Dr. William Edmund Fahey
President, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (2009-2026)
The Cardinal Newman Society gratefully presents the Saint John Henry Newman Award to Dr. William Edmund Fahey, the third and long-serving president of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H. Appointed in 2009, Dr. Fahey will step aside in September, taking on a new role as Chancellor and continuing to teach on the faculty. He stabilized and greatly strengthened Thomas More College, a stronghold for faithful Catholic liberal arts education rooted in the same classical and Christian tradition that gave rise to the once-great Catholic universities of Europe. On behalf of Catholic families, we recognize Dr. William Edmund Fahey for his many years of leadership in preserving and advancing Catholic liberal education and uphold him and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as models of faithful Newman Guide Recommended education.
When Dr. Fahey became president in 2009, the enrollment at Thomas More College was 39 students. The College had no endowment, and long-term debt and deferred maintenance approached $5 million. But under Dr. Fahey’s leadership, enrollment now hovers around the historic campus’s capacity of 100 students, the endowment has now surpassed $5 million, and all long-term debt has been eliminated. The curriculum was revised to offer a unified liberal arts major based on Western classics, while allowing disciplinary concentrations, awarding an associated degree for students discerning professional careers outside the liberal arts, and now—just this year—New Hampshire approved the College’s expansion into graduate education.
During Dr. Fahey’s tenure, the College established a permanent Visiting Scholars Program named for St. John Henry Newman, the Thomas More College Press, and a conference center, and it expanded its Rome program to welcome students from peer institutions. The campus was blessed and consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the chapel was renovated, and priests from several different charisms provide the sacraments. The College invested more than $2 million in campus infrastructure, restoring the historic facilities and acquiring the 27,000-square-foot Mercy Hall.
Dr. Fahey first came to Thomas More College as Provost in 2007. He previously taught at Christendom College for nearly a decade, where he founded and chaired the Department of Classical and Early Christian Studies and was President of the Faculty Senate. He also taught at the Catholic University of America, Brookfield Academy (Wisconsin), the American Academy (St. David’s, Penn.), in Germany, and for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Western Civilization Honors Program at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, England. He has held the Richard Weaver Fellowship, the Henry Salvatori Fellowship at the Heritage Foundation, the H.B. Earhart Fellowship, and the Maguerite Eyer Wilbur Fellowship at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.
He edited The Foundations of Western Monasticism (TAN Books, 2013) and New Hampshire and Independence: Rediscovered Writings from the Sons of the American Revolution (The History Press, 2026).
Dr. Fahey is a Benedictine Oblate with the Monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation (Clear Creek, Oklahoma), a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and a Knight of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.
Dr. Fahey and his wife, Amy, have five children.
