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2011-12 Fairfield University Athletics
FairfieldAdministration
Fairfield Athletics has flourished under the guidance of
Eugene P. Doris, who begins his 18th year as the director
of athletics. His responsibilities include overseeing the
varsity athletic program.
In 2010, Doris was named the Division I Athletics Director of the Year for the
Northeast at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
(NACDA). He also received the Distinguished Service Award from the
Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association.
Under his leadership, the varsity athletic program has undergone many changes,
including increasing the number of varsity sports to 20 and the improvement of
athletic facilities, a softball field, an artificial turf field and the construction of a
multi-million dollar athletic facility. Doris has seen the Stags win the overall
MAAC Commissioner's Cup twice, while the men have won the Cup twice and the
women's teams an impressive five times.
In 2004, Doris received the Constituent Supporter of the Year award from the
Coastal Fairfield County Convention and Visitors Bureau for his role in bringing
the 2004 NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second rounds to the Arena at
Harbor Yard. Doris was also instrumental in securing the 2006 NCAA Women's
Basketball Tournament Regionals, and the 2007 MAAC Men's and Women's
Basketball Tournaments. Fairfield also hosted the 2008 NCAA Women's
Basketball Tournament First and Second rounds and played co-host the 2009
and 2011 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey East Regional.
Doris remains active off-campus, serving on both regional and national commit-
tees, as well as several MAAC committees. He has also served a term as presi-
dent of the ECAC, the nation's largest athletic conference, and has sat on the
Division I-AA Athletic Directors Football Committee.
Prior to Fairfield, Doris was the athletics director at Marist College for five years,
during which time Marist increased the number of its intercollegiate athletic
teams from 14 to 20. He enjoyed a five-year stay at Fordham University where he
started as an assistant athletic director before earning a promotion to associate
athletic director. He was also an assistant basketball coach at Fordham under
Richard "Digger" Phelps.
He coached basketball for 11 years at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White
Plains, N.Y., where his team won the Division II New York Catholic High School
Championship in 1985. He also coached baseball at Stepinac for eight seasons,
as well as JV baseball at Archbishop Molloy High School in Jamaica, N.Y. In 2007,
Doris was inducted into the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA)
Hall of Fame for his contribution to the New York City-based league.
Doris holds a B.A., and an M.A. from Fordham.
Eugene Doris
Director of Athletics
In July 2004, the Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., became the
eighth Jesuit to be named President of Fairfield
University since the institution’s founding in 1942.
Fr. von Arx brings to Fairfield broad academic interests and an integrated view of
learning. His zest for student life is born of having lived in undergraduate resi-
dence halls throughout his years at Georgetown and Fordham. His approach to
the intellectual life reflects the best of what Jesuit education offers the world - the
integration of knowledge and values as the foundation for unity of mind, body,
and spirit.
An historian by discipline, Fr. von Arx began his academic career at Georgetown
University, where he taught in the History Department from 1982 to 1998, and
was its chair from 1991 to 1997. He then moved into administration at Fordham
University, serving as Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill from 1998 until his
selection as President by the Fairfield University Board of Trustees in 2004.
He graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and entered the Society of Jesus
that summer. He subsequently earned an M.A. and M.Phil. in history at Yale
University, and completed his Ph.D. there in 1980. A year later, Fr. von Arx
received an M.Div. from the Weston School of Theology and was ordained a priest.
Fr. von Arx has served or is currently on the boards of trustees of Boston College,
Canisius College, Loyola Marymount University, and Xavier University, as well as
Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NEASC). He was appointed to
the Fairfield Board in 2002 and as president, continues to serve as a trustee.
A noted scholar and historian, Fr. von Arx is the author of numerous articles as
well as the books Progress and Pessimism: Religion, Politics and History in Late
Nineteenth-Century Britain (Harvard University Press, 1985) and Varieties of
Ultramontanism (Catholic University Press, 1998). Fr. von Arx also writes a blog
of the
Connecticut Post.
Jeffrey von Arx, S.J.
Fairfield
University President