Frank Haig

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Haig is the younger brother of Alexander Haig, who served as the United States Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan from 1981 until 1982. Haig entered the Jesuit order in Wernersville, Pennsylvania shortly after graduating from Lower Merion Senior High School in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania in 1946. Thereafter, he received a B.A. from Woodstock College in 1952, a licentiate in philosophy from Bellarmine College in Plattsburgh, New York in 1953 and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Catholic University of America in 1959. He also earned a second licentiate in sacred theology from Woodstock College in 1961, the year of his ordination.[2]

Haig joined the faculty of the physics department at Wheeling College, which is now known as Wheeling University and no longer affiliated with the Jesuits, in 1963 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester.[2]

He was appointed the third president of Wheeling College in 1966, succeeded the school's second head, Father William F. Troy, S.J.[2] Haig was inaugurated president on July 15, 1966.[2] In his acceptance speech, Haig told the audience, "The world will be what our men and women of insight make it to be...It is a challenge to be asked to help them see all right."[2]

Haig remained president until his resignation on August 21, 1972. He was succeeded by Charles Currie Jr., S.J. While serving as a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Haig joined the department of physics, engineering and computer science at Loyola University Maryland (also in Baltimore, Maryland), where he served as chair during the 1980–1981 academic year.[2]

Haig was appointed the president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, in 1981, succeeding Father William J. O'Halloran, S.J.

Haig became acting president of Le Moyne College on January 1, 1981.[3] He was formally inaugurated as the college's seventh president on Friday, January 22, 1982.[3]

He remained president of Le Moyne until 1987 and was succeeded by interim president James C. Finlay, S.J.

Haig returned to Loyola, where he remains professor emeritus of physics as of February 2021.[4] He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Academy of Sciences at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 2016.[5] He has served on the Scientific and Educational Council of the Maryland Academy of Science and as treasurer of the Washington Academy of Sciences. He has continued to present papers and lectures both in the United States and abroad.