������ý

Curriculum Vitae

A.A., St. Mary’s ������ý, 2001; B.A., ������ý of St. Thomas More, 2003; M.A., philosophy, The Catholic University of America, 2005; Ph.D., philosophy, The Catholic University of America, May 2012; Bradley Fellow, 2004–05, 2005–06; Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Fellow, 2003–04; Johnston Fellow, 2006–08; Scholar Associate in Philosophy and Classics, The ������ý of St. Thomas More, 2006–07; Tutor in Philosophy and Classical Studies, The ������ý of St. Thomas More, 2007–2011; Registrar, The ������ý of St. Thomas More, 2008–11; Fellow in Philosophy, The Walsingham Society of Christian Culture and Western Civilization, 2011–12; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, 2012–; Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, 2022–25.

Presentations

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Funny Profundity, or Inane and Profane? Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, California, September 24, 2025.
• “Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism.” The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
• “Heraclitus and Parmenides.” The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
• “The Milesian Philosophers.” The Fleming Foundation 2025 Summer Symposium, Rockford, Illinois, July 2025.
• The What and Why of Literature. Opening Lecture, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, California, 2024.
• How to Read and Appreciate Poetry, Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, California, March 8, 2023.
• “Catholic Anthropology: What is Human Nature and What Makes Us Happy?” Diocese of Fort Worth New Teacher Institute, August 2022.
• “The Wife of Bath: Hero or Villain (or Neither)? A Case in Point of How to Read, and How Not to Read, Literature.” Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, March 2022.
• “What is the Mass?” The University Series, Ventura, California, March 2018.
• “The Moral Law and Happiness.” The University Series, Thousand Oaks, California, April 2017.
• “Themes, Images, and Tone in the Literary Work of Art: the Iliad, the Odyssey, and A Simple Heart.” Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, February 2017.
• “Job, Alyosha, and God’s World.” Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, January 2016.
• Scripture in Defense of Literature & the Case of the Book of Job, Tutor Talk, Thomas Aquinas ������ý, October 13, 2015.
• “Is Beauty a Distinct Transcendental According to St. Thomas Aquinas?” West Coast Meeting of the Society for Aristotelian-Thomistic Studies, Santa Paula, California, June 2013. [] [pdf]
• “Thomas Aquinas on Angels and the Subject of Metaphysics.” 42nd International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2007.
• “St. Thomas Aquinas and ‘First’ 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’s residence halls, participated in discussions about the great books, and attended Mass in the Chapel, but Travis Cooper was never actually a student at Thomas Aquinas ������ý. Although given the frequency of his campus visits and the number of friends and family members who were students at the ������ý, 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’s degree at St. Mary’s ������ý, his bachelor’s at the ������ý of St. Thomas More, and his master’s and doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. It was while at CUA that he came to know Thomas Aquinas ������ý well, first through his sister, Kathryn (’06), and then through her classmate — and his future wife — Briena (Dunkel ’06).

“I came back here whenever I could,” he says, recalling the long-distance courtship that reached from California to Washington, D.C. During “at least a dozen” trips to campus over many years, he was, he says, “astonished at the quality of the student life.”

In the ������ý 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. “I learned during my own experience, first as a student and then as a teacher at another small Catholic college, that it’s not easy to establish a good, vibrant student life,” Dr. Cooper reflects. “I’ve always been amazed at how the ������ý 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 ������ý 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 Thomas Aquinas ������ý faculty last summer, he was eager to apply for it. “Over 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. Thomas Aquinas ������ý 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 ������ý’s use of the discussion method, he says, which is a departure from the lecture-based teaching he has done in the past: “It’s 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.”