CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. (April 4, 2023) — Academic innovation is a pillar of Thomas More’s Strategic Plan: Lighting the Way, and the University strives to provide the resources necessary to promote excellence in learning for students. The relevance of several initiatives stemming from this goal is easy to see with three projects being awarded funding by external grant sources which will help to facilitate student success. “The impact of work and the education that our students receive here at Thomas More will certainly shape who they are, their ability to navigate the world beyond our University, and the communities that they will work and live in,” says Joseph L. Chillo, LP.D., president of Thomas More University. “Our faculty and staff have been intentional in planning for the future so that Thomas More University stays at the forefront of academic innovation.”

William Wetzel, Ph.D., professor and chair of the chemistry department, recently received a $10,000 grant from the Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grants Program. This program, established in 1974, promotes excellence in science education at the undergraduate level by providing grants to small colleges and universities for the purchase of scientific equipment and course materials. Ensuring Thomas More students have the most innovative tools to use in their courses, funds from this grant will be used to purchase a handheld x-ray fluorescence spectrometer, an instrument capable of determining the identity and levels of elements present in various solids. “The department of chemistry is grateful for support from the Pittsburgh Conference and looks forward to having students gain experience with this equipment in both introductory and upper-level labs this coming year,” says Wetzel.

Shannon Galbraith-Kent, Ph.D., professor and chairperson, department of biological sciences, was awarded a $2,500 grant from the Northern Kentucky Urban and Community Forestry Council. The grant will finance Phase I of a project on campus as part of the William S. Bryant Arboretum. In this first phase, an engaging and informational display plaque will be designed and posted to describe the importance of urban and suburban trees and campus habitat. This will also complement the purchase of several identification tags for selected trees. Thomas More students will be involved in this and other phases of the project, including an interactive app, which aims to engage people of all ages by explaining the natural environment on campus.

The University’s music program also receives grant funding, being included as a primary collaborative partner with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra on a $50,000 award from the Haile Foundation. This award comes outside of the Haile Foundation’s normal grant cycle and is a result of the success of the “Healing & Understanding: We Are One” festival the two organizations co-hosted in October 2022. That festival included ten events over five days in six unique venues with nearly 15 collaborative artistic partners and organizations featuring themes of equity highlighted through the Black American experience. The most recent $50,000 award will reside, per organizational and award guidelines, with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, however it will be directly utilized for musical partnership in fall 2023. The award guidelines are specifically for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) community programming. It will be used for a three-day festival in October 2023, including five events on conversations of asylum, sanctuary, and immigration. A special focus will be placed on these conversations and musical presentations through the lens of the Latino community. Partnerships with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Esperanza, Vidas Unidas, Walk with Amal, and more are planned. “I am hopeful that, in collaboration with the City of Cincinnati, our festival may bring Walk with Amal to the region for a residency,” says Daniel Parsley, DMA, assistant professor of music in the department of creative media.

For more information about Thomas More University, visit www.thomasmore.edu.

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About Thomas More University
For 100 years, Thomas More has created a university for the student who wants to Be More, Do More, Seek More, Win More, Achieve More, and Create More. Since its founding in 1921, Thomas More has provided a mission-driven, liberal arts education that is based in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Students learn to harness the power of human reason to solve problems and discover truth, which allows them to begin the journey to become the person they were created to be. Entering into the second century, it’s time for More. Serving more than 2,000 students, Thomas More aspires to be the premier Catholic university in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region, build upon its excellent return on investment (ranked #1 among private universities/colleges in Kentucky by MSN Money in 2021 and ranked #2 for long term gain in Kentucky by a 2022 Georgetown University study) and share with this generation the transformative power of the Thomas More experience. To find out more, visit thomasmore.edu.

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