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St. Thomas University (Canada)

{{Short description|Small liberal arts university in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada}}

{{Infobox university

| name = St. Thomas University

| image_name = STUCoatOfArms.svg

| logo = File:St._Thomas_University_(New_Brunswick)_Logo.svg

| motto = Doce Bonitatem Scientiam et Disciplinam (Latin)

| mottoeng = Teach me Goodness and Knowledge and DisciplinePsalm 119, Verse 66; also, motto of the Basilian Fathers.

| established = 1910; 110 years ago

| former_name = St. Thomas College (1910–1960)

| type = Public

| religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic{{cite web |url=http://w3.stu.ca/stu/about/mission/default.aspx |title=Mission statement |publisher=St. Thomas University |date=2014 |website=stu.ca |access-date=28 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https:// web. archive.org/web/20141028093255/http://w3.stu.ca/stu/about/mission/default.aspx |archive-date=28 October 2014 }}

| academic_affiliations = UACC
CUP
CUSID
ICUSTA

| chancellor = Hon. Graydon Nicholas

| head = Christian Riesbeck (as Bishop of Saint John)Founding Member, Board of Governors, https://www.stu.ca/bog/

| head_label = Visitor

| president = M. Nauman Farooqi{{Cite web|url=https://www.stu.ca/about/administrative-offices/president/|title=President}}

| registrar =

| students = 1,733{{cite web|url=https://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/PreliminaryEnrolments_22-23_Oct1422-3-FTPT-2.pdf|title=2022–2023 Full-Time plus Part-Time Enrolments|date=2022-10-01|publisher=Association of Atlantic Universities|access-date=2023-10-09}}

| undergrad = 1,712

| postgrad = 21

| doctoral =

| profess =

| city = Fredericton

| state = New Brunswick

| country = Canada

| campus = Urban

| free_label =

| free =

| colours = {{color box|#FDD017|Gold}} and {{color box|#00502F|Green}}

| nickname = Tommies

| athletics_affiliations = U Sports - AUS
CCAA - ACAA

| sports =

| fightsong =

| affiliation =

| footnotes =

| website = {{URL|http://www.stu.ca}}

| address =

| publictransit =

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| coor =

}}

St. Thomas University (also St. Thomas or STU) is a Catholic, English-language liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a primarily undergraduate university offering bachelor's degrees in the arts (humanities and social sciences), education, and social work to approximately 1,900 students. The average class size is 30 and no class is larger than 60.{{cite web|title=St Thomas University|url=http://www.aucc.ca/canadian-universities/our-universities/st-thomas-university/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114053/http://www.aucc.ca/canadian-universities/our-universities/st-thomas-university/|archive-date=2014-08-26}}

The university offers recognized majors in Criminology, Journalism, Human Rights, and Communications and Public Policy. St. Thomas is the home of the Frank McKenna Centre for Communications and Public Policy.{{cite web|title=Frank McKenna donates $1M to STU|publisher=CBC News New Brunswick|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/frank-mckenna-donates-1m-to-stu-1.1341228}} The university is unique in Canada for its sole focus on liberal arts and its commitment to social justice.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

St. Thomas' notable alumni includes a Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, a New Brunswick premier, Shawn Graham, federal and provincial cabinet ministers, prelates, university presidents as well as several Rhodes Scholars.{{Cite web|url=https://www.macleans.ca/schools/st-thomas-what-its-really-like-to-attend-this-new-brunswick-school/|title=St. Thomas: What it's really like to attend this school|website=macleans.ca}}

History

St. Thomas University acknowledges the land in which the school is built on as traditional territory of Indigenous communities. These communities include the Wolastoqiyik / Maliseet, and the Mi'Kmaw, and Passamaquoddy / Peskotomuhkati Tribes / Nations, who signed peace treaties with the British Crown in the 1700s.

