About the Davis Center

"Exposure to and experience of the arts makes for a richer, more authentic human experience. That's why the arts are such an important part of Jesuit education."

- Fr. Ryan Maher, SJ

"For us, the commitment to the Performing Arts Center is part of providing a complete liberal arts education. We want to work to ensure that we offer the best undergraduate experience that we can possibly give and one way to achieve this is to offer new venues to engage in performing arts."

-President John J. DeGioia, Groundbreaking Ceremony, 2003

Father Royden B. Davis, S.J.

fdavis Father Royden B. Davis, S.J. (C’47, L’49, H’85), was a much loved dean of Georgetown College from 1966-1989. During his tenure, Fr. Davis shepherded a period of great change at Georgetown: Women entered the College and the curriculum grew with the expansion of the fine arts, the inauguration of the American Studies program, and the establishment of the Psychology, Sociology, and Computer Science Departments. In these ways and many others, the leadership of Fr. Davis broadened and strengthened the College’s mission, providing its increasingly diverse students with an extraordinary liberal arts education in the Jesuit tradition.

Fr. Davis is remembered for his gentle spirit, his spry humor, his generous care for people of all ages and experiences, and, perhaps most of all, for his inspiring faith. The Georgetown community draws great strength from his legacy—including his special love of the arts. A patron of the performing and visual arts in all their forms, Fr. Davis championed the role of the arts in cura personalis and came to sculpting late in his life. The lobby hosts a display honoring Fr. Davis, and including some of his sculptures throughout the festival. The Davis Center honors Fr. Davis’ love for the arts, education, community, and the life of the spirit, all.