| James H. Dolan | |
| Honorific Suffix: | S.J. |
| Image Upright: | 0.8 |
| Office: | President of Boston College |
| Term Start: | 1925 |
| Term End: | 1932 |
| Predecessor: | William J. Devlin |
| Successor: | Louis J. Gallagher |
| Order2: | 2nd President of |
| Office2: | Fairfield University |
| Term Start2: | 1944 |
| Term End2: | 1951 |
| Predecessor2: | John J. McEleney |
| Successor2: | Joseph D. FitzGerald |
| Birth Date: | 4 June 1885 |
| Birth Place: | Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Weston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
James Henry Dolan,[1] S.J. (June 4, 1885 – August 1, 1977) was an American Jesuit and educator. He served as president of Boston College from 1925 to 1932, and later was one of the founders of Fairfield University, serving as its second president from 1944 to 1951.
Dolan was born to James B. and Ellen T. (Mulry) Dolan in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and entered the Society of Jesus on August 14, 1905, at St. Andrew-on-Hudson, Hyde Park, New York.
Dolan was president of Boston College 1925 to 1932, where he founded the Boston College Law School, and was the Provincial Superior of the New England Jesuit Province from 1937 to 1944.[2]
During Dolan's seven-year tenure at Fairfield University, the State of Connecticut chartered the school to grant degrees in 1945. In 1947, the College of Arts and Sciences admitted its first class of 303 male students. The State of Connecticut accredited the College of Arts and Sciences and the university held its first summer session of undergraduate courses in 1949.
From October 1951 until January 1972, Dolan lived at Boston College, serving as director of construction and new building in the Province and as revisor of the Province finances. He also taught classes while at Boston College: from 1951 until 1956 he taught natural theology and psychology and from 1956 until 1965 he served as confessor of students at the college.
In 1972, due to ill health, Dolan moved to the Campion Center, Weston, Massachusetts, where he died on August 1, 1977, aged 92.