Dr. E. Wesley Ely delivered the speech at the 2013 Aquinas College Commencement on Saturday, May 11. Dr. Ely is a medical school professor with a subspecialty in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. His research has focused on improving the care and outcomes of critically ill patients with sepsis and respiratory failure, with special emphasis on the problems facing older patients in the ICU. A devout Catholic, Dr. Ely has contributed inspirational articles to numerous publications, including the Tennessee Register, and delivered a lecture in the Fall of 2012 entitled “True Devotion to the Blessed Mother.”

Please click on the “CC” icon in the YouTube window for subtitles.

Awards

The awards given to outstanding achievement in the various programs are as follows:

St. Augustine of Hippo Award (School of Arts & Sciences)
Rebecca Marie Thompson

St. Joseph the Worker Award (School of Business)
Anthony Sherman Lena

St. Dominic, Teacher of Truth Award (School of Education)
Christina Ann Cathey

St. Catherine of Siena Award (School of Nursing—Associate of Science in Nursing)
Joshua David Parker and Jessica Rose Schultz

St. Martin de Porres Award (School of Nursing—Bachelor of Science in Nursing)
Jody Marie Boone

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More Information

Please check the Aquinas College website soon for more information and pictures about this year’s Baccalaureate Mass and Commencement.

The Tennessee Register, the newspaper of the Diocese of Nashville, recently profiled the new Aquinas College Center for the Study of Human Dignity and Ethics in Health Care. Center Advisory Council member Dr. Marie Hilliard, director of bioethics and public policy for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., A.N.E.F., the center’s founder and Dean of the School of Nursing, were both interviewed for the story.

Read the story here:

• New Aquinas center seeks to be a ‘moral force’ guiding health care ethics

We pray for our students who begin their Spring semester examinations today. The Houses will be offering snacks and refreshments in Aquinas Central all week.

We also offer this prayer, composed by our patron St. Thomas Aquinas, that may be helpful before studying, teaching, speaking, or any other activity that involves these faculties. The original prayer in Latin is also provided below.

A Prayer Before Study

Ineffable Creator,
Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom,
have established three hierarchies of angels,
have arrayed them in marvelous order
above the fiery heavens,
and have marshaled the regions
of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness
into the darkened places of my mind;
disperse from my soul
the twofold darkness
into which I was born:
sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants.
refine my speech
and pour forth upon my lips
The goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to me
keenness of mind,
capacity to remember,
skill in learning,
subtlety to interpret,
and eloquence in speech.

May You
guide the beginning of my work,
direct its progress,
and bring it to completion.

You Who are true God and true Man,
who live and reign, world without end.

Amen.

Ante Studium

Creator ineffabilis,
qui de thesauris sapientiae tuae
tres Angelorum hierarchias designasti,
et eas super caelum empyreum
miro ordine collocasti,
atque universi partes elegantissime disposuisti,

tu inquam qui
verus fons
luminis et sapientiae diceris
ac supereminens principium

infundere digneris
super intellectus mei tenebras
tuae radium claritatis,
duplices in quibus natus sum
a me removens tenebras,
peccatum scilicet et ignorantiam.

Tu, qui linguas infantium facis disertas,
linguam meam erudias
atque in labiis meis gratiam
tuae benedictionis infundas.

Da mihi
intelligendi acumen,
retinendi capacitatem,
addiscendi modum et facilitatem,
interpretandi subtilitatem,
loquendi gratiam copiosam.

Ingressum instruas,
progressum dirigas,
egressum compleas.

Tu, qui es verus Deus et homo,
qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.

Amen.

Fall registration is now open for returning students at Aquinas College. The fall semester will begin on Monday, August 26. For a full schedule of classes, visit the Class Schedules page or download the schedule below.

• Fall Class Schedule (undergraduate)
• Fall Class Schedule (graduate)

Aquinas College gratefully announces the list of members of the Advisory Council for the newly-established Center for the Study of Human Dignity and Ethics in Health Care. Local and national leaders in health care, business, and religion comprise the Council. Their duty to the Center is to identify current and emerging trends in health care and promote the Center’s important contributions to the needs of health care professionals and the community.

The Aquinas College School of Nursing is seeking full-time faculty in its Associate Degree Nursing Program, beginning in the Fall of 2013.

Qualifications

MSN required; doctoral degree in nursing or a related field preferred.  Minimum of two years experience in nursing education at undergraduate or graduate level; Unencumbered license to practice as a registered nurse in Tennessee.

