NKyTribune staff report
Thomas More College officially named its library the Benedictine Library Wednesday to honor the Benedictine Sisters of St. Walburg Monastery.
The naming of the library, which was unveiled at a ceremony on campus Wednesday, is the result of an anonymous $4 million matching gift to the college. The donation, the largest in the history of Thomas More, came with the stipulation that the Benedictine Sisters be honored in a significant manner.
The $4 million gift, which the College has been challenged to match within a four year period, is focused on the creation of the Benedictine Endowment of the Thomas More College Success Center. This center will make a significant impact on students’ academic success: retention, graduation and career placement.
Thomas More College President David A. Armstrong said he was asked by the attorney for the donor to suggest ideas for projects that the gift would be used for.
“I gave the attorney four projects, but I’ll be honest, there was one that I really spent a lot of time on, the other tree I only put a couple sentences,” Armstrong said. “This was the project the donor picked, the Thomas More Success Center, because this goes directly to making students’ education possible.”
The Benedictine Sisters of Covington founded Villa Madonna College in 1921 originally to train Catholic school teachers and to provide women with a college education. Villa Madonna College was later renamed Thomas More College in 1968.
“We educate students of all faiths, to examine the ultimate meaning of life, their place in the world and their responsibility to others,” Armstrong said. “The Benedictine Sisters have been living that mission from day one and certainly did it in the founding of Villa Madonna College/Thomas More College. Weekend colleges was a big thing that was started in the 70s and the 80s, but the Benedictine Sisters were doing it at Villa Madonna a long time ago.”
Sr. Deborah Harmeling said the Benedictine Sisters are very proud to have this institution be part of our legacy to Northern Kentucky.
“Benedictines throughout history have a legacy of scholarship and preserving information and passing information on,” she said. “We’re very proud and happy to be part of that tradition. When we started the college, we started it for Sisters and lay women to become teachers and now it has grown, so that a diverse population of people are being training and being educated for all kinds of service to all areas of society.”
There are three major components of the Success Center:
The Dr. Anthony R. and Geraldine Zembrodt Institute for Academic Excellence features tutoring, academic counseling and persistence counseling which includes intensive monitoring of at-risk students.
The Institute for Learning Differences is a Federal Level II academic support program for students with documented learning differences. This program includes professional tutoring, individual mentoring/coaching, study skills support, quiet test taking areas and adaptive equipment.
The Institute for Career Development and Graduate School Planning consists of career advising, graduate school advising, and an experiential learning component which is a requirement at Thomas More.
The Success Center is another example of how Thomas More College focuses on innovative programs that help students accomplish their educational goals, graduate, get a job or attend graduate school.