From Devotionals to Museum Tours,
Supporting Students in Myriad Ways

Although charged with fundamental responsibility for the College’s operation, the members of Thomas Aquinas College’s Board of Governors have never regarded their responsibilities as limited to governance. Ever since the College’s founding, governors have supported the College in numerous other ways, beyond the many hours of pro bono service they donate each year.

“Our Board members are among our most loyal and generous benefactors,” says President Michael F. McLean. “They are deeply committed to supporting our annual fund, and they are tireless in devising ideas for introducing the College to new friends, assisting our students, and beautifying our campus.” Below is a list of various initiatives that members of the Board of Governors have recently undertaken to enhance the life of the College.

Career Networking

At last year’s Career Forum, Chairman Scott Turicchi, president of j2 Global, Inc., and his wife, Lannette, president of Falling Upwards Productions, spoke to students about how to conduct a job search and prepare for employment interviews. Joining the Turicchis on the dais were Governor Berni Neal, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and her husband, Rob, president of Hager Pacific Properties. At this year’s Career Forum, Governor Donald Swartz, president of Quest Property Corporation, and his wife, Rita, recently retired director of development for the Little Sisters of the Poor in San Pedro, likewise shared key lessons from their professional experience. And the Office of Career Advisement has already begun making plans for its next career event in the fall, which will feature yet another of the College’s governors, Steven A. Walsh, retired chief investment officer of Western Asset Management Company.

Cultural Education

Throughout the academic year, groups of 25 Thomas Aquinas College seniors and tutors enjoyed educational tours of three of Los Angeles’s finest art museums, guided by an expert docent — Governor Maria O. Grant. In February Mrs. Grant took a group to Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum, where she is a Museum Educator. Earlier in the year, she also brought groups to the Getty Center and the Getty Villa in Los Angeles.

The tours, which focus on works of art that bear a connection to the books that students read in the College’s classical curriculum, have become something of a College tradition. Mrs. Grant first began leading the trips in 2010. As she says, “We have access to some of the best museums in the world.”

Campus Upgrade

When the College began construction of its newest classroom building, St. Gladys Hall, in the summer of 2013, it also refurbished its original, 20-year-old classroom building, St. Augustine Hall. The renovations were made possible by a grant from the E. L. Wiegand Foundation of Reno, Nevada, and a gift from one of the College’s governors, Vice Chairman Dieter Huckestein, and his wife, Cecilia.

Over the course of the summer, work crews outfitted St. Augustine Hall with fresh carpeting, a modernized heating and cooling system, elegant lighting fixtures, new ceilings, and a pedestal for the statue of the building’s patron, St. Augustine. The renovations also included an arch and mahogany wainscoting for the central corridor, new windows and doors, five custom-made discussion tables, and sturdy bookcases to house collections of the great books. Thanks in no small part to the Huckesteins’ generosity, the College’s original classroom building is today as beautiful as the new one that sits across the quadrangle, contributing to the consistency and order of the campus.

Spiritual Enrichment

On Friday evenings this past Lent, weather permitting, members of the Thomas Aquinas College community walked to the campus’s lower drive to pray the Stations of the Cross at the College’s recently completed Via Dolorosa — a gift of Governor Robert Barbera. Surrounded by oak trees and redwoods, the Stations’ 14 scenes each contain a statuary tableau — e.g., Our Lord with Simon of Cyrene, Our Lord meeting His mother — housed in a shelter of Mediterranean columns supporting Spanish- tile roofs. Ever since their completion last spring, the Stations have become a popular place for prayer on campus, not only during Lent, but throughout the year. Motivated by his own longstanding devotion to the Stations of the Cross, Mr. Barbera proposed erecting the walkable Via Crucis on campus. In addition to providing the funding for the project, he also helped select the statues, design the shelters, and arrange for the Stations’ installation.

The Walk and the Web

Every year since the inaugural Walk for Life West Coast in 2005, the students of Thomas Aquinas College have made the 375-mile trip to San Francisco to bear witness to the Culture of Life. Aiding them in this annual pilgrimage has been Governor R. James Wensley and his wife, Germaine, who sponsor a large passenger bus to help students make the trek to the Bay Area. As a result, the Walk’s organizers have been able to rely on the consistent presence of some 200 Thomas Aquinas College students each year, entrusting them with various leadership responsibilities, such as directing traffic and crowds through the city’s streets.

The Wensleys have also played a key role in the College’s communication efforts by funding the design of the current Thomas Aquinas College website, which formally launched on July 21, 2011. The website has proved invaluable for attracting applicants, generating online donations, and expanding the College’s reach. Over these last four years, traffic to thomasaquinas.edu has increased by more than 500 percent, and online giving has more than doubled. In December the site earned a prestigious Interactive Media Award for achieving “the highest standards of excellence in website design and development.”