Scholarship News from DSPT

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Just in time for the Christmas holidays and graduate application season, the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology in Berkeley, CA has re-vamped its scholarship program, targeted at aspiring scholars. From the Office of Admissions and Recruitment:

We are excited to announce that DSPT is launching a new scholarship program for the fall of 2021. We are seeking exceptional MA degree candidates who want to join our community of scholars in Berkeley and who are passionate about advancing the Catholic tradition. We desire students who are want to rigorously engage philosophy and theology and prepare for leadership in the academy and the Church.

For “outstanding” candidates, the St. Albert the Great Scholarship and Assistantship is available:

It grants a full-tuition scholarship, free rent at our student housing building, and an academic stipend for the duration of the MA program. It provides valuable academic training opportunities that align with the goals of the student's MA program.

For other qualified candidates, the St. Catherine of Siena Scholarship is available, which “grants a full-tuition scholarship and priority placement for residence at our student housing building”. Although cost of of living is not included in this award, the website notes that student work positions are available in order to offset some of the additional costs of full-time study. (and, of course, DSPT participates in the Federal Student Loan program)

This is great news for the Thomistic community, since the last number of years have seen a decline in the number of full-ride scholarships available in philosophy and theology programs. Although DSPT does not offer a terminal degree, they not only offer an MA of Philosophy and an MA of Theology, but they uniquely offer a concurrent program in both Philosophy and Theology, which in a three-year period awards two degrees while in a truly Thomistic fashion exploring the mutual relationship between the Queen of the Sciences and her Handmaid.

DSPT graduates are well-placed for their continued career paths, with some 90% of students continuing on to doctoral programs at Marquette University, Catholic University of America, Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), Duke University, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Rome), St. Louis University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Fribourg (Switzerland), University of Notre Dame, and Yale University, to name a few. Others go on to work as school teachers or in pastoral ministry, and the Berkeley location provides a number of opportunities for students to engage in work experience prior to graduation as well as job placement after completion of studies.

As a member school of the Graduate Theological Union, DSPT students are availed of the many resources offered by the GTU, including access to “the largest theological library in the West, with more than 700,000 items in its collection”. Thomists will be happy to discover that one need not look far to find the works of Aquinas on full display in prominent locations. Additionally, students have access to the UC Berkeley library, and are able to cross-enroll in courses offered by other member schools of the GTU and at UC Berkeley.

The new scholarship program is one of several innovative programs coming out of DSPT; as the Center of Studies for the Western Dominican Province it also recently announced a new initiative, PHILOI International, which will open up its student-brother formation to Dominicans from around the world. Thus, the atmosphere on campus is distinctively a Dominican one, where religious and lay students mutually enrich each other’s learning through the classroom dialectic.

For those who are applying for grad school or advising students who are in the throes of applications, consider sending one of those applications in the direction of Berkeley — it is an exciting time to join the community of scholars at DSPT!

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Christopher Owens

Christopher D. Owens is Chief of Staff for the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He is also vice-president of the St. Albert the Great Center for Scholastic Studies, which for ten years has hosted an annual summer theology program in Norcia, Italy. Christopher is enrolled at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas ("the Angelicum”), where he has completed residency for his license and doctoral studies. Christopher completed his Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) at the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria. Originally from North Carolina, Christopher previously taught Moral Theology and Catholic Social Teaching for St. John’s University’s Rome campus, and also worked at the Maryvale Higher Institute for Religious Sciences in Birmingham, England. Additionally, he has spent a number of years in pastoral ministry, including youth mission work in Scotland, university chaplaincy work in England, a parish director of religious education, and more recently as a diocesan director of faith formation. In his free time, he likes to do a bit of videography/photography and brew beer.