LIBERAL ARTS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
Tech Entrepreneur Michael Ortner Offers Advice to TAC Business Club
 
Software entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Ortner visited with students of Thomas Aquinas College on January 28, presenting a talk entitled, “How to Connect Your Liberal Arts Education with IT Software & Business.”

The founder and former CEO of Capterra, an award-winning technology firm that connects buyers and sellers of business software, Mr. Ortner was quick to assure students that a liberal arts education is good preparation for the business world. “The beautiful thing about the liberal arts is it feeds into a couple of huge skills that are greatly needed, particularly in the business world, particularly in the tech world. The more you can understand the nature of humanity, that is only going to help you in building products that better serve man.”

Likewise, he continued, the skills learned in the College’s classroom discussions are directly applicable in the marketplace. “Communicating well, verbally and in writing, is a hugely valuable skill that can be translated into the sales side, the client-service side, project management, product development, so many areas.”
 
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#WHYWEWALK
TAC Students, Alumni & Regents Participate in Pro-Life Walks on Both Coasts

Members of the Thomas Aquinas College community — students, faculty, alumni, and Regents alike — came together at pro-life events throughout the country in January to mourn the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and to witness to the Culture of Life.

The first event of the year was the March for Life in the nation’s capital. The Washington, D.C., Board of Regents led a spirited group that joined forces with an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 fellow defenders of the unborn, marching under the theme, “Pro-Life is Pro-Science.”
 
The next day dozens of Thomas Aquinas College students traveled to Downtown Los Angeles for OneLife LA — the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ annual event to promote the beauty and dignity of all human life. The student contingent made the 70-mile trip along with Director of Admissions Jon Daly and Admissions Counselor Sarah Dufresne, helping the event’s organizers form the front of the walk and maintain order along the route.
 
Then, on January 22 — the 46^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade — students made their way to Ventura, about 15 miles west of the College’s California campus, for that city’s Walk for Life. They marched peacefully from the government center to the local Planned Parenthood, praying for life all the way.
 
Finally, on January 25, some 230 students made their annual, 375-mile trek to San Francisco for the next day’s Walk for Life West Coast. At the request of the Walk’s organizers, the College’s students once again took on volunteer positions, directing traffic and crowds, as they helped lead the way through the streets of San Francisco. Clad in their red sweatshirts, they all prayed, sang, and peacefully called for an end to abortion alongside more than 50,000 fellow walkers. The National Catholic Register featured their participation in a story: College Students Lend Joyful Witness to Walk for Life West Coast.

FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College's Alumni Blog

• The Augustine Institute recently featured on its Facebook page an employee who is an alumna of both the Institute and Thomas Aquinas College: Constance Graves (’11). “A woman with a heart for catechesis,” the post begins, she “has committed herself to this work.” Upon graduating from the College in 2011, Miss Graves earned a master’s degree in education at the University of St. Thomas in Texas, after which she moved to Colorado, where she earned a second master’s, this time in theology and theological studies at the Augustine Institute. Since completing her studies in 2017 she has stayed on at the Augustine Institute, where she works on curriculum development and media-asset management.

• Back in June, the U.S Department of Defense announced that a graduate of the College, Thomas A. Alexander (’99), had been named the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counter Narcotics and Global Threats. In that capacity he is a member of the Senior Executive Service, overseeing a budget of $1.1 billion and leading the Pentagon’s global counter-drug, counter-transnational organized crime, and counter-threat finance policies.
Mr. Alexander holds a juris doctor from the Ave Maria School of Law. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, he served as chief counsel to the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

LOYALTY & GRATITUDE
U.S. News Ranks TAC No. 2 Nationwide for Alumni Satisfaction

U.S. News & World Report has named Thomas Aquinas College to it its annual list of the “10 Universities Where the Most Alumni Donate,” based on a survey of 1,106 colleges and universities. The College, which has jockeyed for the No. 1 position with Princeton University for years, fell just .2 percent short of that distinction this time, but still claimed the second-highest alumni-giving rate in the United States — and the highest among all national liberal arts colleges.
 
As part of its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, U.S. News & World Report measures the percentage of alumni who contribute to their alma maters, so as to gauge graduates’ satisfaction with the education they have received. The rankings are based on the two-year average alumni-giving percentage for the years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. Thomas Aquinas College is one of only two Catholic institutions to make the Top 10 rankings, the only one from the Western United States, and the only one founded in the last half-century.
 
“We are deeply grateful to our alumni for their generous support,” says Vice President for Development Paul O’Reilly. “Not only do alumni gifts help to cover the College’s $15 million annual financial aid and operating costs, but they also attract the support of philanthropic foundations, which view alumni giving as a measure of a college’s institutional strength.” The College’s 58.9 percent alumni-giving rate is nearly five times greater than the previously published national average of 11.6 percent. It is also more than nine percentage points higher than the average among those schools with the Top 10 highest rates (49.75 percent).

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