Rev. Michael A. Zampelli, S.J.

Rev. Michael A. Zampelli, S.J.

Rev. Michael A. Zampelli, S.J., was elected to the Marquette University Board of Trustees in 2011.

An associate professor of theatre in the Department of Theatre and Visual Arts at Fordham University, Father Zampelli serves as the Director of the MA in Philosophy and Society in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In this capacity as director of first studies, he guides the interdisciplinary intellectual formation of newly vowed Jesuits through a praxis-based curriculum designed to develop competencies necessary for evaluating the human, social, cultural and religious contexts of their present and future ministries. Prior to these appointments in 2020, Father Zampelli had been on the faculty of Santa Clara University since 1998.

Michael's scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Theatre Survey, Text and Presentation, and The Journal of Religion and Theatre. He has also contributed essays on pre- and early-modern performance to several book volumes, the most recent of which include Catholic Theatre and Drama: Critical Essays; Brill’s Companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim; Music as Cultural Mission: Explorations of Jesuit Practices in Italy and North America; and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits. He belongs to a number of professional societies including the Comparative Drama Conference, the American Society for Theatre Research and the Athens Institute for Education and Research.

Father Zampelli earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in humanities from Fordham University, master of divinity and master of sacred theology degrees from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and a doctorate in drama from Tufts University. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1982 and was ordained a priest in 1993.