Saint Xavier University (SXU) Associate Professor of English, Angelo Bonadonna, Ph.D.
Angelo Bonadonna, Ph.D.
Saint Xavier University (SXU) Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the English Department Angelo Bonadonna, Ph.D., will retire from SXU after his 30th year of teaching at the university.
Bonadonna began teaching at SXU in 1996, totaling 30 school years, after a few other part and full-time lecturing positions at Lewis University and University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and other positions teaching in high schools.
“It’s such a benefit and a blessing to have 30 years at one place. I feel very privileged, both as a professor, but also just as a worker in the world–you don’t hear about that kind of continuity anymore,” Bonadonna told The Xavierite.
People in the SXU community who know Bonadonna consistently spoke of his kindness, humility, and sense of intellectualism as main factors that will make his departure difficult.
“It’s been good. He’s done a lot, been through a lot,” English Associate Professor Norman Boyer, colleague of Bonadonna’s throughout his entire tenure, said. “I had a good run [with him],” he later stated.
“He’s a really unique person, and one of the things that stands out to me about Angelo is it’s just so comfortable to be in his presence. He just has a presence about him–he’s humble, he’s one of the kindest people I know, he’s always willing to help, and when he says something, the level of insight that he brings to a conversation is always just spot-on,” Interim Chair of the Education Division Anthony DeCesare shared.
Associate English Lecturer Marianne McGeary, who only came to SXU to teach in 2018 but has known Bonadonna since she was in her Master’s program at SXU in the late 2000s, has grown considerably close with the Bonadonna family over the past almost-two decades.
McGeary told a story from her Master’s program, while she was in a methods of teaching English course with Bonadonna, where he met Bonadonna’s late son, Angelo Jr., former WXAV program director, who she said was immensely kind to her, even showing up to one of her drama classes out of mere curiosity.
McGeary has also become close with other members of the family, noting how she will never forget the kindness they have shown her over the years.
“It’s heartbreaking for me to be [here] without Angelo,” said McGeary. “He has been my rock.”
Director of Student Media and Adjunct Communication Professor Peter Kreten, longtime friend of Bonadonna and, like McGeary, his family, called Bonadonna “one of the most principled people” he has ever met.
Shealyn Scott, former Copy Editor and Features writer for The Xavierite and student of Bonadonna’s, said Bonadonna played the pivotal role in her switching her major from Psychology to English before the start of her freshman year.
Scott shared with The Xavierite that this occurred on a Zoom call in 2020 that SXU offered for the English majors–although Scott had been accepted into the Psychology department, she decided to join the call because, as she says, she always enjoyed reading.
While on this Zoom call, it was Bonadonna’s face that popped up on the screen, whose speech about the importance of the English major and the career options available to English majors convinced Scott to make the switch.
“He had this way about him,” Scott explained, “where he would feel things so deeply, and he had so much hope and love for the world, and that made him the best professor, advisor, and confidante. You could talk to him about anything, and he had this incredible ability to make you feel like everything was going to be okay after a single conversation.”
Bonadonna says he believes his greatest accomplishment throughout his three-decade tenure at SXU is merely his satisfaction with the education department, but says he is looking forward to what he calls a “break from all the madness.”
“It seems that there are so many problems, and I’ve always felt that I’ve got to come up with a solution for this, that, and the other thing,” he explained.
Even still, Bonadonna expressed sadness at leaving the university: “I hate to leave [SXU], but in another sense, I feel [my time here] will continue on, and I still want to be present in whatever way I can.”
**Corrections (04/13/2026): “Professor” changed to “Lecturer” in paragraph 7; “Copy Editor and” added to paragraph 12**
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