Fr. Ryan Maher, S.J., associate dean of the Georgetown College, will leave the university at the end of the year to become the founding director of The Jesuit Center at the University of Scranton.

In an email sent to the University of Scranton community, university president Fr. Kevin Quinn, S.J. announced that Maher will take up his new post July 1, 2012. Maher will be the first director of The Jesuit Center, a new resource intended to strengthen the Ignatian tradition at the University of Scranton.

“A dear friend and colleague, Father Maher is already familiar with the University, having served on our Board of Trustees,” Quinn wrote in the email. “He is an articulate champion for the importance of Jesuit-lay collaboration and the role that faculty and staff must play in maintaining the vitality of ourmission.”

Maher, who teaches in the theology department at Georgetown, was also the founding faculty member at the School of Foreign Service’s campus in Doha, Qatar — making him the first Jesuit ever to be assigned to work in Qatar.

Before coming to Georgetown, Maher worked on the legislative staff of Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) for four years. After entering the Jesuits and completing his graduate studies, Maher taught at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia and Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C.