|
|
|
EASTWARD BOUND!
College Announces First Members to
Team for New England Campus
Four seasoned members of Thomas Aquinas College’s teaching faculty, an Admissions counselor, and their families have agreed to be among the “pioneers” who will settle the College’s forthcoming New England campus.
“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Thomas Kaiser will head our initial New England team and, per our governance plan, will have the title of associate dean,” says President Michael F. McLean. “In addition, the team will include tutors Dr. Michael Augros, Dr. Patrick Gardner, and Dr. Phillip Wodzinski, as well as Mr. Patrick Cross from our Admissions Office. All have demonstrated an admirable willingness to take on the challenge of opening and managing a new campus in New England, and I am very confident that with a team of this quality we will be successful.”
In February the College and the National Christian Foundation announced that they had entered into a preliminary agreement, under which the NCF will give the College the former campus of a preparatory school in Northfield, Massachusetts, on May 2, 2017. By God’s grace, and contingent upon the approval of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, the branch campus will open its doors to students in the fall of 2018.
Continue reading 
Receive updates about the new campus
Support the College as it expands eastward
|
|
Initial members of the New England team
|
|
|
COMMENCEMENT 2017
College Names Speaker &
Baccalaureate Mass Celebrant
The Superior General of the Sisters of Life in New York, Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, SV, has accepted President Michael F. McLean’s invitation to serve as Thomas Aquinas College’s 2017 Commencement Speaker.
“We are honored and grateful that Mother Agnes Mary has agreed to join us for Commencement and to share her words of wisdom with our students,” says Dr. McLean. “For more than 25 years she has been a tireless servant of mothers and their babies — a true testament to the Culture of Life.”
Joining Mother Agnes Mary at this year’s Commencement will be a good friend of the College, Rev. Paul Scalia, who has graciously agreed to serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at that day’s Baccalaureate Mass. The Episcopal Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, Fr. Scalia is the author of the forthcoming book, That Nothing May Be Lost: Reflections on Catholic Doctrine and Devotion. He is also the chaplain of the College’s Washington, D.C., Board of Regents and the son of late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who himself visited the College and addressed the community in 1997.
“Fr. Scalia is a good and faithful priest and a great blessing to the Church,” says Dr. McLean. “It has been a joy to visit with him during trips to Washington over the years, and I am delighted that we can now welcome him to our campus.”
Full story
Commencement 2017 information
|
|
Mother
Agnes Mary Donovan, SV
Rev. Paul Scalia |
|
|
|
|
FAITH & REASON
USA Today Lists Thomas Aquinas Among “The 10 Best Roman Catholic Colleges”
USA Today and the statistics website College Factual have named Thomas Aquinas College to their list of The 10 Best Roman Catholic Colleges, schools that are “devoted to providing a strong education while being rooted in the Roman Catholic faith.”
The colleges included on the list are institutions at which “tradition and faith are important,” writes College Factual’s Megan Cahill, and which “also value diversity and open dialogue.” The rankings measure the schools’ academic performance by way of College Factual’s quality-ranking system, which focuses on students’ educational outcomes, such as graduation rates, loan-default rates, and future salaries.
“Thomas Aquinas College takes a unique approach to post-secondary education and only offers one integrated program of study that culminates in a Bachelor of Arts degree,” writes Ms. Cahill. “Instead of textbooks and lectures, students read the original works of great thinkers and discuss them in various settings. The traditions and teachings of the Catholic Church are intertwined with this Socratic method of teaching for an education experience for both the mind and the soul.”
Full story
Other college-guide rankings
|
|
|
|
|
FOUNDERS PLAZA
Chapel Plaza Dedicated to College’s Founders
As a measure of gratitude to the men who established Thomas Aquinas College — as well as to their wives and families, whose sacrifices made their work possible — the College has officially dedicated, in their honor, the plaza just to the north of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. At a St. Thomas Day ceremony, President Michael F. McLean unveiled a plaque, affixed to the Chapel’s southern wall, declaring the area “Founders Plaza.”
“Our intention is to name this plaza ‘Founders Plaza,’” said President Michael F. McLean, “in the hope that all who will gather in, or pass through, this space will remember the founding of the College with gratitude and will offer prayers of thanksgiving to Almighty God for His providential care of the College and offer prayers as well for the intentions of all of those who contributed to its establishment.”
In his remarks, Dr. McLean honored all the founders of the College and, in particular, its four principal founders: the late Dr. Ronald P. McArthur and Mr. Marcus R. Berquist, as well as Dr. John W. Neumayr and Mr. Peter DeLuca. He credited these leaders for “their ability to powerfully articulate the case for Catholic liberal education, their ability to promote the College with eloquence and vigor, their commitment and discipleship to what is enduring and indispensable in Aristotle and in St. Thomas Aquinas, their abiding faith and trust in Providence, and their unstinting devotion to the teaching Church.”
Full story and photo slideshow
Dr. McLean’s Remarks
Dean Kelly’s Remarks
|
|
Head Chaplain Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., blesses the plaque
President Michael F. McLean with founders Dr. John W. Neumayr and Vice President Peter L. DeLuca
|
|
|
FAITH IN ACTION BLOG
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog
• “Thomas Aquinas College ... is the gateway to a life of faith for scores of influential religious scholars,” begins a story in OC Catholic. “Among them is Pia de Solenni.” A member of the Thomas Aquinas College Class of 1993, Dr. de Solenni is the theological consultant to the Office of the Bishop for the Diocese of Orange, a position created specifically for her by the Most Rev. Bishop Kevin Vann. Her recently published profile in the diocesan newspaper describes her as a “Catholic theologian and noted commentator whose work has taken her from Thomas Aquinas College to a high school classroom in the Midwest, the halls of the United Nations in New York City, and the Vatican in Rome.”
• On the weekend of March 11-12, clergy, seminarians, scholars, musicians, and Catholic school teachers and administrators from across the United States gathered at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York, for the Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education National Conference. Among the keynote speakers was Mark Langley (’89), founder and academic dean of The Lyceum, a classical school in Cleveland, Ohio. His address was entitled, “Building a School of Singers: The Schola Cantorum as an Integral Part of the Catholic School.”
• In a beautiful testament to filial love, earlier this month alumnus Edward Ferrier (’99) donated one of his kidneys to his father, tutor Dr. Richard Ferrier. “Many thanks to all for your prayers,” wrote Dr. Ferrier after the successful surgeries. “The new kidney is functioning well for me, and Edward is recovering well from his surgery. I am praying for all of you.” Please continue to keep the Ferriers in your prayers, that they may enjoy a speedy recovery.
|
|
Pia de Solenni (’93)
Mark Langley (’89)
Dr. Richard Ferrier
|
|
|
