Father Engh was president of Santa Clara University 2008-2019.
Fr. Mike previously worked as a professor of history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He also served as the dean of Loyola Marymount's Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts before becoming president of Santa Clara University.
A teacher and historian of the American West, Fr. Engh has published on the history of Los Angeles and the role of religion in the history of the American West. He was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus in 1981. He holds a B.A. from Loyola University of Los Angeles, now Loyola Marymount University; an M.A. from Gonzaga University; a Master of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; and a Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.