New Tutor Profile: Dr. Pierre-Luc Boudreault

When he arrived as a freshman at Université Laval in 2005, Dr. Pierre-Luc Boudreault unwittingly took his first step toward one day becoming a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College.

Raised near Québec City, Dr. Boudreault had an early fascination with philosophy, which drew him to Laval. Little did he know, however, that three of the College’s founders — Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, Dr. John W. Neumayr, and Marcus R. Berquist — had attended the same institution several decades prior. There they studied under the renowned philosopher and theologian Dr. Charles De Koninck, whose approach to Thomism profoundly influenced the College’s founding principles.

Sometime after Dr. De Koninck died in 1965, Laval hired one of his onetime students, Warren J. Murray, a high school friend of Mr. Berquist and his brother Duane. This old friendship — and a common love of Thomism — brought Mr. Murray to Thomas Aquinas College on a few occasions over the years. “He came as a guest lecturer,” says Dr. Boudreault. “He even told me he had the experience of leading a seminar with students during one of his visits.”

“I desire to share in the College’s mission to educate young people in the love of truth and pursuit of wisdom under the light of faith, the tutelage of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the best minds in each discipline.”

Although Dr. Murray had retired by the time Dr. Boudreault studied at Université Laval, he was more than willing to share his knowledge. “I took private lessons with him and consulted him a lot for my master’s thesis and my doctoral thesis, as well as for my articles and talks,” says Dr. Boudreault.

As Dr. Boudreault was finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario and starting to apply for academic jobs, Mr. Murray suggested Thomas Aquinas College as an option for a fulfilling career: “He thought it could be a good fit and suggested I apply.”

While pursuing his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Boudreault also got to know Dr. Michael Fox (’75) — a member of TAC’s first graduating class, a fellow Laval Ph.D., and now a professor of philosophy at St. Peter’s Seminary, not a mile away from UWO. “He often spoke to me about the College, and he obviously had a very high opinion of it.”

By the time he finished his doctorate in 2020, Dr. Boudreault was eager to investigate the school that such mentors had praised and recommended to him. Hired to join the New England faculty, he has already found their recommendation prescient. Just a few months into teaching Freshman Mathematics and Natural Science, as well as Sophomore Seminar, Dr. Boudreault finds himself more engaged than ever as a teacher.

“I have enjoyed the Discussion Method, which strongly encourages students to read — it depends on it!” he says. “Where I taught before, I would most of the time find myself lecturing to a class where a majority of students had not done the reading I had assigned, to the point that I would sometimes have the unpleasant and frustrating feeling of speaking to a wall.”

With more active students, of course, Dr. Boudreault must be more active as a teacher — a challenge he is eager to meet. “I desire to share in the College’s mission to educate young people in the love of truth and pursuit of wisdom,” he says, “under the light of faith, the tutelage of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the best minds in each discipline.”