanzini

Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. (born September 24, 1948 in Saint Louis, Missouri) is an American priest of the Society of Jesus religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. From 2001 until 2015, Garanzini served as the twenty-third President of Loyola University Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, a member of the twenty-eight institution Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

Garanzini graduated from Saint Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1971, the same year that he entered the Society of Jesus. After spending years around the country and in Rome during his training and early years as a Jesuit, Garanzini received a doctorate in psychology and religion in 1986 from the University of California, Berkeley. Later that year, he returned to Saint Louis University, teaching as an associate professor of psychology and later serving as academic vice president. Garanzini was invited to Fordham University to serve as a visiting professor of counseling in 1998, and went on to work at Georgetown University until his presidency at Loyola. He has also taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and at Regis College (now Regis University) in Denver.

Garanzini is the author of The Attachment Cycle: An Object Relations Approach to the Healing Ministries (1988), Meeting the Needs of Dysfunctional Families (1993), Child-Centered Schools: An Educator's Guide to Family Dysfunction (1995), and articles in numerous journals.

Garanzini is member of the Fairfield University Board of Trustees.

On July 1, 2015 Garanzini accepted appointment to the Chicago Board of Education

During Garanzini's tenure as President of Loyola University Chicago, he has brought the University out of debt in only a few years. He has also initiated a series of construction projects on both of Loyola's city campuses. The building boom has been made possible through the generous donations of loyal alumni and other benefactors of the university.

In the 2015, Garanzini announced his intention to step down after fourteen years of leading Loyola. He will remain as chancellor of the university, an advisory role to the president focused on matters of mission and institutional advancement.