NORTHFIELD — In a unanimous vote, the Board of Governors appointed Dr. Paul O’Reilly as the next president of Thomas Aquinas College, making him the first alumnus to hold the position in the school’s 50-year history.
O’Reilly will be the college’s fifth president, according to a Thomas Aquinas College press release. He will not formally take office until July 1, 2022, and for the next year will transition into his new role alongside current President Michael McLean, who intends to return to the classroom after stepping back from the role of president.
A 30-year member of the teaching faculty and the current vice president for advancement, O’Reilly first came to the college in 1980, shortly after his family fled to North America to escape the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
“Thomas Aquinas College taught me the importance of clear thinking, confident reasoning and commitment to truth,” O’Reilly said in the press release. “Life in the TAC community also showed me the importance of a structured and principled way of living.”
Although he expected to pursue a career in business, the college’s program of Catholic liberal education drew O’Reilly in a different direction, according to the release. Within one year of his graduation, O’Reilly married classmate Peggy Steichen and moved to Quebec, where he earned a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy at the Université Laval. He then taught for two years at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., before returning to Thomas Aquinas College as a member of the teaching faculty in 1989. From 1995 to 1999, he also served as assistant dean of students.
In 2011, McLean named O’Reilly vice president for development, a position he held until 2020, when he became vice president for advancement, the release continues. Among his accomplishments as vice president, O’Reilly helped to secure funding for three new buildings on the Santa Paula, Calif., campus: St. Gladys Hall, the St. Cecilia Lecture and Concert Hall, and the Pope St. John Paul II Athletic Center. He was also instrumental in obtaining the grant through which the college received its Northfield campus in 2017, and has since visited Northfield often to oversee buildings renovations and meet with faculty members and benefactors.
“Paul has played a very significant role in our founding,” Dr. Thomas Kaiser, dean of the New England campus, said in the release. “If it hadn’t been for his enthusiasm and confidence in our ability to find benefactors and attract students, I don’t think we would have made the effort to establish the second campus. … I am confident that, under his leadership, both campuses will continue to flourish.”
In addition to being an alumnus of the college, O’Reilly is a Thomas Aquinas College parent. According to the release, five of his 12 children are current students or alumni, including a senior on the Northfield campus and a sophomore in California.
“I intend to use my experience as an alumnus and a father of TAC students to ensure that the college will preserve its mission and the traditions that make it a place that gives rise to vocations, wholesome marriages and remarkable young people who will transform this world,” he said.