Providence, RI -- College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. has appointed Rev. Thomas D. McGonigle, O.P., associate professor of history and special lecturer in theology, as the first director of the College's new Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies.  Preliminary renovation work on the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies, which will be located in the former Aquinas Chapel, is under way. Discussion, planning, and fundraising for the center began during the previous administration of College President Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P.

Father McGonigle said the center will be "an educational ministry of service to the College community within the Office of Mission and Ministry that seeks to maintain, enhance, and promote the mission of the College as a Catholic and Dominican institution." He will report to the office's vice president, Rev. Joseph J. Guido, O.P.

"The center," said Father McGonigle, "will begin with a year of listening and conversation in which we will seek to assess and evaluate the ways in which it can serve as a place of grace and life-giving dialogue about the Catholic and Dominican traditions.  It is a year of strategic planning about mission within the broader Strategic Plan of the College."

As director, Father McGonigle will join Father Guido, Rev. Kevin D. Robb, O.P., associate vice president for mission and ministry, and the staff of the Office of the Chaplain/Campus Ministry in listening to input from the College community on mission and ministry at PC. Their attention will be focused on responses related to "what we as a Catholic and Dominican liberal arts college are doing well, what we need to do better, and what kind of educational support the center can provide in developing our shared mission as members of the Providence College community," he said.

Father Robb is overseeing the renovation of the new center, working closely with Father Guido, Father McGonigle, and Mark Rapoza, director of capital projects and facility planning. Tentative plans call for the project to be completed by the beginning of the spring semester in 2006. Plans for the layout of the center are being finalized.

Father McGonigle emphasized that "in designing the layout of the center, the Office of Mission and Ministry has sought to preserve the integrity of the space and visually respect the special role that Aquinas Chapel has played in the lives of Providence College students over the years, while also opening a new chapter of ministry and service to the College community. We hope to create an open and welcoming space for study, lectures, and exhibitions in which we can explore together as administration, faculty, staff, and students the relevance of the Catholic and Dominican traditions for our own times."

Fundraising for the center is being led by the Office of Institutional Advancement. A goal of $3 million has been set for the center's renovation, for initial programming, and for endowment for future operations. The Class of 1955, spurred by a pledge of $1.5 million from Chester T. "Chet" Nuttall '55, is attempting to raise $2 million toward the goal.

Father McGonigle has served the College as a faculty member and administrator for nearly 15 years. He was vice president for academic administration from 1993-96.

Referring to his 44 years as a Dominican and to his many years of teaching and administration work at PC and elsewhere, he said, "It is a great joy for me to be asked to be director of the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies. It gives me the opportunity not only to share with others what I have learned in my own years of studying and teaching history, theology, and art-and their relationship to the Catholic and Dominican traditions-but also to gain new insights from dialogue with other members of the College community."

He said that programming plans for the spring semester include a spirituality conference and a lecture in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas.

"Future planning," he added, "will include opportunities for alumni and the broader community to share in our dialogue about the many issues that face our world and how the themes of the mercy of God, transformative grace, and abiding hope-which are at the heart of the Catholic and Dominican traditions-may enlighten that dialogue."  

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