Office: St. Thomas Hall, Room 142
Phone: 805-421-5962 | e-mail: jfinley@thomasaquinas.edu
Curriculum Vitae | Profile
Curriculum Vitae
B.A., Thomas Aquinas College, 1999; M.A., University of Dallas, 2003; Ph.D., University of Dallas; Thomas More Fellowship, 2000-2001; McDermott Grant, 2001-2002; Bowen Fellowship, 2002-2003; Adjunct Instructor, North Lake College, 2002-2004; J.T. Dyson Fellowship, 2003-2004; Adjunct Instructor, University of Dallas, 2004; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, 2006-.
Profile
John Finley was — quite literally — born into the Thomas Aquinas College community. His father, Norman DeSilva (’75), was a member of the College’s first graduating class, and his mother, Maureen Barlow (’76), was a member of its second graduating class. John’s father went on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Université Laval. The DeSilvas then returned to the College, where Norman served as a tutor until his untimely death from brain cancer in 1985. The following year, when the College honored Dr. DeSilva posthumously with its highest award, the Saint Thomas Aquinas Medallion it was his eldest son, John, then eight years old, who accepted the award on behalf of the family.
John’s mother then married a close family friend and fellow graduate of the College, Jim Finley (’76), and together they raised John, his three siblings, and their six additional children. John was homeschooled until he entered Thomas Aquinas College, from which he graduated in 1999. While entertaining thoughts of a career in the military or in public policy, he moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for Crisis magazine. Before long, though, he recognized an abiding desire for the intellectual life and for teaching.
Mr. Finley enrolled, therefore, in the graduate school at the University of Dallas (UD) where he received an M.A. in philosophy in 2003. Not wanting to become a “professional student” and eager to begin teaching, John accelerated his doctoral studies and sought out teaching opportunities along the way. In spite of his heavy workload, he was chosen by the UD Graduate Faculty for its 2004 “Distinguished Student Award.” The chair of the philosophy department there, Dr. Lance Simmons, commented that “I have had a unique opportunity to observe how John is regarded by the UD faculty, by his fellow graduate students, and by the undergraduates with whom he has come in contact through his teaching…. John is more highly regarded by all three groups than any graduate student I have seen in several years.” Mr. Finley is now completing his doctoral thesis in philosophy on human individuality and the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.
While completing his coursework, John applied for a faculty appointment at his alma mater, and was soon after offered an appointment to the faculty. With his life so intertwined with the College, Mr. Finley considers his return a kind of homecoming as well as a way to honor the memory of his father. Upon returning to the area, he discovered boxes of books in the attic of his family’s home. “They contained an entire set of Aquinas in Latin that belonged to my dad,” he says. “And now I’m using the same books to tutor more students at Thomas Aquinas College.” With a touch of nostalgia, he adds, “Here I am, with the same occupation at the very school he loved so much.”
