Vincent D. Rougeau (born June 17, 1963) is an American legal scholar serving as the 33rd President of the College of the Holy Cross in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. He is the college's first lay and first Black president. Before assuming the position, Rougeau served as Dean of

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 stud ...

Early life and education

Vincent D. Rougeau was born on June 17, 1963, in Miami Beach, Florida, to

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parents. His father, Weldon Rougeau, was actively involved in the American

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

while his mother worked at a hospital. Rougeau received his bachelor of arts degree from Brown University in 1985 and his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in 1988.

Career

In 1997, Rougeau joined the faculty of

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

as a visiting associate professor. He later became a tenured professor and served as the university's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1999 to 2002. In 2011, Rougeau was appointed Dean of Boston College Law School. He served in that capacity until July 2021, when he assumed the role of President at the College of the Holy Cross. Upon his appointment, Rougeau identified increasing diversity and the college's relationship with the city of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

as among his strategic priorities. In January 2021, Rougeau was inducted as president of the

Association of American Law Schools The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), formed in 1900, is a non-profit organization of 176 law schools in the United States. An additional 19 schools pay a fee to receive services but are not members. AALS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) n ...

Publications

* Review of ''Christians in the American Empire'', Andrew Preston (2009), ''J. American Studies'',

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rougeau, Vincent 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century Roman Catholics 1963 births African-American academics African-American Catholics African-American lawyers American university and college faculty deans Boston College faculty Brown University alumni Catholics from Massachusetts Harvard Law School alumni Deans of law schools in the United States Living people Presidents of the College of the Holy Cross University of Notre Dame faculty