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Former names | St. Cecilia Normal School (1928–1961) Aquinas Junior College (1961–1994) |
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| Motto | Veritas et Caritas (Latin) |
Motto in English | Truth and Charity |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1961 |
| Founder | Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation |
Religious affiliation | Catholic (Dominican) |
Academic affiliation | SACS |
| President | Cecilia Anne Wanner |
| Students | 52 |
| Undergraduates | 37 |
| Postgraduates | 15 |
| Location | , U.S. 36°07′55″N86°50′38″W / 36.1320°N 86.8440°W /36.1320; -86.8440 |
| Campus | 83 acres (34 ha) |
| Patron saint | St. Thomas Aquinas |
| Nickname | Cavaliers |
| Website | aquinascollege |
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Aquinas College is aprivate Catholic college inNashville, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1961 and named in honor ofSt. Thomas Aquinas. It is operated by theDominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.
Aquinas College is a private four-year college founded in 1961, owned and operated by theDominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee. It offers undergraduate degrees in education, English, and history, as well as graduate degrees in education.
Aquinas College's roots began in 1928 as St. Cecilia Normal School as a school for religious sisters located at theSt. Cecilia Motherhouse. In 1961, the school moved away from the Motherhouse, opened to the public, and became Aquinas Junior College. In 1994, the college was renamed Aquinas College when it began offering four-year degrees. Since that time, Aquinas College has grown to include four-year programs inLiberal Arts, Business, Nursing, and Teacher Education. And in 2012, the college began graduate studies in the School of Education and in the School of Nursing, and founded a residential life program andHouse Life program. Aquinas is part of the Dominican Campus, located approximately five miles (8 km) west of downtown Nashville. Also on the same plot of land are Overbrook School, a coeducational eight-grade Catholicprimary school, andSaint Cecilia Academy, a Catholic girls'high school.
The addition of a third and fourth year collegiate curriculum caused a major change in the school's operation. It had previously been a major power in junior college athletics (notablybaseball andbasketball). However, the school's administration felt that continuing to play junior college athletics while operating as a four-year college, as was done for a period, misrepresented the school's true nature to the public and that competition at the four-year collegiate level of athletics would prove cost-prohibitive, so the institution currently sponsors no athletic programs.
In 2014, Aquinas College began the implementation of its Vision 2020: Truth & Charity strategic plan, which included the reintroduction of intercollegiate athletics.[1] The college promptly implemented three initiatives outlined in the strategic plan: the foundation of a perpetualEucharistic Adoration chapel,[2] the foundation ofstudy abroad inBracciano, Italy,[3] and the implementation of a four-yearBachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.[4]
TheU.S. News & World Report has ranked Aquinas College as 14th in Best Regional Colleges in the South in its 2015 rankings,[5] up from a ranking of 30th in the previous year. Contributing to the high ranking were the low class sizes and student-to-faculty ratio, high freshman retention rate, high test scores, a high graduation rate, and a high peer assessment score. The magazine also recognized Aquinas College for being fourth in Best Colleges for veterans in the same regional college category, up from seventh in the previous year.
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