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About
Fidelity & ExcellenceThomas Aquinas College is unique among American colleges and universities, offering a faithfully Catholic education comprised entirely of the Great Books and classroom discussions.
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A Liberating Education
Truth MattersTruth, and nothing less, sets men free; and because truth is both natural and supernatural, the College’s curriculum aims at both natural and divine wisdom.
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A Catholic Life
Under the Light of FaithThe intellectual tradition and moral teachings of the Catholic Church infuse the whole life of Thomas Aquinas College, illuminating the curriculum and the community alike.
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Admission & Aid
Is TAC Right for You?Do you enjoy grappling with complex questions? Are you willing to engage in discussions about difficult concepts, with the truth as your ultimate goal?
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Students & Parents
Mind, Body & SpiritThere is always something to do at TAC — something worthwhile, something fulfilling, and something geared toward ever-greater spiritual and intellectual growth.
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Alumni & Careers
What Can You Do with a Liberal Education?Nothing speaks more to the versatility of the College’s academic program than the good that our alumni are doing throughout the Church and the world.
The smoke visible from the California campus comes from the Hughes Fire, located over 30 miles east of campus, past Lake Castaic and Interstate 5. Although it poses no danger to the College at this time, we are monitoring the situation closely and will post updates as warranted. Please pray for the safety of our campus and all first responders.
The smoke visible from the California campus comes from the Hughes Fire, located over 30 miles east of campus, past Lake Castaic and Interstate 5. Although it poses no danger to the College at this time, we are monitoring the situation closely and will post updates as warranted. Please pray for the safety of our campus and all first responders.
Dr. Christopher Decaen (’93) Teaches Every Class in Thomas Aquinas College’s Curriculum
“In a way, the tutor needs to teach the whole program for the same reason that the student must complete it.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
For more information, please contact:
Chris Weinkopf, Executive Director of College Relations
805-421-5926 | pr@thomasaquinas.edu
SANTA PAULA, CALIFORNIA — Dr. Christopher Decaen (’93), a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College, California, has joined a select group of faculty: those who have taught all 23 courses in the College’s classical curriculum.
Thomas Aquinas College is unique among American colleges and universities in requiring its faculty members to teach not only in their areas of expertise, but in all the disciplines — language, logic, mathematics, music, natural science, literature, economics, history, philosophy, and theology — that make up its fully integrated program of Catholic liberal education.
“The requirement demands much from our faculty, but they rise to the occasion, and our students are the ultimate beneficiaries,” says Dr. John Goyette, the College’s vice president for advancement. “Our founders recognized that tutors who teach across the disciplines are better equipped to answer students’ questions and help them see how the disciplines build upon one another.”
Given both the range and the relative difficulty of certain tutorials, however, teaching the curriculum in its entirety is a rare and impressive feat. Only five other tutors have accomplished it thus far.
“In a way, the tutor needs to teach the whole program for the same reason that the student must complete it,” Dr. Decaen remarks. “The ‘walls’ between the sciences are porous; indeed, their ceilings and roofs are hierarchical, some building on others, and all of them reflecting the same One Truth. Thus, there cannot help but be a unity to all truths, though one can miss it when not watching for it. And the curriculum at TAC has that unity as an explicit part of both what it teaches and how it teaches, especially in the order of the courses. Both the students and the tutors see this and benefit from it.”
After graduating from the College in 1993 and pursuing advanced degrees in philosophy at the Catholic University of America, Dr. Decaen joined the College’s teaching faculty in 1999. Given the relative youth of the College, the number of tutors who have taught the entire curriculum will surely grow in the years to come. For now, however, Dr. Decaen remains in rare company. “Chris’s achievement illustrates the commitment of our entire faculty to our integrated program of studies, which we pursue together with the students in a close-knit community of friends,” says Dr. Goyette.
“Seeing the integration of TAC’s program firsthand gives one a perspective on reality itself that is, paradoxically, at once illuminating and mystifying,” Dr. Decaen adds. “The former because you make genuine progress when you peer up toward the heights, the latter because you only make out the summit in a vague way. I imagine that any tutor who ‘finishes’ the program is ready to dive back in and start over. You’re never really finished — not this side of Paradise, anyway.”
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About Thomas Aquinas College
With campuses in California and Massachusetts, Thomas Aquinas College has developed over the last half century a solid reputation for academic excellence in the United States and abroad. It is highly ranked by secular organizations, such as The Princeton Review and U. S. News, as well as Catholic guides, including the Cardinal Newman Society and the National Catholic Register. The college offers one, four-year, classical curriculum that spans the major arts and sciences. Instead of reading textbooks, students study the original works of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization — the Great Books — in all the major disciplines. Rather than listen to lectures, they work through these texts in small, rigorous classroom discussions. The academic life of the college is conducted under the light of the Catholic faith and flourishes within a close-knit community, supported by a vibrant spiritual life. Alumni consistently excel in the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology, and education.