CV NEWS FEED // The Diocese of Springfield, Illinois has announced the launch of San Damiano College for the Trades, a Catholic associate’s degree program where students will study the Great Books while mastering their chosen trade.
The unique three-year program plans to welcome its first class in the fall of 2025, pending approval to operate from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). If all goes according to plan, the College will be located on the grounds of two former Catholic schools, Springfield Junior College and St James Trade School.
According to local reports, the College is “the brainchild of Bishop Thomas Paprocki,” who has been eager to found a Catholic associate’s degree program in the state since Ursuline Springfield College and Benedictine University closed.
The school has hired Kent Lasnoski, formerly of Wyoming Catholic College, as its first president.
Lasnoski stated in the report that an education “ought to teach people things that everybody everywhere ought to know.”
“The best way to do that is to learn from the greatest teachers of all time,” he argued: “and those are the ones who have expressed and thought the greatest things and said them in the most beautiful and thoughtful and profound ways.”
According to its website, financial stability and affordability are core tenets for the College, which intends to avoid federal funding and keep its students out of debt by capping the annual cost of tuition at $25,000.
Students at the university will not only receive an associate’s degree in liberal arts, but will also finish the program with up to 400 hours of technical instruction, and up to 2000 hours of on-the-job training in their chosen trade.
Lasnoski noted that the College will initially only be open to men, but will likely also admit women after the first five years or so. He speculated the possibility of future curriculum “that may have broader appeal among female students,” might include nursing assistantship, art restoration, and ecclesial seamstress programs.
The school’s motto is “Rebuild My Church.”
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