The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is a private

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

liberal arts college in

Merrimack, New Hampshire Merrimack is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 26,632 as of the 2020 census. There are four villages in the town: Merrimack Village (formerly known as Souhegan Village), Thorntons Ferry, Reeds Ferr ...

. It emphasizes

classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...

in the Catholic intellectual tradition and is named after Saint

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

. It is accredited by the

New England Commission of Higher Education The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and other ...

. It is endorsed by

The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College (also termed as The Newman Guide) is a college evaluation tool published annually by the Cardinal Newman Society to assist students in choosing a Catholic college or university. It includes a list of ...

History

Founding

Thomas More College was founded in 1978, with political science professor Peter Sampo as its first president. Sampo had been a co-founder and president of both Cardinal Newman College in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

and

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, also in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. The curriculum, designed by educators Donald and Louise Cowan, associated with the

University of Dallas The University of Dallas is a private Catholic university in Irving, Texas. Established in 1956, it is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The university comprises four academic units: the Braniff Graduate School ...

, centered on the direct reading of foundational works of Western culture.

Since 2009

In 2009, the curriculum was revised under president William Fahey to improve its chronological approach to topics and strengthen the presentation of Catholic themes. Distinct majors in literature, political science, and philosophy were phased out in favor of a unified liberal arts major, great books program. In the same year regional accrediting body the New England Association of Schools and Colleges placed the college on probation for two years on the ground that it was not meeting NEASC's standards for financial resources. The college improved its financial position, and the period of probation ended in 2011. In late 2013, the college bought a 1908 mansion in the Nashville Historic District of

Nashua Nashua may refer to: * Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England Places In Australia: * Nashua, New South Wales In the United States: * Nashua, California * Nashua, Iowa * Nashua, Minnesota * Nashua, Kansas City ...

. College president William Fahey indicated plans to use the historic house, originally built by shoe manufacturer Frank Anderson and later the home of Mount Saint Mary Seminary, a girls' high school, as an educational site and eventually also a dormitory.

Presidents

# Peter V. Sampo, 1978–2006 # Jeffrey Nelson, 2006–2009 # William Fahey, 2009–present

Academics

Thomas More College of Liberal Arts offers one degree program:

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

. The college is accredited by the

. In 2010, the college started a program of teaching students practical skills in art and music, using the medieval

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

system as a model. For admissions, Thomas More College accepts the

Classic Learning Test The Classic Learning Test (or CLT) is a standardized test developed by Classic Learning Initiatives, which was founded in 2015 by Jeremy Tate and is based in Annapolis, Maryland. The test was designed as an alternative to other standardized tests ...

(CLT) as alternatives to the SAT and ACT. Since 2012, the

American Council of Trustees and Alumni The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is a conservative non-profit organization whose stated mission is to "support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure t ...

included Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in its ''

What Will They Learn? ''What Will They Learn?'' is the annual rating system of American colleges and universities published by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a conservative non-profit organization. The report, which evaluates the core academic requirement ...

'' study. The study assigns a letter grade to 1,070 universities based on how many of the following seven core subjects are required, according to its specific criteria: composition, literature, foreign language, American history, economics, mathematics, and science. Thomas More College was one of 21 schools to receive an "A" grade, a grade assigned to schools that include at least six of the seven subjects—Thomas More College includes all seven subjects.

Curriculum

Thomas More College offers one degree,

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

without a major concentration. The

core curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

is a

Great Books A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cl ...

program, and the program of studies is shaped according the traditional order of learning. The first two years of the four-year program are dedicated to the Trivium (logic, rhetoric, and grammar) and the Quadrivium (geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music). Students read great works of Western literature, philosophy, and political science instead of textbooks. Not all texts are considered to be of equal importance as some are masterworks and others are opinion pieces—because of this students read some texts in their entirety and excerpts from others. Students are also required to study a semester in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

; this is done in the second semester of sophomore year. Natural science, philosophy, scripture, and theology are all required courses. Over the four years, a Thomas More student might write upward of sixty papers assigned in the various subject areas. In their third year, students must present a junior project in front of a panel of three faculty members; in their fourth year, students produce a senior thesis and defend it before faculty and student peers.

Rankings

* From 2012 to 2021, the college was awarded an "A" rating from the education reform organization

. * In 2021, the

Young America's Foundation Young America's Foundation (YAF) is a conservative youth organization founded in 1969. In 2018, the ''Los Angeles Times'' called YAF "one of the most preeminent, influential and controversial forces in the nation's conservative youth movement. ...

named Thomas More College one of the top

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

schools in the United States. * Thomas More College is endorsed by the Cardinal Newman Society, publisher of

(2021).

The Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture

In 2017, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts launched the Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture. In order to restore Christian culture in New England, the center has hosted several lectures and online webinars. Dr. Robert Royal, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Faith and Reason Institute, said the center is "one of the most promising new initiatives in decades."

Publishing

The college has sponsored the Centre for Faith and Culture at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England, publisher of ''Second Spring'', a journal on faith and culture, since 2007. In April 2011, Thomas More College, together with Holy Spirit College in Atlanta, reached an agreement with the non-profit publisher

Sophia Institute Press Sophia Institute Press is a non-profit publishing company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, United States. It publishes Catholic books, the online opinion journal ''Crisis Magazine'', the traditionalist Catholic website ''OnePeterFive'', the Tri ...

, which became the publishing division of the two colleges. The two colleges, in turn, appoint representatives to the board of directors of Sophia Institute. In 2016, the college began its own publishing initiative, called the Thomas More College Press. To date the Thomas More College Press publishes the major works of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

, as translated by Hippocrates Apostle, as well as books by Romano Guardini, John Senior, and Heinrich Rommen.

Notable faculty

Current notable faculty *

Joseph Pearce Joseph Pearce (born February 12, 1961), is an English-born American writer, and Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee, before which he held positions at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in ...

, St. John Henry Newman Visiting Chair in Catholic Studies

Former faculty

Louise Cowan Mary Louise Cowan ( Shillingburg; December 22, 1916 – November 16, 2015) was an American critic and teacher, and wife of the physicist and University of Dallas president Donald Cowan (author of ''Unbinding Prometheus''). She taught at Texas Chr ...

(1916–2015), professor of English *

Anthony Esolen Anthony M. Esolen is a writer, social commentator, translator of classical poetry, and Writer-in-Residence at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts. He taught at Furman University and Providence College before transferring to the Thomas More Co ...

, professor of English Renaissance and classical literature, translator of Dante * Robert Royal, Catholic author and the president of the Faith & Reason Institute * Peter V. Sampo (1931–2020), political science professor and first president of the college

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas More College Of Liberal Arts Liberal arts colleges in New Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1978 Universities and colleges in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Catholic universities and colleges in New Hampshire Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester Merrimack, New Hampshire