• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
221The Newman Guide
Overview
When Thomas More College co-founder Dr.Peter Sampo launched TMC in 1978, he hadalready served as president of Magdalen Col-lege for the previous four years. He had akeen sense of what he wanted, both in termsof religious identity and academic rigor.More than three decades later, the suc-
cessful but lile-known Thomas More College
of Liberal Arts is now reaching for nationalrecognition, with a new curriculum and anew generation of intellectuals who share apassion for genuine liberal arts education.TMC students don’t anguish over majors;every student graduates with a degree in theliberal arts, and all students take the samecourses with some opportunity to specializein junior and senior tutorials and projects.The new core curriculum, implemented inthe fall of 2009, is adapted from the originaldesign by Donald and Louise Cowan, both ofwhom had long associations with the Univer-sity of Dallas.
Students gain a rm grounding in the
leading thinkers of Western civilization andthe Catholic intellectual tradition, includ-ing study of the Great Books as well as morerecent writings. Four semesters of Latin orGreek, plus courses in literature, art, music,philosophy, Scripture, theology, natural sci-ences and humanities set TMC apart fromnearly every other American college.
The college prides itself on aracting an
inquisitive, eclectic group of students from
The Thomas More Collegeof Liberal Arts
Merrimack, New Hampshire
www.thomasmorecollege.edu
quick facts
Founded:
1978
Type of institution:
Very small liberalarts college
Setting:
Small town
Undergraduate enrollment:
95 (2008–09academic year)
Undergraduate cost:
$23,600 (tuition, roomand board for 2009–10)
Undergraduate majors:
One
five key Points
1.
All students graduate with a degree inliberal arts.
2.
Four-year core curriculum emphasizesCatholic intellectual tradition andWestern Civilization.
3.
All sophomores participate in a se-mester abroad in Rome.
4.
Unique “Way of Beauty” courses studyChristian art and music.
5.
Relatively low tuition for a private col-lege in New England
 
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts222The Newman Guideacross the U.S. and Canada. The 2008-09 en-rollment was 95, all undergraduates.According to the college, more than 60percent of alumni pursue graduate study. Arecent survey indicated that graduates have
gone on to study at 26 dierent law schools,
68 graduate schools and one medical school.TMC is fully accredited by both the re-gional agency, the New England Associationof Schools and Colleges, and the AmericanAcademy for Liberal Education.For the past 28 years, the college has beenlocated in the town of Merrimack, which hasabout 27,000 residents. It is in southern NewHampshire near the border with Massachu-
ses; Boston is one hour away.
At $23,600 for tuition, room and board,the 2009-10 costs were well below average pri-vate-college costs in pricey New Hampshire.TMC is working to enhance scholarship pro-grams for students, including one establishedfor inner-city youth by the late journalist Rob-ert Novak. Financial aid is generous, includ-ing opportunities for federal assistance.The college has also established twofunds to support vocations. The Saint JohnVianney Fund for Future Priests and TheSaint Mother Katherine Drexel Fund for Fu-ture Nuns absorb student loans accumulated by graduates who are entering a seminary orreligious life.
Governance
The college is governed by a 10-member lay board, which includes retired Notre Damelaw professor Charles Rice and pro-life leaderPaul Schenck, who has received an honorarydegree from the college. Cardinal EdwardEgan, former Archbishop of New York, pre-viously served on the board. The chairmanof the board, Patrick Monaghan, is SpecialCounsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.Dr. Sampo served as the president ofTMC from its founding until 2006. His suc-cessor and a noted Edmund Burke Scholar,
Dr. Jerey Nelson, served until April 2009.
The current president, Dr. William Fahey,
From theFinancial Aid Office
“Thomas More College is commied to
keeping our tuition costs low, and ourscholarship opportunities high—allow-ing students to receive an excellent edu-cation without the burden of a lifetime ofdebt.“The Presidential Award is awarded toincoming students based on high testscores, exceptional involvement in thecommunity and a commitment to learn-ing.“The St. Francis Fund is awarded to stu-
dents who demonstrate nancial need as
determined by the Student Aid Report(SAR).“The Faith and Reason Essay Contest: Stu-dents are judged by essays on Pope Bene-dict’s words on faith and reason. First-place prize of $30,000 over four years; twosecond-place prizes of $20,000 each, andthree third-place prizes of $10,000 each.“The John Vianney & Katherine Drexel
Fund is oered to graduates who nd
that they are called to enter religious lifeor the priesthood. Thomas More Collegeassumes the student’s debt when admit-ted into a monastery or seminary.“The Robert D. Novak Scholarship is acomprehensive scholarship available tominority students who have shown ex-ceptional intellectual curiosity and dem-
onstrate nancial need.”
 
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts223The Newman Guidearrived at Thomas More College in 2007 fromChristendom College, where he was foundingchairman of the classical and early Christianstudies department. Before being appointedpresident in 2009, he served TMC as provost,
vice president for academic aairs and pro
-fessor of humanities. He received his Ph.D.from The Catholic University of America. Dr.Fahey is a Benedictine Oblate (novice) withthe Monastery of Our Lady of the Annuncia-
tion in Clear Creek, Oklahoma, and has ve
children with his wife Amy.
Public Identity
TMC’s moo, adopted in 2006, is
Caritas Con- gaudet Veritati
(“Charity rejoices in the truth”),
from 1 Corinthians 13:6.According to a 2004 alumna, “Thomas
More College arms
the union of faith andreason. It also up-holds the understand-ing of the Church asMother—generous,welcoming, unwav-ering in its adherenceto the truth but lov-ing in the way it of-
fers the truth.”
All faculty mem- bers are Catholic andmost of its studentsare, but the college emphasizes that non-Catholics are welcome. Accordingly, the web-site notes that the institution “is dedicated toproviding a Catholic education to students of
all faiths.”
The public identity is manifested in itschoice of campus speakers. The commence-ment speakers from 2004 to 2008 were for-mer U.S. ambassador to the Vatican RaymondFlynn, Heritage Foundation president EdwinFeulner, Jr., journalist Robert Novak, Catholicnovelist and apologist Ron Hansen and Father James Schall, S.J., of Georgetown University.
The 2009 speaker was former Vatican ocial
Cardinal Francis Arinze.Lecturers have included leading Catho-lic intellectuals like Dr. Alice von Hildebrand,
Dr. Peter Kree and Father George Rutler. A
notable visitor to the campus in May 2009 wasArchbishop Jean Sleiman, O.C.D., of Baghdad,Iraq.According to one of our alumni inter-viewees, “Usually our speakers were ratherheady but very interesting. They were greatchoices. Most were not expecting to be grilledso intensely by a well-informed student
 body.”
The college sponsors the Vatican Forum,a speaker series for journalists in Rome. Di-rector and founder Andrea Kirk Assaf is adaughter of the late Catholic conservativeRussell Kirk and wifeof Tony Assaf, direc-tor of TMC’s VaticanStudies Center.As another ex-ample of a growinginterest in expandingits Catholic publicpresence, the collegeannounced in March2007 that it had be-come co-publisher of
Second Spring: An In-ternational Journal of Faith and Culture
. TheChristian humanist publication has includedamong its writers then-Cardinal Joseph Ratz-inger (now Benedict XVI) when he was theVatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith.
Spiritual Life
The spiritual life is faithful and traditional.The college has a new full-time chaplain,
Father John Healy. In addition, ve other lo
-
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...