Robert Plunkett

The Reverend Robert Plunkett SJ
1st President of Georgetown College
In office 1791–1793
Succeeded by	Robert Molyneux
Personal details
Born	1752 (1752) England
Died	January 15, 1815(1815-01-15) (aged 62–63) Chaptico, Maryland, United States
Resting place	Georgetown Visitation Monastery
Alma mater	Colleges of St Omer and Bruges English College, Douai

Robert Plunkett SJ (1752 – January 15, 1815) was an English Catholic priest and Jesuit missionary to the United States who became the first president of Georgetown College. Born in England, he was educated at the Colleges of St Omer and Bruges, as well as at the English College at Douai. There, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1769, but left four years later, just before learning of the papal order suppressing the Society. Therefore, he was ordained a secular priest at the English College, and became the chaplain to a monastery of English Benedictine nuns in exile in Brussels.

Plunkett petitioned to be sent to the United States as a missionary in 1789. Shortly after his arrival in 1790, Bishop John Carroll persuaded him to become the president of the newly established Georgetown College. Plunkett oversaw construction of the college's first building, the appointment of the first professor, and admission of the first student, William Gaston. However, he was more interested in pastoral work than education, and resigned the office two years later. Plunkett spent the remainder of his life ministering in rural Maryland, though continued to remain involved in the college's affairs.