addition, a pictorial history of Aquinas College, written by English professor Gary Eberle, will be available in coffeetable book form for alumni and friends. Eberle, who also serves as Master of the Revels, overseeing the celebration, said, “The history of Aquinas College is a fascinating story of growth, risk-taking, innovation and survival in the face of tough times. This coming year will be an opportunity to celebrate that past and to work on major fundraising initiatives to ensure the College’s existence for at least the next 125 years.” The spirit of festivity should abound as the College takes pride in what it has accomplished from its humble beginnings. “Aquinas loves a party,” Eberle said, “and this coming year will be festive in the best sense of the word, a time to stop, reflect, give thanks and enjoy the gift we have been given by those who came before us, and to pass on to the future the wonderful tradition that is Aquinas College.”
The Novitiate Normal School was transferred to Grand Rapids in 1911, and in 1922 it evolved into Sacred Heart (later Marywood) College, which offered post-secondary education to lay women in addition to the sisters. In 1931, with the encouragement of Bishop Joseph Pinten of Grand Rapids, the College was renamed Catholic Junior College and began admitting male students. In 1940, the two-year program at CJC was expanded into a four-year bachelor’s degree program and the name of the college was changed to Aquinas College. Aquinas College was originally located in downtown Grand Rapids, on Ransom Street next door to the Grand Rapids Public Library. In 1945, the College bought the former Lowe estate on East Fulton Street, where it remains.
aquinas.edu | Spring 2011 | Campus News 7
Campus News
Aquinas College had its origins in the Novitiate Normal School begun by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids in 1886 in Traverse City. In the Normal School, older sisters taught the younger nuns the knowledge and skills they would need to staff the growing number of Catholic parish schools in Michigan in the late 1800s. Course work included thorough review of the subjects they would teach in primary school and some education methods courses like classroom management and observed practice teaching. The Normal School’s influence was felt throughout Michigan in the sisters who taught in Catholic grade schools from Beaver Island to the Thumb and south to Grand Rapids.