Brother Thomas Giumenta, known better as “Brother Tom" to most students and faculty, has left UP after over a decade of service.
Giumenta left the University in early February for a position at the Holy Cross Novitiate in Cascade, Colorado to train future brothers and priests.
Giumenta came to the University following a 16 year stay in South America. After falling sick in his final year, he was assigned to the University of Portland by the Holy Cross to serve as a learning counselor.
During his time as a learning counselor, Giumenta sought to find ways to help students struggling the most with academics and would go on to create a course to address the issues.
“I wanted to make these students my first target group because those were the people who seemed to be suffering,” Giumenta said. “I came to realize there were just too many cases to be able to deal with them one by one so I started a course.”
Giumenta has also touched the community in many other ways, as both the Shipstad Hall pastoral resident and as the chaplain of the men’s soccer team — a position he was fond of.
In Shipstad, Giumenta also gained campus-wide attention for his famous Sunday Stew, a tradition that became a staple of Shipstad dorm life.
“It kind of started accidentally because kids would come to my apartment around 10 o’clock on Sunday nights and I thought we should get something going here,” Giumenta said. “So I got some crock pots to see what happened and now it’s sort of Shipstad’s thing.”
Giumenta hopes his work helped students feel cared for.
“I would not be graduating this year if it wasn't for his hard work with me and many other students he has helped throughout his 12 years at University of Portland,” Martin Sangil, a senior Shipstad Resident Assistant, said.
Austin Thompson is a reporter with the Beacon. He can be reached at thompsau22@up.edu.
