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LEARNING & LANDSCAPE
College Captures the Attention of Colorado-Based Lawnmower Company
“This is not a typical venue for a Walker Talk story,” concedes the author of “Unique Mower, Unique Education,” an article in the forthcoming issue of Walker Talk magazine.
Yet when the house publication of the Colorado-based Walker Mower company learned that Thomas Aquinas College employs three Walker machines to maintain its campus — and that two of those machines have logged an impressive 15,000+ operating hours — the magazine sent its editor to California to learn more. What he discovered, and what Walker Talk now shares with its readers, is that “the mowers and the school complement one another,” in more ways than one.
“By helping students seek out what is true, good, and beautiful within a small, close-knit community, this college is preserving a classical education,” the story observes. “Part of this education extends to the landscape.”
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THE. LATEST REVIEWS
College earns top marks from ACTA, U.S. News, College Choice & College Raptor
• On its “What Will They Learn?” website, the American Council of College Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has posted its annual evaluations of the major public and private colleges and universities in all 50 states. For the eighth time in as many years, ACTA has given Thomas Aquinas College a grade of “A” and a perfect rating for the strength of its curriculum. By earning an “A,” the College rates among the top 2 percent of American colleges and universities, 25 schools in all, named to ACTA’s coveted “A List.” Moreover, the College is one of only four schools, or the top 0.4 percent nationwide, to earn a perfect score.
• In a postscript to its recently released “Best Colleges” ratings — in which Thomas Aquinas College ranked within the top third of the top tier — U.S. News & World Report has included the College on its new list of just 66 schools that promise to meet students’ full financial need. Among those, the College belongs to a small subset offering a “need-blind” admissions process that “judges students on their merits, not on their ability to pay tuition.”
• College Choice has named Thomas Aquinas College No. 25 on its list of the “Best Colleges in California, 2016.” The list, which highlights only 50 of the roughly 400 colleges and universities in the Golden State, calls the College “principled” for its refusal to accept direct government funding, and observes that it “offers students the unique opportunity to learn using the Great Books.”
• College Raptor, an online consultancy for high school students and their families, has included Thomas Aquinas College among the “prestigious colleges and universities” in its 2017 “Top 25 Best Colleges in the West” rankings, a survey of “the best of the best.”
Other college guide rankings
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ON THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE
By Mother Assumpta Long, O.P.
Note: On August 11, 2016, Mother M. Assumpta Long, O.P., gave the following address at at a gathering of the Thomas Aquinas College Orange County Board of Regents:
As you know, the topic of Catholic education is very important to me. My community is devoted to Catholic education. Forming young people through teaching is a real and valid way of carrying out the Dominican tradition of preaching Christ. At Thomas Aquinas College, you also share in our Dominican tradition.
I don’t just mean because of your name, Thomas Aquinas College. You do a real service to the Church through promoting the study and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Your school is also outstanding in the formation of thought which you give to your students.
Faithful to the tradition of Aquinas himself, you know that the human mind is capable of coming to the truth, and you recognize that the great minds of the Western tradition are important dialogue partners in the search for the encounter with the truth that must be at the heart of every human life. When I look around the world today, so many elements of the mission of Thomas Aquinas College seem necessary — and missing in today’s culture.”
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Mother
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FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• The Most Rev. Kevin Vann, Bishop of Orange, California, has created a new position in his diocese — Theological Consultant to the Office of the Bishop — to which he has appointed, effective immediately, an alumna of the College, Dr. Pia de Solenni (’93). In her new role, Dr. de Solenni “advises key members of the Curia, including the Bishop, on pertinent matters of theology, doctrine, and Church history,” according to a diocesan press release. She will also continue in her responsibilities as the associate dean of the Augustine Institute’s new satellite campus at the Christ Cathedral in Orange. “Pia is an inspirational and well-respected theologian and leader,” says Bishop Vann. “We are blessed as a Diocese to benefit from her expertise, passion, and faith.”
• In a Riverside, California, courtroom last month, a legal team led by two Thomas Aquinas College graduates delivered a blow to the state’s new assisted-suicide law. Attorneys from the Life Legal Defense Foundation — whose vice president for legal affairs is Katie Short (’80) and whose president is Paul Blewett (’85) — sought an injunction against California’s End of Life Option Act. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia granted that Life Legal’s clients have standing to challenge the law, and that their case is “ripe,” thereby allowing the challenge of this unjust law to continue.
• The Arizona Republic has published a compelling story and video about the Class of 2015 Commencement Speaker, Joshua Brittain (’15), who has succeeded his father, Tom (’96), as the head coach of the Tempe Preparatory Academy varsity football team, and who suffers from cerebral palsy. “At 26, he can’t ski or roller-blade, and he needs help if he wants to climb the stairs to get to the top of the gym,” notes author Scott Bordow. “Yet to focus on his walk is to miss the point — and miss the man.”
The Faith in Action Blog
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Dr. Pia
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Members of the
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“MAKING CONNECTIONS”
Alliance for Liberal Education to Host
Second Annual Convention in Chicago
Nearly two years ago, Dr. Thomas R. Krause, a member of the Thomas Aquinas College Board of Governors, founded the Alliance for Liberal Learning, a consortium of some 30 educational institutions and other organizations, including Thomas Aquinas College, that advance “the enduring value of lifelong liberal learning, which prepares us to live freely and well.” Now the Alliance — or ALL, as it is known — is set to hold its second annual convention in Chicago on October 28-29.
With the theme of “making connections,” the conference aims to bring together “representatives from institutions both academic and outside the academy — schools and colleges with formal great books and core texts curricula, residential and travel learning programs, degree-granting and non-degree — all with a common interest in the value of lifelong liberal education.” Attendees will have opportunities to form partnerships, network, and learn about other organizations’ outreach, media, and public-relations strategies.
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