Dominican Father Mark Wedig serves as the 10th President of Aquinas Institute of Theology. Fr. Mark is a member of the Province of St. Martin de Porres (Southern USA). A seasoned academic administrator, he comes to Aquinas Institute from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, where he served as Chair of the Department of Theology and Philosophy for nineteen years. In addition Fr. Mark served as professor of theology and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.
Fr. Mark holds the PhD in Liturgical Studies from the Catholic University of America, the MDiv from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA; the MA in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley; and the BA in history (medieval studies) from Southern Methodist University. A widely published scholar, frequent visiting lecturer and keynote speaker, Fr. Mark has scholarly interests in the intersection between culture studies, liturgy, and the hermeneutics of the visual arts.
Dominican Father Michael Mascari serves as Academic Dean and Vice President of Aquinas Institute, from which he graduated in 1987 with an M.Div and an M.A. in Theology. He was a member of the faculty from 1996 until 2003, when he was elected as Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of Saint Albert the Great. During his tenure as Prior Provincial from 2003 until 2011, he was chair of the Members of the Corporation and a member of the Aquinas Institute Board of Trustees.
In 2012, the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadoré, O.P., called him to Rome to serve the universal Order as the Socius for the Intellectual Life. In this capacity he resided for six years at Santa Sabina in Rome, where he served as President of the Board of Directors of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum), as a member of the Conseil scientifique, École biblique et archéologique française (Jerusalem), and as President of the Order's Permanent Commission for the Promotion of Studies.
In addition to his academic degrees from Aquinas Institute of Theology, Fr. Michael holds a Ph.D. in Early Christian Studies from the Catholic University of America (1996), a J.D. from DePaul University School of Law (1978), and an A.B. degree in history from Georgetown University (1975).
As a member of the Executive Team of Aquinas, the VP for Institutional Advancement will serve with the President to oversee the school’s advancement and external relations as especially reflected in our development plan and through strategies for outreach carried out through the Center for Community Engagement and Evangelization. The VP for Institutional Advancement will serve as the Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Evangelization to ensure its development and expansion, and to maintain the Center’s partnership with the Western Province of the Congregation of the Mission [Vincentians].
Donna Thro serves as the Executive Director of Business Affairs. She comes to Aquinas Institute with extensive educational background and professional experience in non-profit management.
