Br. Basil Valente '84 O.F.M.

Br. Basil holds graduate degrees from The American University and Washington Theological Union (Catholic University), and he participated in higher education training in Theology and International Business at Boston College and Harvard University. Br. Basil ’84 has been a member of the Siena College Board of Trustees since 2016, serving on several committees, including Academic Affairs, Student Success, Branding/Identity, and Governance. He currently serves as Board Secretary. 

As a Franciscan friar with the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which consists of friars in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Cuba, Br. Basil serves as Executive Director of the National Vocation Office. Br. Basil says he is privileged to journey with men discerning their Franciscan vocation, serving as witness to the Franciscan charism of fraternity, prayer, and service to the poor and marginalized.

Br. Basil remains a tenured assistant professor (currently on a leave of absence) at St. Bonaventure University, where he served as director of the Graduate Program: Integrated Marketing Communications. He also served as director of the Francis E. Kelley Oxford Program at SBU and Trinity College (University of Oxford). 

A former professional dancer (tap, swing and Spanish) who once performed for Spain’s Royals when he was with the traveling group, Up With People, Br. Basil worked with Peanuts creator Charles M. (Sparky) Schulz. Today, Br. Basil can be heard repeating the refrain: Is God calling you, or someone you know, to be a Franciscan? Visit Friars.US!