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Transformational learning & experiences
Through rigorous intellectual development rooted in the pursuit for the Common Good and the building of transformational faculty-student relationships, we guide students toward purposeful careers and meaningful lives.
Arts and Sciences is St. Thomas’ largest college with 38 departments and programs spanning the breadth of the liberal arts, including the performing arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Our students are future leaders for a broad cross-section of careers. Faculty teach them thorough rigorous intellectual inquiry, empathy for others and the world around them, and vision for both specific goals and the big picture.
When you choose to support student scholarships, endowed professorships or experiential learning in the College of Arts and Sciences, you are giving to the essential components of teaching and learning at St. Thomas.
To achieve St. Thomas’ mission, we seek to enroll more excellent students from diverse backgrounds and locations to foster the national impact of the university. Key to this effort is the recruitment, retention, and support of outstanding faculty. They drive the educational programs and learning experiences through their holistic concern for the development of students.
Great faculty draw great students, who in turn motivate faculty to even greater levels of excellence. When inspired by the values that underly Catholic social teaching and intellectual traditions, the result is a uniquely powerful virtuous cycle.
Dr. William “Bill” Tolman is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas. A widely respected chemistry researcher and scholar with a passion for interdisciplinary education, Tolman spent just under three decades at the University of Minnesota’s chemistry department and was most recently Vice Dean of Research and Entrepreneurship in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Tolman holds a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Among many other honors, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society and has published more than 235 peer-reviewed articles that have been cited more than 25,000 times. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of Inorganic Chemistry.
It didn’t feel like I was a student, and they were the teacher. It felt very much like we were learning together, we were discovering together, and we were creating together which was the best part of it all.
At St. Thomas, we seek to recruit the best students from across the nation. To bring more promising students to St. Thomas, we are committed to reducing financial barriers through scholarships that enable broader engagement of students from all backgrounds.
A critical nexus for meaningful faculty/student interactions centers on collaborative research, scholarship and creative practice. Partnerships among students and top-notch faculty on diverse projects provide deeply impactful learning opportunities that complement those that occur in the classroom. With 38 departments and programs, donors can connect to their passions and drive stronger outcomes for students.
The No. 1 reason students leave St. Thomas before graduation is financial hardship. Scholarships make a critical difference to bridge the financial gap for incoming students. Each student deserves the opportunity to complete their college education as a Tommie. Scholarships can also expand opportunities for students, for example, to study abroad.
Endowed professorships attract and support excellent faculty who, in turn, draw motivated students to their classrooms. Flexible, rotating, termed professorships provide incentive and inspiration for not just one, but many professors to flex their creative muscles.
When faculty and students have opportunities to broaden their experiences in their field of study, the result is world-class learning. The range of possibilities is wide, and include research projects, music and art intensive experiences, focused study on emerging trends and topics, and more.
