On the wall in the elegant office suite known by the modest address of 400 Main Building hang the framed portraits of 16 priests.

They are the priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross who founded a college in the Indiana wilderness, who saved the young school from ruin after a devastating fire, who admitted a gifted student-athlete named Knute Rockne, who locked arms with Martin Luther King Jr. in service to civil rights. They are the priests who had the vision to build and sustain the premier Catholic university in the United States. They are the priests who have served, since 1842, as presidents of the University of Notre Dame.

In time, a 17th portrait will be placed on the wall. Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, ’76, ’78M.A., who has led Notre Dame since 2005, will step down as president on June 1, to be succeeded by Rev. Robert A. Dowd, CSC, ’87, the vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives who also serves as an associate professor of political science.

It is a time for transition, a time for assessment at Notre Dame.

Read more about the past 19 years of Jenkins’ leadership in a Notre Dame Magazine story.