Faculty & Administration

Faculty and Administration

B.A., Classical Philology, University of Dallas; Ph.D., Literature, University of Notre Dame

I am excited to collaborate with long-time friends at STMA. I am excited about being involved in my children’s lives. And I am excited about making things like Latin and literature seem magical to young students who desperately need deep loves in this shallow world.

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B.S., Elementary Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne

I’m excited to work in a school that appreciates the beautiful traditions of our Faith and strives to do all for the Glory of God and the salvation of the young souls entrusted to our care.  The Faith is seamlessly woven into the school activities, our school culture, and all subject areas.  Having worked for over four years in Catholic Schools, I’ve found that teaching the Catholic Faith brings the most joy and fulfillment.  I’m thrilled to be teaching Kindergarteners academic skills, instilling a joy of learning, encouraging growth in holiness, and doing so all through the lens of our Catholic Faith and Tradition.

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B.A. Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville; J.D., Ave Maria School of Law 

I love learning and have developed a deep interest in Catholic education which aims to lead the whole person on the pathways of truth, goodness, and beauty towards God. I hope to contribute to the mission of St. Thomas More Academy where I can help cultivate a sense of wonder, reverence, and joy in response to the love of Our Lord, who, as Gerard Manley Hopkins observed, “plays in ten thousand spaces.”

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B.A., Ave Maria University; M.M., Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music

Having been instructed in the classical tradition myself, I am excited to be teaching at STMA, where students will be taught “the best which has been thought and said” in the western and Catholic traditions, including music, which philosophers beginning with Plato have recognized as an integral element in the formation of children. My educational approach is rooted in several ideas: that all children can learn music; that fundamentals must be mastered first; that fundamental to all true musicianship is “audiation” (see Music Learning Theory, Edwin Gordon); that the music children are exposed to is of the utmost importance both for their future music aptitude and the formation of their affections; that children should be exposed to music that brings about an inner harmony and  ordering of the loves of the soul that leads to the contemplation of beauty, that beauty which is God himself. To this end, I am very excited that STMA will be offering Mass everyday, for it is in the context of the Mass that the best art of the church, including music, has been created, and it is primarily the chant, polyphony and hymnody of the church which I intend to share with the students of STMA.

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B.A., Art Education, Concordia University

I am choosing to teach at St. Thomas More Academy because STMA recognizes that the fine arts are imperative for the development of the whole person. STMA’s Art and Drama curriculum, which I am helping to create, will give students an understanding of the fine arts as skills to be cultivated, rather than innate talents.  I also believe that all people, especially children, are in great need of good stories and images of beauty. Children today are bombarded by messages and stories that show a world marked by despair and insanity in which they have no agency. It is my mission to deliver a message of hope in my classroom by showing that the created world is beautiful, and that my students are called to be co-creators with the Divine Creator.

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B.A., Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame; MTS, University of Notre Dame

I came to learn about STMA from many different angles: parents and relatives of students, friends of teachers, and priests celebrating daily Mass for the school. Everyone testified to a community committed to integral education and moral formation, bound together in Eucharistic worship. I am excited to join this community, share the treasures of our intellectual tradition with students, and cultivate wonder before God’s providential hand in our lives and the whole of history.

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B.A., Political Science, Eastern Michigan University; Teaching Certificate, Indiana University South Bend

I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity to teach at STMA because it is an opportunity to share in wonder and joy with others.  No education is a true and complete education if it does not get at the nature of things and their relationship with eternity. As students spend time at STMA, they will be habituated in heart, soul, and mind to see the beauty, truth, and goodness in all things. As they grow in wonder and virtue, they, like St. Thomas More and all the other saints, will understand who they are, what things are, and why it matters in the context of all eternity. It is an honor to be a part of this adventure, and I look forward to all the good that will come!

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B.A., Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame; M.Ed., University of Notre Dame

Education, to quote Blessed Basil Moreau, is the art of helping young people to completeness. I believe that a Catholic Classical education is an incredible way to bring students — and an entire community — closer to Christ while pursuing truth, goodness, and excellence. I am a product of many years of Catholic education — which was often set within a classical framework — and therefore I wholeheartedly believe in the mission and vision of this school. I am not only excited for all the growth and learning that will take place during the school day, but also for the growth and learning that will take place after school as we begin our sports programs this year! 

B.A., Yale University; Ph.D., Theology, University of Notre Dame

My primary reason for co-founding STMA and serving as the school’s Interim Head are the formative years that I spent at Aquinas Academy in Pittsburgh, which my father founded, and which has served as a model for STMA. What made Aquinas special?  Daily Mass; frequent Confession; a deeply familial culture in which true friendships with teachers and classmates could flourish; inspirational teachers who strove for excellence in their work, loved their subjects and their students, and called us to grow into our full potential through cultivation of the intellectual and moral virtues; and a traditional curriculum that gave us the tools to see the order and beauty of God’s creation, nourished our souls, minds, hearts, and bodies, and taught us that a meaningful life includes a daily pursuit of wisdom. I know firsthand the impact that this sort of school can have on a child, not only through my own experience, but also through the experience of my siblings, my classmates, and so many children who have graduated from Aquinas over the past 27 years. “From whom much has been given, much will be expected” (Lk 12:48).  Despite the great challenges involved in founding and building a school, I am deeply grateful that God has given me the opportunity to share what I have been given with my own children and the children of South Bend. Indeed, South Bend is one of the most flourishing Catholic communities in the world, and STMA has a unique opportunity to be a leader in ongoing national and worldwide efforts to renew Catholic education and retrieve one of the Church’s greatest treasures, which can broadly be called “Catholic classical education.”

