(SPARKILL, NY - July 24, 2006) -- Kevin P. Duignan of Stormville (NY) was appointed to Vice President of Institutional Advancement at St. Thomas Aquinas College effective July 1, announced Dr. Margaret M. Fitzpatrick, S.C., President at the College.
A 1975 graduate of St. Thomas, and a recent graduate of the College's MBA program, Duignan joined the College in 1997 as Director of Development and Alumni Affairs. As director, he was a member of the team that successfully completed the College's three million dollar "Building on Excellence Campaign 2002," a fundraising endeavor that helped finance the construction of Costello Hall. In 2002, Duignan was promoted to Executive Director of Development and Alumni Affairs.
Mr. Duignan helped to establish an institutional advancement program that has seen record giving levels to the College's annual fund and to the annual benefit golf tournament. He established the annual Alumni Hall of Fame and Reunion Dinner in 1998. Each year the dinner honors outstanding alumni who have distinguished themselves in their careers and in service to society. The dinner regularly hosts over 300 alumni and friends in the month of January and has inducted alumni into the Hall of Fame.

Prior to joining St. Thomas Aquinas College, Mr. Duignan was Director of Major Gift Development and Director of Administrative Services at the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in New York. He also served as a systems manager with General Foods Corp., and was supervisor of educational and financial systems services for the Archdiocese of New York.
"Kevin Duignan has been a great asset to the College's fund raising endeavors. He has led the charge on several initiatives and has been a consummate professional in his approach to fundraising. We are confident in our ability to continually increase our revenue stream from sources other than tuition and build on our already strong institutional reputation with Mr. Duignan at the helm of our Advancement Team," Dr. Fitzpatrick said.
The Institutional Advancement team coordinates all external affairs, fund raising, community relations, alumni affairs, governmental relations, and communications, for the 2,400 student liberal arts institution.

MORE ABOUT ST. THOMAS
St. Thomas has expanded its offerings to include: a Master of Science in Education, a Post Masters Certificate program in Education, a Master of Science in Teaching, a Master of Business Administration program, a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Science in Education, and an Associate of Arts and an Associate of Science degree, the latter two offered at the West Point Military Academy. In addition, St. Thomas is the host campus for a Master of Science in Social Work program offered by New York University.

The College's 2,400 full and part time students major in one of 31 programs offered in five division areas: The Humanities; Business Administration; Social Sciences; Natural Sciences & Mathematics; and Teacher Education or are enrolled if one of our graduate programs. The College offers a full scholarship Honors Program which provides students with a Summer Study experience at Oxford University in England. In addition, there are several study abroad opportunities and strategic alliances designed to offer expanded opportunities for students. For example, students can major in mathematics at St. Thomas for three years and then enter an engineering program at either George Washington University or Manhattan College as part of a dual degree program.

St. Thomas offers study abroad opportunities in Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Nova Scotia, Brazil and Japan. The College currently includes 21 buildings, the most recent one an additional residence hall. It's most recent academic building project is Costello Hall, an Art, Sciences & Technology Building. This state-of-the-art facility includes new science labs, an art gallery and two multi-media theatres along with additional technology classrooms.