By Cassandra Taylor, Publications Assistant
Thomas More College’s liberal arts curriculum offers multiple opportunities for students to pursue specific academic interests. Chief among these is the writing and defense of a Senior Thesis on a topic of the student’s choice. “Much of the program at Thomas More is common and required,” remarked Dean Walter J. Thompson. “The Senior Thesis provides students with an opportunity to bring to bear the fruits of their common studies on a subject of particular interest.”
The Class of 2023 defended their theses on May 4–5. The defenses, challenging at times, place TMC Seniors in a position that most American academics don’t see unless they defend a master’s or doctoral thesis; they are a testament to the maturity gained through four years of spiritual and intellectual formation at the College. “I consider myself privileged to be in the room when a young person defends a position in conversation with a panel of three faculty members,” said Dr. Fred Fraser. “Although positions may vary, whether theological, literary, political, or otherwise, I love being present when a student rises to the challenge of giving a succinct presentation of his or her position, and engages in an intensive question-and-answer session.”
The thesis defense is the climactic moment of a student’s Senior Thesis and is the culmination of a year’s worth of discussion, drafting, and revising. “Perhaps one of the most difficult moments of the Senior Thesis process is receiving back your draft, and then trying to digest and assimilate the comments and suggestions of multiple faculty members,” commented Dr. Amy Fahey. “I was so impressed this year by the seriousness with which the Seniors undertook the process of revision: reconsidering some assertions, defending others, clarifying, and strengthening their arguments—the effort was evident in the final draft and subsequent defense.
“I was privileged to be involved in a wide range of theses, from the significance of home in the novels of Willa Cather, to the evaluation of the writings of Jack Kerouac, the role of grace in the life and writings of St. Catherine of Siena, the relationship between fairy tales and metaphysics, and the relationship between man and machine in modern science fiction,” Dr. Amy Fahey continued, remarking on the broad range of topics covered by the Class of 2023 (the full list of titles can be found below). “What struck me about these theses is that, despite the diverse topics, all operated on three distinct but interconnected levels. They all spoke to concerns perennial to the human condition. They all addressed issues of contemporary significance, even urgency (the role of artificial intelligence, for instance, or the necessity of forming children’s imaginations properly). Finally—and perhaps most significantly, given the disdain for and rejection of the past actively encouraged at most colleges and universities today—they all expressed the student’s love of their particular subject. It is this sympathy, combined with sound critical judgment, that makes for a truly valuable contribution to our knowledge and understanding.”
Class 2023 Senior Thesis Titles
Judson Bonneville
“Baseball: America’s Paradoxical Sport”
Annika DeMaster
“Take and Eat: An Exploration of Eating as a Spiritual Act”
Rosanna Dussault
“Laboris Dignitatem: A Consideration of the Meaning of Work in Light of Creation”
Thomas Greninger
“The Novus Ordo in Context: The Reform of the Roman Missal from a Historical Perspective”
Nicholas Hannon
“Visions of Kerouac: On Spontaneous Prose”
Paul Harty
“The Fall of Adam and Eve in Relation to Our Creation and Re-Creation in Christ and Mary”
Casey Jackson
“Padre Serra, Missionary of Truth: An Exemplar of the Christian Spiritual Conquest”
Monica Kopeck
“Willa Cather’s Insight into the Simple Life”
Sophie Kozinski
“The Soul’s Union with God as Understood Through the Analogy of Erotic Love and Shame as an Obstacle to this Union”
Andrew Larivee
“Creative Destruction in the American Economy”
Benedict Lillis
“Liberal Education and the Regime: An Inquiry into the Political Value of Wisdom”
Marie-Bernarde Lloyd
“The Life of the Living: Communion in the Mystical Body of Christ”
Seamus Othot
“Man Amidst Machines: Science Fiction’s Consideration of Man in Relation to Advanced Technology”
Grace Richert
“Suffering as a Way of Love: The Meaning Bestowed on Human Suffering by Christ’s Suffering and Death on the Cross”
Patrick Shea
“Existentia Primus Actus Est, Et Quod Sequitur”
Danielle Summers
“‘Unless you become like little children’: Fairy Tales and Metaphysics”
Michael Swiatek
“Saint Augustine’s Confessions: The Conversion of Everyman”
Adam Swift
“Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, and the Russian Idea in the Modern Age”
Christopher Walters
“De Harmonia: Music and Liberal Education”
Benjamin Wassell
“The Natural Indissolubility of Marriage: A Defense of the Good of Marriage Against Liberal Anthropology”
Andrew Watts
“A Catholic Understanding of the Relation of the State to Family Property and Inheritance”
Madeline Weis
“What It Means to Live a Supernatural Life”
Jonathan Wright
“Sense and Sensibility: A Preliminary Account of Truth via Aristotle’s Theory of Perception”
For further reading:
Dr. Robert Royal Appointed St. John Henry Newman Visiting Chair in Catholic Studies
