Office of the President

The Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, is the 25th president of Creighton University and has led the nearly 150-year-old Jesuit, Catholic institution – with campuses in Omaha, Phoenix, and the Dominican Republic – since 2015. As a former student, faculty member, and trustee of Creighton, Fr. Hendrickson possesses deep understanding and passion for the University’s mission to form leaders who are motivated to build a more just world.

Joining the Society of Jesus in 1994, Fr. Hendrickson first encountered Creighton in 1996 as a student in the Jesuit Humanities Program. He returned as an adjunct instructor of philosophy from 2000 to 2003, including teaching for the Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) program in the Dominican Republic during the fall semester of 2002, and joining the Board of Trustees in 2013.

Continuing his commitment to global service and education, Fr. Hendrickson was a visiting instructor in the Department of Philosophy at Jordan University College in Tanzania from 2006 to 2007 before serving as an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at Fordham University in 2008. He would return to his alma mater, Marquette University, in 2012, holding various faculty and administrative positions until joining Creighton in 2015 as its 25th president.

Father Hendrickson’s priorities for Creighton include bolstering the role of interdisciplinary higher education between the sciences and humanities; advancing a pedagogy of engaged learning and global experiences; and broadening the reach of Creighton’s health sciences programs.

During his presidency, the University has experienced record-breaking enrollments; an expansion of academic program offerings; and national recognition for its first-year student experiences, undergraduate teaching, undergraduate research, and focus on innovation. Additionally, Fr. Hendrickson’s vision for meaningful student support has resulted in a 98% outcomes rate for graduates; a 92% first-to-second year retention rate; and a graduation rate close to 20 percentage points higher than the national averages for public and private institutions.

Father Hendrickson has overseen significant expansion and enhancements to the University’s physical footprint. In Omaha, this includes a projected $1 billion in public-private and philanthropic investments by the early 2030s; additionally, in Phoenix, this includes the establishment of a health sciences campus in 2021 currently serving a near-capacity 1,000 students. Today, Creighton is one of the nation’s largest Catholic health professions educators and among the top 15 largest medical schools in the United States.

Moreover, under Fr. Hendrickson's leadership, Creighton has significantly strengthened its donor support. As of 2026, the University has seen a 38% increase in endowed chairs during his tenure with 14 new positions being created since 2015. With student success as a priority, Creighton's Forward Blue campaign, which launched in 2021, has raised over $263 million in scholarship dollars, resulting in the establishment of 520 new scholarships — an increase of 150% compared to the decade prior to the campaign.

Outside of Creighton, Fr. Hendrickson serves on the boards of Boston College, Xavier University, the BIG EAST Conference Board of Directors, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. He is also a trustee of ILAC/Centro de Educación para la Salud Integral in the Dominican Republic and Jesuit Worldwide Learning, based in Geneva, Switzerland. His international experiences in 70 countries on nearly every continent have nurtured his belief in the importance of global immersion as key to a well-rounded education.

Father Hendrickson grew up in Fremont, Nebraska, graduating from Mount Michael Benedictine High School. He comes from a family of educators, including his identical twin, the Rev. D. Scott Hendrickson, SJ, DPhil, and his older brother, Ryan Hendrickson, PhD, who is president of the University of St. Francis, in Illinois. 

He holds a BA from Marquette University; an MA in philosophical resources from Fordham University; a MDiv degree from Santa Clara University; and MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University. He is the author of Jesuit Higher Education in a Secular Age: A Response to Charles Taylor and the Crisis of Fullness, published in 2022.