Rev. James K. Voiss, S.J. has been appointed rector of the Gonzaga University Jesuit Community to succeed Fr. Steve Kuder, S.J. later this summer, Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh announced.
Voiss joined Gonzaga in January 2013 as assistant vice president for mission, and has worked since that time in faculty and staff development as it relates to Gonzaga’s Jesuit mission. He has written a soon-to-be-published book on Christian forgiveness and taught this past spring in Gonzaga’s religious studies department. Voiss will continue his work with the Office of Mission in addition to serving as rector, according to a press release.
Previously, Voiss spent 14 years at Saint Louis University as an associate professor of theology, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy (Magna Cum Laude) from Gonzaga; a master’s of divinity and an S.T.L. in systematic theology from Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass.; and both a master’s and a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Notre Dame.
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.