Aquinas College, located on a 107-acre campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, provides a liberal arts education with a global perspective.

Aquinas welcomes over 2,300 students annually and offers 58 majors, awarding Bachelor's degrees and Master's degrees.

Aquinas is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.

History

Founded by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids in 1886, Aquinas has a Catholic heritage. Aquinas began as a novitiate normal school, for young women who had yet to take their vows to the Dominican religious order.

In 1922, the Dominican Sisters merged their newly created college for lay women with the normal school. This new college received a charter from the state of Michigan to grant degrees in 1923. In 1931, it became the first Catholic college in the US to go co-ed, and was reorganized as Catholic Junior College.

The college began to operate as a four-year institution in 1941, when it was renamed in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Administration

The school's first administrator was Monsignor Bukowski, for whom the school's chapel is named. Following Bukowski was Norbert Hruby, for which Hruby Hall, an administrative building and computer lab, holds his name. After Hruby came Peter O'Connor, who served from 1985 until 1990. R. Paul Nelson became the fourth President, serving until 1997, when he resigned, and was succeeded by President Harry Knopke. Knopke is still President today.

Notable Board of Trustees members include Chairman Thomas Church, Vice-Chair Patrick Miles, Jr., Secretary Debra Bailey, and Treasurer Lanny Thodey, as well as Rev. William Duncan, Vicar General and Acting Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids . Trustees Emeritus include Sr. M. Aquinas Weber, a notable figure on campus, and local philanthropist Peter Wege.

Sports

Nelson, a St. Bernard, is the mascot of the Aquinas Saints. Aquinas is a member of the NAIA, and the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference . As Aquinas has never fielded a football team, the Men's and Women's soccer and basketball teams prove big draws. The Athletic Department is led by long-time Men's baseball coach Terry Bocian, who retired from coaching in 2002 to focus solely on his duties as Athletic Director . In 2004, the men's cross country squad finished 2nd at the NAIA national meet, the highest finish ever by an Aquinas team in any sport.

External links

• Official web site
• Alumni site