The University of St. Thomas announced a landmark gift for the arts.
The $20 million gift from John Monahan of Palm Springs, California, marks the most significant gift for arts education in the university’s 140-year history.
Monahan’s donation – also matching the largest known public gift to a university for the arts ever received in the state – will enhance arts programming and education at St. Thomas, and particularly across the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), which serves every undergraduate student at St. Thomas as the university’s liberal arts foundation. All students engage in fine arts and integrated humanities courses as part of the undergraduate core curriculum – an integrated set of courses designed to promote critical thinking and help students look at problems through multiple lenses.
The gift, which will be disbursed over multiple years, will expand visual exhibits, creative programming and artistic experiences across the university, especially in the departments of Art History, Emerging Media, Communication Studies, and Music, Film and Creative Enterprise. It will also be used to recruit and retain faculty who teach in the arts. And a portion of the gift will provide scholarships for undergraduate students pursuing degrees in art history, digital media arts, creative writing, film studies and music. With an emphasis on supporting students with financial need, these new resources will create even more access for students to study and experience the arts at Minnesota’s largest private university.
“This gift will have a powerful impact on future generations of St. Thomas students, and it will strengthen our ability to educate the whole person,” said University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer. “Through John Monahan’s generosity, we are expanding opportunities for our students to develop a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives as they engage the broader world through an appreciation for beauty and cultivation of their own creativity. We are profoundly grateful for this investment in our students, who will be empowered to advance the common good in innovative and inspired ways.”
This gift will have a powerful impact on future generations of St. Thomas students, and it will strengthen our ability to educate the whole person.”
Monahan, a former member of the Board of Advisors for the College of Arts and Sciences, graduated from St. Thomas with degrees in sociology and theology and has a master’s in public health from the Fielding School, part of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He spent nearly 30 years in the healthcare industry and, in retirement, supports a variety of artistic and social causes, including serving as a trustee of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Monahan’s legacy of giving has enhanced the academic and student experience throughout St. Thomas’ evolution to become a comprehensive national Catholic university. John P. Monahan Plaza, located at the heart of the lower quad, serves as a vibrant community gathering space for students, faculty and staff. More recently, his philanthropic support can be seen in the university’s newest and largest academic building, Schoenecker Center for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education, which houses the John P. Monahan Gallery and Portal Icosahedron, the striking Anthony James sculpture gifted by Monahan.
“We enrich ourselves through the arts, and the benefits accrue throughout our lives the more we spend time with them – whether it’s music, theater, art, art history or the written word,” Monahan said. “It is essential that we provide resources and opportunities for young people to cultivate their artistic spirit, which will be different for each individual. This gift reflects my commitment to the arts as a vital part of higher education, and I hope that people who are able to support the arts also think about arts education because this is where it all starts.”
We enrich ourselves through the arts, and the benefits accrue throughout our lives the more we spend time with them.”
Multiple donors are reinvigorating arts-related programming and infrastructure at St. Thomas. Notable examples in Schoenecker Center are new music performance and rehearsal spaces – the Gearen Stage and Sarah Rose Hall for Instrumental Rehearsal. Among the newly initiated programs is a student-led music label, the 480 Collective, which is producing its second album this fall. Faculty continue to increase the interdisciplinary work that connects the arts, the sciences and engineering in courses held in Schoenecker Center.
“Engagement in the arts is a critical part of a liberal arts education, yet it is the arts that often suffer when university budgets are lean,” said Bill Tolman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “John Monahan’s gift enables St. Thomas to buck that trend, and significantly enhance arts education at a time when many universities are cutting back. Strategic use of the funds to recruit and retain outstanding faculty in the arts and involve students in diverse artistic experiences will have a transformative impact on their lives, no matter what their major.”