“Bending Back to Common Experience”
Dr. Paul J. O’Reilly (’84) is the fifth president of Thomas Aquinas College and the first alumnus to hold that position in the school’s 53-year history. A 35-year member of the teaching faculty, Dr. O’Reilly came to the College in 1980, shortly after his family fled to North America to escape the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Within one year of his graduation from the College in 1984, Dr. O’Reilly married classmate Peggy (Steichen ’84) and moved to Quebec, where he earned master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy at the Université Laval. He then taught for two years at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, before returning to Thomas Aquinas College as a member of the teaching faculty in 1989.
Dr. O’Reilly delivered these remarks at President Kyle Washut’s Inauguration Celebration on Thursday, September 26th, 2024.