Matthew Walz, Ph.D., was inaugurated as the fourth president of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts on Friday, September 11, 2026. The Most Reverend Peter Anthony Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, was present to celebrate Mass, bless the new president, and witness the College faculty make the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity.
Board Chairman Michael C. Gilleran, Esq. commented, “Dr. Matthew Walz has already lived and worked among us at Thomas More College for some time as the St. John Henry Newman Visiting Chair in Catholic Studies. He has a record of devotion to the Catholic faith, wide scholarship, and commitment to the Catholic ‘Newman Guide’ form of education. His accession to the presidency of Thomas More is a natural progression for him and the College.”
In his Inaugural Address, President Walz reflected on the example of the College’s patron, St. Thomas More, embodied especially in More’s education of his own children. President Walz also affirmed his dedication to the College’s essential mission and ethos, saying, “Against the currents of our time, we will stand steadfast in our commitment to an integrated Catholic liberal education on a truly personalized scale. We will stand steadfast in our commitment to true enlargement of the mind and the gentle cultivation of the heart. And we will stand steadfast in our commitment to truth, truth in all its Catholicity, all its universality, the truth in all that it demands of us as human beings and as Christian believers.”
President Walz graduated from Christendom College before earning his doctoral degree at the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.) and, more recently, an M.B.A. at the University of Dallas. He specializes in medieval and ancient philosophy as well as philosophical anthropology. Before accepting the presidency of Thomas More College, President Walz was an Associate Professor at the University of Dallas and the Director of Intellectual Formation at Holy Trinity Seminary (Irving, TX). He also served as the College’s St. John Henry Newman Visiting Chair in Catholic Studies during the 2025–2026 academic year.
President Walz was unanimously elected by the Board of Trustees to succeed William E. Fahey, Ph.D., who served as president of the College for seventeen years. Dr. Fahey will remain an active member of the College’s leadership and academic community. The Board of Trustees has appointed him Chancellor of the College with a mandate to represent the College in scholarship and to administer mission-aligned programs.
The Thomas More College community looks forward to pursuing the College’s mission to “provide a solid education in the liberal arts, a Catholic education for students of all faiths, united in the quest for what is true, good, and beautiful” with President Walz at the helm.
