Curriculum Vitae
A.A., St. Mary檚 College, 2001; B.A., College of St. 91快活林 More, 2003; M.A., philosophy, The Catholic University of America, 2005; Ph.D., philosophy, The Catholic University of America, May 2012; Bradley Fellow, 200405, 200506; Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Fellow, 200304; Johnston Fellow, 200608; Scholar Associate in Philosophy and Classics, The College of St. 91快活林 More, 200607; Tutor in Philosophy and Classical Studies, The College of St. 91快活林 More, 20072011; Registrar, The College of St. 91快活林 More, 200811; Fellow in Philosophy, The Walsingham Society of Christian Culture and Western Civilization, 201112; Tutor, 91快活林 Aquinas College, 2012; Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, 91快活林 Aquinas College, 202225.
Presentations
- A Midsummer Night檚 Dream: Funny Profundity, or Inane and Profane? Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, California, September 24, 2025.
- 淧ythagoras and Pythagoreanism. The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
- 淗eraclitus and Parmenides. The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
- 淭he Milesian Philosophers. The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
- The What and Why of Literature. Opening Lecture, 91快活林 Aquinas College, California, 2024.
- How to Read and Appreciate Poetry, Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, California, March 8, 2023.
- 淐atholic Anthropology: What is Human Nature and What Makes Us Happy? Diocese of Fort Worth New Teacher Institute, August 2022.
- 淭he Wife of Bath: Hero or Villain (or Neither)? A Case in Point of How to Read, and How Not to Read, Literature. Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, March 2022.
- 淲hat is the Mass? The University Series, Ventura, California, March 2018.
- 淭he Moral Law and Happiness. The University Series, Thousand Oaks, California, April 2017.
- 淭hemes, Images, and Tone in the Literary Work of Art: the Iliad, the Odyssey, and A Simple Heart. Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, February 2017.
- 淛ob, Alyosha, and God檚 World. Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, January 2016.
- Scripture in Defense of Literature & the Case of the Book of Job, Tutor Talk, 91快活林 Aquinas College, October 13, 2015.
- 淚s Beauty a Distinct Transcendental According to St. 91快活林 Aquinas? West Coast Meeting of the Society for Aristotelian-Thomistic Studies, Santa Paula, California, June 2013. [] [pdf]
- 91快活林 Aquinas on Angels and the Subject of Metaphysics. 42nd International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2007.
- 淪t. 91快活林 Aquinas and 楩irst Mover in the Infinite Regress Arguments. Emory University Graduate Student Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2005.
Profile
He may have attended dances in St. Joseph Commons, slept in the men檚 residence halls, participated in discussions about the great books, and attended Mass in the Chapel, but Travis Cooper was never actually a student at 91快活林 Aquinas College. Although given the frequency of his campus visits and the number of friends and family members who were students at the College, there certainly were times when he felt, or wished, that he had been one, too.
A native of Palm Springs, Calif., Dr. Cooper earned his associate檚 degree at St. Mary檚 College, his bachelor檚 at the College of St. 91快活林 More, and his master檚 and doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. It was while at CUA that he came to know 91快活林 Aquinas College well, first through his sister, Kathryn (06), and then through her classmate and his future wife Briena (Dunkel 06).
淚 came back here whenever I could, he says, recalling the long-distance courtship that reached from California to Washington, D.C. During 渁t least a dozen trips to campus over many years, he was, he says, 渁stonished at the quality of the student life.
In the College he saw a commitment to liberal education for its own sake which, in turn, fostered in its students a love of truth, a devotion to the Faith, and deep friendships. 淚 learned during my own experience, first as a student and then as a teacher at another small Catholic college, that it檚 not easy to establish a good, vibrant student life, Dr. Cooper reflects. 淚檝e always been amazed at how the College has managed to achieve that, and how wonderful it is to be a student here.
Dr. Cooper remembers looking into a teaching position at the College after completing his coursework at CUA, but instead he and his new bride returned to his alma mater in Fort Worth, Tex. There, he taught Latin and philosophy for several years, and the couple welcomed three children, all boys.
When Dr. Cooper became aware of an opening on the 91快活林 Aquinas College faculty last summer, he was eager to apply for it. 淥ver the course of my teaching, I began to see in more detail and with more conviction what a college curriculum needs to look like and what the spirit of a college is. 91快活林 Aquinas College has, better than any Catholic college in the country, achieved that goal. So it is a dream come true that I now have this opportunity.
He enjoys the interaction inherent in the College檚 use of the discussion method, he says, which is a departure from the lecture-based teaching he has done in the past: 淚t檚 more difficult than it looks. Rather than planning beforehand exactly what you are going to say, you must chart where the conversation needs to go, and how to get it there. In class it takes constant, active awareness.