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B.A., History, Hillsdale College; MTS, History of Christianity, University of Notre Dame


To a world which fears that ephemerality and meaninglessness lie at the root of all things, the Catholic Church proposes an alternative: that God sustains created reality, has entered into it in the person of Jesus Christ, and now works through it to bring us into relationship with Him. Catholic education does young people a disservice if it offers them anything less than a vision of this alternative in all its glory and challenge. This requires not only thoughtful and compassionate intellectual work, but also the personal witness of a community and a culture that draw their strength from the graced rhythms of the Church’s sacramental and liturgical life. I am excited to participate in this life alongside my students and colleagues at St. Thomas More, sharpening our vision to more fully see that “all the world is shining around us, and love is smiling through all things,” and equipping us together to witness to our hope to those who know it not.

B.A., Theology and Arabic, University of Notre Dame

I will be teaching at STMA because STMA is committed to helping young people seek holiness and pursue excellence in their human endeavors. St. Thomas More gave his life for the truth, and I hope we can all deepen our conviction to do the same during our time in this school.

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B.A., Music, Physics, and Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

God created the world in beauty, order, and wisdom, and mathematics is a very powerful way of coming to understand and appreciate this reality.  Not only can mathematics be used to describe the order in the physical universe, but there is a beauty and order to the workings of mathematics itself.  Ironically, there often seems to be a fear that a rigorous understanding of the maths and sciences is threatened by an adherence to faith in a higher reason or Creator.  Much to the contrary, mathematics makes it quite evident that our minds and our universe operate in a reality characterized by a deep order and wisdom.  I am excited to teach mathematics at St. Thomas More Academy so that, by helping students to understand the order and beauty of mathematics, they may more readily perceive and appreciate the order and beauty in the world around them.

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B.A., Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Levels I & II certification; Virginia Catholic Education Association teacher certification 

I am excited to share my passion for the renewal of Catholic liberal arts education with the STMA community. Over the past 10 years, I have helped schools with all aspects of shifting to Catholic classical education, including guiding pastors, school boards, and principals, providing training for teachers, running workshops on writing instruction based on classical rhetoric, and aiding in curriculum integration and development.  Along with Diana Philpott, I am the co-developer of the Saint Patrick Curriculum for grades K-8, which STMA will be using, and I am eager to help train STMA’s teachers in preparation for the school’s second year.

After volunteering at STMA for a year, I have learned that the school lives the acronym JOY–Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last–in an especially beautiful and unique way. With these priorities straight, the joy and love of Our Lord is present tangibly in the school through the students and faculty. I can’t imagine a better place for me to get experience in the classroom while growing in my own faith and love for Our Lord.

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B.A., Psychology, Ave Maria University

I am choosing STMA because I want to form students in the richness and beauty of both the Catholic faith and the classical liberal arts. Students and faculty will encounter God in everything we do at STMA: academics, relationships, lunch, recess, and all aspects of the school community. I am excited to be a part of something far greater than myself, and have the privilege of giving young minds the tools to think well and love God in their ordinary lives.

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B.A., Music & Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame

I’m thrilled to be a part of an educational community that deeply understands the whole human person – heart, mind, body, and soul – and is committed to forming the saints of today. STMA’s classical curriculum fosters children’s innate curiosity and appreciation of the beautiful, which I believe is the most powerful way of coming to love the Truth and will inspire them to pursue Christ in every endeavor, even after their time here.

B.A., Political Science, University of Notre Dame

I think that helping STMA is a great way to put my talents to use for a wonderful school!

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Colonel, USAF, Retired
B.S. Engineering Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, USAF Academy; M.S. Metallurgical Engineering, University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign; M.Ed. Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment, University of Illinois-Chicago
 
G.K. Chesterton says:  “Now secular education means that everybody shall make a point of looking down at the pavement, lest by some fatal chance somebody should look up at the lamp.”  I am proud to be teaching a classical, Catholic school like St. Thomas More Academy because we are very interested in helping our students see the true reality of what they are learning in the light and grace of Him who is all Truth, Jesus Christ.

B.S., University of Notre Dame; Ph.D., Harvard University

I have served as a Catholic classical education consultant to over a dozen elementary schools. My contributions have included setting the vision, training teachers and principals, and advising on curricula in all subjects. Each piece of my seemingly eclectic educational background is now coming into play in my work in Catholic classical education, which shows that God has a plan. I am thrilled that God is involving me in passing on the Faith to the next generation in these ways. I am delighted that Saint Thomas More Academy has been founded in South Bend and grateful that my youngest child will be among the first class of students.

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B.A., Theology & Communications, Franciscan University of Steubenville

Children are the future of our Church and the world, and I believe a Catholic, classical education is the best education we can offer them. I am honored to be able to help the teachers at STMA form children in mind, body and soul.

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