St. Thomas University traces its institutional origins to the establishment of a Catholic academy in the former community of Chatham, New Brunswick (now Miramichi) in the late nineteenth century. Due to an influx of Irish immigration in northwestern New Brunswick, Chatham saw a need for more centers of education and religious instruction. Officially opened in October 1860, St. Michael's Academy was inaugurated by Bishop James Rogers of the newly formed Diocese of Chatham.Church, Politics, and STU: The Relocation of St. Thomas University from Chatham to Fredericton, p. 3-4.

St. Michael's Academy catered to young English-speaking males in the Miramichi River Valley and the growing port town of Chatham. A women's academy was created a year later. St. Michael's consisted of a single wooden structure constructed near the seat of the Diocese of Chatham, the new St. Michael's Cathedral. The institution offered a classical education and was intended to prepare students to study for the diocesan priesthood. From 1865, the school was known as St. Michael's College. It closed for several years in the 1870s and 1880s.

Its uneven operation was curbed by the Basilian Fathers, a religious order who assumed the administration of the College in 1910. Since the Toronto-based religious order already had a Catholic college in the Ontario capital, named St. Michael's College (a federated component of the University of Toronto), St. Michael's in Chatham was renamed St. Thomas College after Thomas Aquinas. It remained a high school and a junior college; however, in 1934, the institution gained degree-granting status from the Government of New Brunswick.

File:St. Thomas University New Brunswick Canada lower campus.jpg]]

After 1923, the Basilian Fathers transferred the administration of the college to the Diocese of Chatham.Church, Politics, and STU: The Relocation of St. Thomas University from Chatham to Fredericton, p.3-4. The diocese was restructured as the Diocese of Bathurst. Its seat was moved to the primarily francophone community, Bathurst, north of Chatham. While St. Thomas College remained in Chatham, its future remained uncertain. In 1959, the college was subject to territorial changes in the reorganized Diocese of Bathurst. English-speaking parishes and the college were transferred to the Diocese of Saint John with its seat in New Brunswick's major port city.Church, Politics, and STU, 53-55. The Bishop of Saint John became the Chancellor of St. Thomas. By mid-century, the economic and social significance of post-secondary institutions saw an increased role of state intervention. In 1960, the institution was renamed St. Thomas University by an act of the New Brunswick Legislature.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stu.ca/about/history/|title=History - St Thomas University|website=stu.ca}} Under the government of Louis Robichaud, the Royal Commission on Higher Education was launched. Headed by John James Deutsch, a professor and administrator from Queen's University, the commission recommended greater centralization and public funding in post-secondary education.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gnb.ca/cpse-ceps/05-e.asp|title=Commission on Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick|website=gnb.ca}}

Arising from the Commission's recommendations, St. Thomas University was encouraged to relocate to the campus of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton to share facilities. Not without controversy and animosity, St. Thomas University moved to the provincial capital and abandoned its secondary school curriculum. A new campus was built in the Neo-Georgian style by the architects of the University of New Brunswick (Larson & Larson) to complement the campus of its institutional neighbour.Church, Politics, and STU, p.176-177. It officially welcomed students in October 1964.

Relationship with UNB

St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick's Fredericton campus are located in the College Hill neighbourhood in Fredericton. The two institutions share facilities for their student unions, libraries, athletics, and a common heating plant and building maintenance services. Students from STU are permitted to take a certain number of classes at UNB and vice versa. However, STU and UNBF itself are financially and academically separate. STU is able to offer many amenities other smaller schools cannot, in large part to its UNB partnership. The two universities enjoy a good-natured rivalry.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vredshockey.com/history/battle.htm|title=WWW.VREDSHOCKEY.COM - History - Battle of the Hill|website=vredshockey.com}}

File:UNB_Old_Arts_Building.jpg (pictured), STU relocated to Fredericton from Chatham, New Brunswick in 1964]]

Academics

STU offers the following programs: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Applied Arts, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Social Work, and a Bachelor of Arts Aviation Stream.https://www.stu.ca/academics/

Athletics

STU offers athletic programs for men's and women's basketball, cross-country, soccer, and volleyball, as well as women's rugby and hockey.

