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Aquinas College
Founded 1961, Nashville,
Tennessee
Diocese of Nashville
The founding of a college was anticipated by the Congregation’s
establishment of a normal school affiliated with the Catholic University
of America in 1927 and the purchase of the Overbrook property in 1923.
However, the idea for an independent two-year college owned and operated
by the Congregation did not come until 1959, when Sister Miriam and Mother
Joan of Arc Mayo realized the various possible constituents for a junior
college: student nurses at St. Thomas Hospital, St. Cecilia girls wishing
to continue in a Catholic environment, and the student sisters of the
Congregation itself. Aquinas Junior College was opened to young women in
September, 1961 and, in the following year, became coeducational. Along
with associate degrees in Liberal Arts and Sciences, a program in Criminal
Justice for area police officers was added in the fall of 1968 and
continued until 1991. Degree programs in Dental Hygiene and Respiratory
Therapy were offered for a period of time. In 1970 the college was
accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. St.
Thomas Hospital entered into an agreement with Aquinas in 1983 for an
Associate of Science in Nursing degree, which has proved the most popular
degree offered by the College. The first four-year degree program
began in the fall of 1994, with the launching of the Bachelor of Arts in
Teacher Education. The Congregation has benefited from this program as it
has prepared numerous lay teachers to serve in area schools, as well as
providing an ideal setting for the education of its own student sisters
for the full four years. The four-year Teacher Education degree was
followed within eighteen months by a proposed Bachelor of Science in
Nursing degree, which received approval the following year. In 1999,
Aquinas launched a four-year Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration,
and the Adult Degree Programs in 2001. Aquinas began offering
Bachelor of Arts degrees with its first major, Liberal Arts, in 2005.
Within a small, personalized educational environment, the Congregation
forms future nurses, teachers and businessmen with high quality
professional training and the eternal benefits of a fully integrated
spiritual and intellectual program of study.
| Current Bishop: |
Bishop David Choby |
| Enrollment:
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860 |
| Landmark Dates |
|
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• 1961 |
Founding of Aquinas College |
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• 1983 |
ASN degree added |
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• 1994 |
BA degree in Liberal Arts (Teacher
Education) added |
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• 1999 |
R.N. to B.S.N. degree |
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• 2001 |
Adult Degree Programs added |
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• 2005 |
BA degree in Liberal Arts added |
Visit Aquinas College at:
www.aquinascollege.edu |
