Alumni Return for Return of Alumni Dinner!

It was an evening of reliving memories from Thomas Aquinas College’s first 50 years, and looking forward to a promising future, when alumni met Saturday for the Alumni Association Dinner on the California campus. Some 320 alumni from six decades of graduating classes gathered on the academic quadrangle, joyfully celebrating the resumption of the once-again annual event.

For the night’s chosen speaker, the Alumni Association chose Dr. Michael F. McLean, the College’s 12-year president who will step down next year to return to the classroom. In his remarks, which discussed the resiliency of the College’s academic program over the last half-century, Dr. McLean thanked four members of the community for their extraordinary contributions:  Founder and former president Peter L. DeLuca, onetime Director of Admissions and Gift Planning Tom Susanka (’76), and Chaplain Rev. Cornelius Buckley, S.J.

“These commitments, and others I could mention, have made Thomas Aquinas College truly countercultural for all of its 50 years and will continue to do so for the next 50 years,” said Dr. McLean. “You have been the beneficiaries of these commitments. Generations of alumni such as yourselves are helping to renew the face of the earth — alumni who are serving well, and will continue to serve well, your families, your communities, your country, and your church.”

The Alumni Association additionally used the evening to celebrate four graduating classes that were marking milestone reunions: the Class of 1996, the Class of 1981, the Class of  2001, and the Class of 2011. Members of the Class of 2010, whose 10-year reunion fell victim to last spring’s Covid cancelations, also returned for a belated but joyful celebration.