Collectively, the Tommies have won 41 ACAA titles and 3 AUS titles. Student-athletes have achieved 404 CCAA National Scholar and 417 U Sports Academic All-Canadian awards.{{cite web | url=https://www.gotommies.ca/landing/index | title=STU Tommies Athletics | date=8 November 2023 }}

STU participated in AUS men's hockey until 2016 (winning the championships in 1961 and 2001),{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/mice/records/pastchamps|title=Atlantic University Sport - Men's Hockey Past Champions}} and men's and women's track and field from 2011-2022.

Campus life

File:St. Thomas University Fredericton New Brunswick Brian Mulroney Hall.jpg Hall]]

There are six academic buildings on campus housing classrooms and faculty offices: James Dunn Hall, Edmund Casey Hall, George Martin Hall, Brian Mulroney Hall, Holy Cross House, and Margaret Norrie McCain Hall. Additionally, there are three residence buildings at St. Thomas University, all located on campus: Harrington Hall, Vanier Hall, and Holy Cross House.

The university maintains its own campus police force, comprised by students hired annually by the University to maintain security at campus events.[http://w3.stu.ca/stu/currentstudents/employment/default.aspx Employment on Campus] The student newspaper, The Aquinian, is available on campus and throughout the city during the regular academic year.

File:St. Thomas University (Canada) T-ring.jpg

Chancellors

Bishop of Chatham (1910–1938) after Bishop of Bathurst (1938–1959)

  • Thomas Francis Barry, 1910–1920
  • Patrice Alexandre Chiasson, C.I.M., 1920–1942
  • Camille-André LeBlanc, 1942–1959

Bishop of Saint John (1959–2019)

lay Chancellors (2020–Present)

Presidents and Vice Chancellors

  • Nicholas Roche, C.S.B., 1910–1911
  • William J. Roach, C.S.B., 1911–1919
  • Frederick Meader, C.S.B., 1920–1923
  • Raymond Hawkes, 1923–1927
  • James M. Hill, D.D., 1928–1945
  • Charles V. O'Hanley, 1945–1948
  • A.L. McFadden, 1948–1961
  • Donald C. Duffie, 1961–1975
  • George W. Martin, 1975–1990
  • Daniel W. O'Brien, 1990–2006
  • Michael W. Higgins, 2006–2009
  • Dennis Cochrane, C.M., 2010–2011
  • Dawn Russell, LL.M., 2011–2022
  • Kim Fenwick, Ph.D. (Acting), 2022—2023
  • M. Nauman Farooqi, Ph.D., 2023—Present

Notable alumni

{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|

}}

File:Shawn Graham 2007.JPG|Shawn Graham, former Premier of New Brunswick

File:Mulroney.jpg|Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada

File:Thecandyshow.jpg|Candy Palmater, Miꞌkmaq comedian & activist

File:David Adams Richards - DanH-4021 (cropped).jpg|David Adams Richards, Senator & author

File:Greg Thompson w poppy.jpg|Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs

Notable faculty and staff

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Fraser, J. A. "By Force of Circumstance": A History of St. Thomas University. Fredericton: Miramichi Press, 1970.
  • Spray, William and Anthony Rhinelander. Church, Politics, and STU: The Relocation of St. Thomas University from Chatham to Fredericton. Fredericton, NB: STU, 2014.

External links

{{Commons}}

  • {{Official website|http://www.stu.ca/}}
  • [https://www.gotommies.ca/landing/index STU Tommies Athletics]

{{NB Uni}}

{{ICUSTA}}

{{Universities in Canada}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|45|56|37.18|N|66|38|48.40|W|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas University (New Brunswick)}}

Category:Education in Fredericton

Category:Universities and colleges established in 1910

Category:Catholic universities and colleges in Canada

Category:Buildings and structures in Fredericton

Category:1910 establishments in Canada