James E. Ryan, J.D.

James E. Ryan served as the ninth president of the University of Virginia from 2018 to 2025. During his tenure, he worked with colleagues across Grounds to launch a new strategic plan; secure approval and funding for the School of Data Science, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and a new Performing Arts Center; and publicly launch a capital campaign that surpassed $5 billion—18 months ahead of schedule—including more than $1 billion dedicated to scholarships and professorships.

Ryan expanded access by announcing that students from Virginia families earning under $100,000 a year could attend UVA tuition-free, with those under $50,000 receiving full tuition, room, and board. He also established the UVA Northern Virginia campus, advanced sustainability initiatives, and raised the minimum wage for full-time employees to $15 an hour. In 2021, he commissioned a University-wide Committee on Free Expression and Inquiry, whose statement was endorsed by the Board of Visitors.

An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an expert on law and education, Ryan has written extensively on school desegregation, finance, choice, and special education. He is the coauthor of Educational Policy and the Law; author of Five Miles Away, A World Apart (2010, Oxford); and author of Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questions (2017, HarperOne), a New York Times bestseller based on his viral Harvard commencement speech.

Before his presidency, Ryan was dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he grew and diversified the faculty, redesigned master’s programs, and led a $250 million campaign. Earlier, he spent 15 years on the UVA law faculty, serving as academic associate dean and founding the Program in Law and Public Service. A recipient of multiple teaching and scholarship awards, he also clerked for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and worked as a public interest lawyer in Newark, N.J.

A first-generation college student, Ryan earned his B.A. in American Studies, summa cum laude, from Yale and his J.D. from UVA, where he graduated first in his class on a full scholarship. A lifelong athlete, he has completed 12 consecutive Boston Marathons. He and his wife, Katie, a special education attorney and fellow UVA Law graduate, have four children.