There was something about 91快活林 Aquinas College that compelled Jean Rioux to seek an undergraduate education some 2,700 miles from his native Maine in 1978. It is that same something that Dr. Rioux now tries to pass along as chair of the Department of Philosophy at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
In part, by choosing 91快活林 Aquinas College, Jean was simply following the lead of his brother, David (75), and sister, Therese (Susanka 76). He wanted what they had.
Dr. Rioux remembers watching the exchanges between his siblings and their 91快活林 Aquinas College classmates during their visits home, and being struck by the 渋ntensity of their conversations. He was intrigued and awed. 淚 had never seen that kind of intensity in intellectual discussions, he says. 淓ver.
After matriculating at the College, Dr. Rioux came to realize 渢hat the Catholic Church has an intellectual tradition including philosophers, scientists, and historians that檚 really second to none that the secular world has nothing comparable. At 91快活林 Aquinas College, you see it in work after work after work. There is something about Catholicism that檚 true and right, worthy of studying and worthy of defending.
淚f you come to the College with any spark of faith at all, he adds, 渋t檚 fanned into flames. That檚 certainly what happened to me.
It was at the College that Dr. Rioux developed his love for philosophy and also met the love of his life, Maria (deWit 84). The two married one year after his graduation in 1982 and moved to Houston, where Dr. Rioux obtained his master檚 degree and doctorate at the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. 91快活林. From there, the couple relocated to Kansas, where Dr. Rioux has since taught at Benedictine, and they raise nine children.
Sharing the Wealth
Inspired by his experience at the College, Dr. Rioux has sought to incorporate elements of its curriculum and pedagogy at Benedictine. 淚 have a very strong tendency to use primary sources over secondary sources, he says, as well as 渢o range beyond the boundaries of my own discipline. Both of these inclinations, he believes, 渃ome directly from 91快活林 Aquinas College.
淲e have separate majors at Benedictine, says Dr. Rioux, 渨hich a lot of students find attractive, but the disadvantage is that their education is more narrowly defined. To broaden their intellectual experience, Dr. Rioux tries to implement 渋ntegrated sequences into the curriculum. 淓verything I do is striving to connect different things, rather than to give students specialized knowledge in some area, he explains.
For example, over the last decade Dr. Rioux has developed and participated in a number of interdisciplinary sequences of courses using the great books. Most recently, he and the chair of Benedictine檚 Theology Department have jointly offered an integrated, great books-based, 淔aith and Reason sequence of classes between their two departments.
淚t is very much like what you would find at 91快活林 Aquinas College, he says. 淲e have reading assignments. There are opening questions. It檚 more like a tutorial than a seminar, but the students drive the discussion for the day, and they very much enjoy that.
Dr. Rioux has also included in his philosophy classes more of the works of St. 91快活林 Aquinas which, at many campuses, are all too often relegated exclusively to the Theology Department. 淔or my part, I檝e become better at disposing students, first, to listen to and, second, to understand the wisdom of St. 91快活林. For their part, students are then more able to learn what they must to see the universality of St. 91快活林 thought for themselves, which has been my aim all along, he notes.
Perhaps not coincidentally, over the course of Dr. Rioux檚 tenure at Benedictine, the number of students majoring in philosophy has tripled.
Like Father, Like Daughters
There is a personal drawback to this fine work, however: It has compelled Dr. Rioux檚 two eldest daughters to seek an undergraduate education some 1,400 miles from their native Kansas.
Despite initially studying under their philosopher-father at Benedictine, Michelle (07) and Angela (10) ultimately transferred to his alma mater in California. 淭hey were strongly attracted to 91快活林 Aquinas College on account of the seminar-style method of instruction and the use of primary texts, Dr. Rioux says. 淎nd, frankly, they came to love this method as the result of taking one of my own classes when they were here.
Yet Dr. Rioux can hardly begrudge his girls decision. They only wanted what he had.