L. Jay Oliva

Who is L. Jay Oliva?

L. Jay Oliva, Italian American, was the 14th President of New York University. Oliva has a B.A. from Manhattan College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Syracuse University. He was a University Fellow at Syracuse, a Fribourg Fellow at the University of Paris, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Born to an Italian father, his mother was an Irish-speaker from Ireland, and he has shown much interest and lent NYU to Irish-themed celebrations, exhibitions, etc. under the aegis of his Presidency of New York University, including St. Patrick's Day decorations down First Avenue near the NYU Medical Center buildings every March.

Oliva is the author and editor of numerous works on Russian and European history, including Misalliance: A Study of French Policy in Russia During the Seven Years' War and Russia in the Era of Peter the Great. His fields of academic specialization are 18th-century Russia, Russian diplomatic history and 18th-century Europe.

Oliva has received honorary degrees from Tel Aviv University; University College Dublin; Hebrew Union College; Saint Thomas Aquinas College; and Manhattan College. He was decorated a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and received the Premio Guido Dorso of Italy.