Timothy J. Brosnahan SJ (January 8, 1856 – June 4, 1915) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served as the president of Boston College from 1894 to 1898.

In November 1862, due to the outbreak of the Civil War, Brosnahan moved with his parents from the countryside to the City of Washington, and they became parishioners at St. Aloysius Church, a Jesuit parish.

[8] In 1887, Brosnahan completed his theological studies,[7] and was ordained a priest that same year by Cardinal James Gibbons, the Archbishop of Baltimore.

[7] In 1892, he again returned to Boston College as a professor of philosophy,[10] and on February 2, 1892, he professed his fourth vow.

On May 1, 1895, three students from each school debated the merits of the newly enacted federal income tax, with Georgetown prevailing.

[15] During Brosnahan's presidency, the number of students enrolled increased to 450,[10] from 315 in 1890,[16] and the school's finances were in good order.

[17] In 1898, he purchased a large tract of land in Roxbury, on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue, from the estate of Oakes Angier Ames.

The field was only ever used for sports practice and was eventually sold in 1914, with the proceeds partly funding construction of a new college campus.

[20] During his presidency of Boston College, Brosnahan was also the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End.

[23] In 1898, Brosnahan returned to Woodstock College as a professor of metaphysics for one year, and then taught ethics.

[24] In 1900, Brosnahan wrote an article in The Sacred Heart Review responding to and criticizing an article by Charles William Eliot in The Atlantic Monthly that advocated elective classes, which Eliot had recently implemented at Harvard University as president, and criticizing the rigid curriculum in Jesuit universities, comparing it to Islamic curriculums.

His funeral was held at St. Aloysius Church, and his body was interred in the Jesuit Community Cemetery at Georgetown.