Aquinas Institute of Theology
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Aquinas Institute of Theology |
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| Established | 1939 |
| Type | Private |
| President | Rev. Charles E. Bouchard, O.P. |
| Location | St. Louis, MO, USA |
| Affiliations | Dominican Roman Catholic |
| Website | www.ai.edu |
Aquinas Institute of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate school and seminary founded by the Dominican Order and sponsored by the Province of St. Albert the Great. The school offers a number of graduate degrees, such as a Master of Arts in theology (MA), a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS), as well as some unique programs, including the country's only Roman Catholic doctoral program in preaching and a Master of Arts in Health Care Mission degree. The school has been in a leader in online theological study, currently offering four separate graduate programs in a blended online/intensive format.
In addition to its academic programs Aquinas Institute offers several community programs, including monthly Roundtable and Theology on Tap programs featuring local theologians discussing relevant topics; a Business Forum for local business leaders to discuss faith-related issues in their professions; and the Apollos Project, a Lilly Endowment-funded project to identify and train lay ministers in St. Louis area parishes.
Aquinas Institute is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.
[edit] History
In 1925, having decided not to expand the House of Studies in Washington, D.C., the Dominican Order founded a new House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois. The House of Studies remained until 1939 when the Master General of the Order made the college a Studium Generale. He also formally established the Central Province of St. Albert the Great, and the school was intended primarily to prepare the province’s members for priesthood.
The Studium Generale operated from 1939 to 1951. In 1951 the Studium faculty moved to the campus of the Dominican College of St. Rose of Lima in Dubuque, Iowa, and experienced a period of rapid change:
1961 - The two Dominican colleges, St. Rose of Lima and the Studium Generale, are incorporated as one, the Aquinas Institute of Philosophy and Theology.
1964 - Aquinas Institute is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
1965 - The Association of Theological Schools of Iowa, the first ecumenical consortia established in the country, is formed.
1967 - The first women students begin their studies.
1968 - Aquinas Institute becomes one of the first five Catholic schools to enter the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and to be accredited by it.
In 1981 Aquinas Institute of Theology moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where it entered into a "Cooperative Project for Theological Education" with Saint Louis University, on whose campus it resided. During that time the school inaugurated the Great Preacher Award (awarded to an outstanding homilist in the St. Louis area), the Catherine of Siena Excellence in Ministry Award (awarded to a lay person who has contributed through ministerial work) and the annual Aquinas Lecture (given by leading theologians on current topics in theology). The Dubuque campus was sold to Emmaus Bible College.
In December of 2005 the school moved again, this time to a former factory in Midtown St. Louis built in 1903 to house the Standard Adding Machine Company, which prospered with the invention of a 10-key adding machine. The renovation of the building is part of a larger urban renovation project which will include residential and commercial space.
