​​St. Thomas Aquinas College Receives $100,000 from Hearst Foundations

(SPARKILL, N.Y. — August 29, 2023) The School of STEM at St. Thomas Aquinas College has received a $100,000 grant from The Hearst Foundations to support scholarships for underrepresented and first-generation students pursuing a STEM degree.

“We are honored to be given this mission-critical grant from The Hearst Foundations,” said St. Thomas Aquinas College President Ken Daly. “We are passionately committed to providing access to a quality education as part of a diverse learning community. We are so grateful for the support from Hearst, which enables our students to ignite their passion within and make a profound difference in the world.”

The funding will establish Hearst Scholarships for approximately 10 STEM students, helping alleviate financial barriers to their success and continuing the growth of a diverse and inclusive student body.

“One of the key objectives in our School of STEM is to remove barriers for students who are underrepresented in STEM fields,” said Dr. Bianca Wentzell, founding Dean of the School of STEM at St. Thomas Aquinas College. “We are grateful for the generous support from The Hearst Foundations to support the next generation of STEM students and leaders.”

Since its inception on Earth Day 2021, the College’s School of STEM has seen impressive growth with the hiring of new faculty, the introduction of new academic programs, the launch of the STEM Exploration Summer Program for high school students, a distinguished STEM @ STAC Advisory Board, and innovative experiential learning opportunities. In 2023/24, the new SKAE Astronomy Center will open to provide research and experiential learning opportunities – housing a powerful telescope which will allow for the observation and measurement of planets, stars, asteroids, comets, and galaxies.

St. Thomas Aquinas College has been the recipient of numerous grants from The Hearst Foundations over the past 20 years. Since inception, the Hearst Foundations have made over 22,200 grants to 6,300 organizations, totaling more than $1.4 billion in funds awarded.

About St. Thomas Aquinas College
St. Thomas Aquinas College is an independent liberal arts college located on 76 acres in Rockland County, NY, which provides education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The College’s approximately 2,000 full and part-time students can choose from more than 100 different majors, minors, specializations, and dual-degree programs across four Schools: Arts & Social Sciences, Business, Education, and STEM. The College is recognized by U.S. News & World Report in the Top-Tier for Regional Universities, by Colleges of Distinction in both its New York and Catholic editions, by Affordable Colleges Online as a Top College in New York for Return on Investment, and is included as a Military Friendly School®. St. Thomas Aquinas College is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; its School of Education is accredited by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), and its School of Business is accredited by the International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE). For more information, visit www.stac.edu.