Aquinas College

In response to the need for their sister teachers to hold baccalaureate degrees, in 1922 the sisters reorganized the Novitiate Normal School as Sacred Heart College and also commenced admitting lay women. The State of Michigan granted a charter to award two-year degrees to women to the new college in the same year. The site of the new college was transferred to the newly erected motherhouse of the Sisters on East Fulton Street, in the margins of Grand Rapids.[4] At some time between 1922 and 1931 it was renamed as Marywood College.[5] In 1931, it was reorganized as Catholic Junior College, transferred to a site on Ransom Street adjacent to the Grand Rapids Public Library, and became the first Roman Catholic college in the United States governed by women religious to become coeducational. Bishop Joseph G. Pinten of Grand Rapids instigated the reform to admit men alongside women.[4] At that time it awarded two-year degrees.

In 1939, Catholic Junior College added a third year to its curriculum. The college began awarding four-year baccalaureate degrees and was renamed Aquinas College in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas and its founder, Mother Aquinata Fiegler, OP, in 1940, but the articles of incorporation to legally effect the institutional change were not filed with the State of Michigan until 1941. In 1945, Mother Euphrasia Sullivan, OP executed for the college the purchase of the Holmdene Mansion, erected by Edward Lowe in 1908, and its arboreal lands, at 1607 Robinson Road, bordering East Fulton Street. The college relocated to the former Lowe estate where it is sited to this day. The North Central Association accredited it in 1946.

Aquinas College

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The 1950s and 1960s were a period of great growth and construction and during them the college abandoned and sold the original campus on Ransom Street. In 1955 the new Administration Building, now the "Academic Building", was erected.[7]

In 1974 the college became legally independent of the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids. In 1975 the name of the athletic teams was changed from the "Tommies" to the "Saints", pursuant to a student poll, because African American members had been racially ridiculed as "Toms".[8]

In 1977 the college was accredited to award its first graduate degree, the Master's of Management in business, which was distinct from the conventional Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree awarded by other institutions because it was primarily based on the humanities and not mathematics.[8] In 1993 the college awarded its first doctorate degree, albeit honoris causa.[9]

Also in 1997, the college officially named its mascot, a St. Bernard dog, "Nelson" in honor of President Paul Nelson, who retired that year. In 1998 the college was reorganized into three schools, each led by a dean and subdivided into departments: the School of Education, the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Management.[9]

Aquinas had its beginning in 1887 as the Novitiate Normal School of the Dominican Sisters of Marywood. In 1922 it became Marywood College of the Sacred Heart. When the college was moved downtown in 1931, it became the coeducational Catholic Junior College. It began operating as a four-year college in 1940 and was named in honor of the great medieval theologian and philosopher, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas is primarily a liberal arts college. It was moved to this campus, the former Lowe estate, in 1945.

The arboreal campus is in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The college has four dormitories: Dominican Hall, Hruby Hall, Regina Hall, and St. Joseph Hall. It also has five apartment buildings on campus and five "living learning communities", denominated "houses" on campus.

The college has more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students and offers 61 majors,[12] awarding bachelor's degrees and master's degrees. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.[12] Its most popular undergraduate majors, in terms of 2021 graduates, were:[13]

Save money on your first two years of college at GRCC. After you transfer your Pre-Biology Associate Degree, and graduate with your bachelor's degree from Aquinas College, you'll be ready to continue your education, or begin your career, with less debt.

Our Advent liturgy at Aquinas has ignited the Christmas spirit in our college community, with all Core RE classes attending a chapel service for a time of reflection around the crib. Each of the figures from the nativity scene were revisited through a deep meditation, and moments of reflection on... Read More

First-year students are those who enter college directly from high school or who have earned fewer than 12 college credits since high school graduation. Aquinas College has a preferred application deadline of November 1. First-year applicants are required to submit the Common App, an official high school transcript, and an essay. The submission of ACT and/or SAT scores is optional for both admission and scholarship consideration. For some students, additional information (a mid-year transcript, an interview, etc.) will be requested to aid in making the admission decision.

Transfer students are those who have completed a minimum of 12 college credits since high school graduation. Aquinas College has a rolling application deadline for transfer students. Applications are reviewed and decisions released once all necessary materials are received. Aquinas does not currently accept the Common App for transfer students. Please visit admissions.aquinas.edu/apply to submit an application as a transfer student. Students applying to transfer to Aquinas are required to submit official transcripts of all completed college coursework.

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