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| 1950 |
• Dominican priests and lay faculty increase. |
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To hear alumni reminisce about faculty members Lew Clingman, Sr. Noella, Sr. Bernetta, and George LaMountain, click here. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College. |
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| • Aquinas College theater presents "City of Kings," a drama about St. Martin de Porres. |
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| • Fr. Henry Nauer, professor of education and originator of The Circle, dies. |
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| 1953 |
| • Addition of Business Administration major. |
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• A program is announced to expand the Robinson Road campus. The architectural firm of Bohlen and Son of Indianapolis designs a three-storey building that becomes the Administration Building. |
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| Aquinas' baseball tradition begins to gather steam.
Here the 1954 team poses for a yearbook photo. |
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| 1954 |
• Marian Hall, the women students' residence on the downtown campus, is closed. |
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| • Center Lloyd Brown leads the Tommies in an upset basketball victory over the Calvin Knights. |
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Click here to listen to alumni from the class of 1956 recall this event. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College. |
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| In 1954, these Alpha Gamma Pi bobbie-soxers brush up their music under Shakespeare's watchful eye. Alpha Gamma Pi was the college music club. |
These rambunctious students gather in the crowded Commons in 1954. The commons was located in the basement of Holmdene. The crowded room shows that Aquinas was growing out of its old location in Holmdene and was ready for its expansion into the Administration Building in 1955. |
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| 1955 |
• Completion of Administration Building (now known as Academic Building ). The new building houses offices for college administrators, staff and faculty. In addition, it contains classrooms, the library, chapel, bookstore and cafeteria. Restrooms in those years were strictly segregated: priests, sisters, lay male and female faculty, and male and female students all had their own facilities on various floors. |
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Click here to listen to alumni from the 1950's reminisce about the opening of the new building. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College. |
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| • Holmdene becomes a residence for Dominican sisters, with a chapel in the former library (now the Boardroom) where Msgr. Bukowski says daily Mass at 6:30 a.m. for the sisters. |
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The annual Marian Conference is a tradition by 1954 when this photo of a rosary procession was taken outside Holmdene. Aquinas' Catholic and Dominican heritage is celebrated in many ways. |
In 1955, collegiate basketball had yet to be introduced to the slam dunk. Here a Tommy gets airborne without the help of Air Jordans. |
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| In 1956, television was still a fairly new invention. Here a student watches the tube in the College's audio-visual room. The college was also home to a radio station, WXTO, owned by the Catholic diocese of Grand Rapids and run by Father Michael Beahan. |
A statue of Thomas Aquinas is admired by Father Thomas Aquinas Hennessey, O.P., one of many Dominican priests who served Aquinas College. The statue, later moved outside, was vandalized by unknown miscreants and eventually replaced in 1990 with a statue carved by Sr. Phyllis Mrozinski, O.P. |
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| 1956 |
• A statue of Thomas Aquinas is commissioned and paid for by the classes of 1955-58 and unveiled in March, 1956, in the lobby of the Administration Building. |
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• In September, Siena Hall, a residence for first-year women, is opened at 1307 Robinson Road, with Ms. Gertrude Horgan as head resident. |
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Members of Lambda Iota Tau, the national literary honors society. |
Students in Father Hennessey's theology class pay strict attention. This photo reminds us that in the 1950's going to college was a formal affair. Note the men in sports coats, the women in skirts, and Father Hennessey in his Dominican habit, everyday wear in 1956.
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| • October, the first Gala Weekend is held, with a Friday night dance, a Saturday carnival and a Sunday dinner, netting $15,000. |
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Click here to listen to Joe Murphy and alumni from the 1950s reminisce about the first Gala Weekend. This audio clip is from "Historically Speaking," an oral history of Aquinas College. |
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| Aquinas students admire the statue of Our Lady of Fatima as preparations get underway for the 1956 Marian Congress. |
In 1956, as in all years, students like to sit in the back of the room. Here "Doc" John Poje and Gene Smith meet with members of the Science Club. |
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Officers of the Aquinas College Science Club meet with "Doc" Poje and Mr. Eugene Smith. |
Members of The Circle conduct a lively interview for "KAC-TV," using cutting edge technology. |
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| 1957 |
• Aquinas College theater presents Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." |
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| The Aquinas College book store, overseen by student Carolyn Donovan and Sr. Helen Louse Brogger, O.P., was located in AB 11 in 1957. |
Students form a conga line at this 1957 Gala Weekend dance. |
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| • Athletic director Joseph Baker dies. |
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| The crowning of Mary as Queen of May was annual tradition of the Aquinas College Marian Congress. Here the 1957 May Queen and her court place the coronet of flowers on the head of Mary at the Fatima shrine. |
Waking up a bit fuzzy-headed on the morning after, this 1957 undergraduate needs to look up to the sign posts that mark the quaintly named "streets" of the college campus. He seems to be at the intersection of Elderberry Lane and (now-named) Wege Drive. |
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| These two students are caught "meditating" in 1957 on Aquinas' beautifully wooded campus. |
In 1957, this Willys truck with no back window was the Aquinas vehicle of choice for grounds and maintenance patrol. |
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| Monsignor Arthur Bukowski who guided Aquinas College through the 1950s and 1960s. "Buke" was famous for managing all aspects of campus life, including going around turning out the lights in empty classrooms to save on utility bills. |
A choir of Dominican sisters performs. |
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| 1958 |
• Sr. Noella Byrne, history professor, dies. |
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• A property at 1309 Lake Dr. SE is purchased by the college to serve as Lourdes Hall, another residence for women students. |
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| • Mr. Peter Wege is awarded an honorary Ll.D. from Aquinas College. |
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Sr. Mildred Hawkins, O.P., Academic Dean, 1949 to 1963. |
Sophomores pore over texts in the Aquinas College library. |
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| 1959 |
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This 1959 co-ed discusses controlling metaphors with Sr. Marybride Ryan, O.P. |
Two co-eds walk through the winter wonderland of Aquinas' campus in 1959. |
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• January: A 12-year, $8 million drive is launched to expand the physical plant, the faculty and the student aid program under the direction of Eugene Kennedy and Peter Wege, who took a year's leave from Steelcase Corporation to act as a business consultant. |
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| • September 18. Ground is broken for the new science building. |
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Monsignor Bukowski works with engineers and sisters to survey the site for the construction of Albertus Hall, 1959. |
Ground is broken for new Albertus Hall, Sept. 18, 1959. Wielding the shovel is alumni association president Richard Loughrin '42. He is joined by Mother M. Euphrasia of the Board of Trustees, Mother M. Victor, Prioress General of the Grand Rapids Dominicans, Sr. M. Mildred, Peter Wege and members of the Knights of Columbus. |
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