Duties and Responsibilities

Includes but not limited to the following:

• Supports and implements the policies and procedures of Aquinas College and the School of Nursing in accord with the mission and core values of the College, the Philosophy of the School of Nursing and affiliating agencies.
• Serves as instructional faculty, role model, and educational consultant to faculty, preceptors, students, alumni and agency staff.
• Develops and implements assigned courses in accord with the curriculum of the specific program.
• Coordinates and assesses the outcomes of student learning experiences with other course faculty, clinical faculty, preceptors, graduate students and the affiliating agency.
• Identifies and implements learning activities that assist students in integrating theory and practicum experiences in order to master the course and program outcomes.
• Supervises students in the practice setting and assists them in fulfilling the outcomes of the learning experience.
• Collaborates with course and program faculty in assessing student mastery of identified competencies leading to meeting the course outcomes.
• Participates in the academic advising program;
• Accepts appointments to committees and task groups of the School of Nursing and of Aquinas College.

Email cover letter and resume to Mrs. Peggy Daniel, MSN, RN, CNE, Director, ASN Program at Aquinas College: daniel@aquinascollege.edu.

Nashville’s WKRN Channel 2 News featured Aquinas College’s Dean of Nursing, Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., N.Y.A.M., F.R.S.M. and Aquinas College President’s Advisory Council Member, Marie Hilliard, J.C.L., Ph.D., R.N. in a story about the growing number of men in the field of nursing. The news crew conducted the interviews at the National Association of Catholic Nurses’ annual conference that was hosted by Aquinas College the first weekend in March.

Dean of the School of Nursing, Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., N.Y.A.M., F.R.S.M., delivered the keynote address at the annual conference of the National Association of Catholic Nurses, hosted by Aquinas College on March 1–3. The title of his talk was Transforming Health Care Through the Power of Catholic Nursing. Please listen to the talk below.

Download the mp3 of the talk here.

A print copy of Brother’s talk is available here:

• Transforming Health Care Through the Power of Catholic Nursing

Brother, along with Aquinas College President’s Advisory Council member Dr. Marie Hilliard, was also interviewed for a news story about the changing role of males in the field of nursing.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Feb.25, 2013) — The School of Nursing at Aquinas College, positioned to further its mission to protect and defend human dignity for all persons through its commitment to nursing education and other health professions in an era of unprecedented change, announces the foundation of the Center for the Study of Human Dignity and Ethics in Health Care. “While the need for this center is decades old,” said the School of Nursing’s Dean, Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., “the timing of its launch, in relation to the continued draconian changes in health care today and in the future, is providential.”

Driven by the Mission and Core Values of Aquinas College and the Philosophy of the School of Nursing, and under the guidance of a seventeen member Advisory Council, consisting of broad representation from the Nashville health care community, the Center will:

• provide community-wide educational opportunities for health care professionals,civic leaders, legislators and citizens of the community (seminars, multi-disciplinary forums, etc.) that addresses current issues in health care, education, administration, and scholarship;
• provide consultation, conduct research, and disseminate findings;
• build collaborative partnerships with the health care community locally, nationally and internationally;
• provide forums for presentations by visiting scholars;
• develop model learning outcomes for health professions’ students that embrace the Purpose and Core Values of the Center;
• honor members of the health professions and the community who have distinguished achievements in defending and protecting the dignity and flourishing of the human person.

“Such a Center is critically important in our global world and particularly in health care as rapid changes in health care and new delivery models coupled with the emergence of complex ethical questions arise every day.  The inauguration of the Center is unique for this region and is consistent with the Mission of the College to “Transform Lives and Culture Through Truth and Charity,” Brother Perkins, O.P. said.  “Through this important initiative, Aquinas College will continue to be a moral force in re-shaping the world of health care by supporting all those seeking to be healed as well as members of the health professions, taking on the critical ethical issues of the day, so that dignity, freedom and human flourishing can be claimed by every person who has ever been born.”

• Center for the Study of Human Dignity and Ethics in Health Care press release

Aquinas College Dean of Nursing, Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., N.Y.A.M., F.R.S.M. and Aquinas College President’s Advisory Council Member, Marie Hilliard, J.C.L., Ph.D., R.N., are among those presenting at the 2013 National Association of Catholic Nurses-USA conference entitled “Catholic Nurses on the Front Lines: Christ’s Ministry in Action,” hosted by Aquinas College March 1–3, 2013.

The National Catholic Register interviewed Brother Ignatius and Aquinas President’s Advisory Council member Dr. Marie Hilliard for an article about the conference.

The National Association of Catholic Nurses seeks to promote Catholic moral teaching among nurses of all backgrounds through professional and spiritual growth.

• National Association of Catholic Nurses Meeting Brochure 2013