University Chaplain and Vice President of Ministry and Mission
A native of Louisiana, Father Aquinas entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, he began doctoral studies in theology at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. Before arriving at ÃÛÌÒÉç, Father Aquinas taught moral theology at the nearby Dominican House of Studies, where he also served for a time as prior of the community.
In October of 2023, Father Aquinas was appointed by President Peter K. Kilpatrick as the University's first Vice President of Ministry and Mission, a position that places him in the president’s cabinet alongside other University vice presidents, where he will assist the President in animating the Catholic character of the University.