St. Thomas chemistry professor Tom Ippoliti was awarded the John Ireland Presidential Award on Feb. 16 for his exemplary work as a teacher and scholar, including his research to find a cure for tuberculosis.

Ippoliti has taught at St. Thomas since 1989, producing publications about his research in organic synthesis. He has been awarded more than 10 U.S. patents.

“(The award) is an acknowledgement from my peers, my colleagues and the administration that I’ve been doing a good job in both teaching and research, which I really find hard to separate,” Ippoliti said.

Award winners receive a $1,500 annual grant, a small replica of the John Ireland statue on St. Thomas’ lower quad and their name on the John Ireland Presidential Award plaque in Aquinas Hall.

The award was named after Archbishop John Ireland because of the vision he had for the university: “To learn, to advance, to grow,” according to Joseph Kreitzer, dean of the college of education, leadership and counseling. Kreitzer created the award in 2008.

“We’re trying to build the university image he put forth,” Kreitzer said.

Ippoliti has done just that.

“He has incorporated undergraduate student work in every aspect of his scholarly agenda,” said Jayna Ditty, associate dean of the college of arts and sciences.

During his time at St. Thomas, Ippoliti has worked on research projects with over 260 students as of last year.

“Typically in the summer I have anywhere between 10 and 14 students working in my lab. During the school year it’s a little less, somewhere between six and 10,” Ippoliti said.

According to Ippoliti, he has earned grants and contracts from companies including Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corp., Chromatic Technologies Inc. and others.

Early in Ippoliti’s career at St. Thomas, he worked with Vision Ease, a local eyeglass lens company in St. Paul, to create the company’s own photochromic dye for transition lenses. Ippoliti and undergraduate students worked on this project from 1992 until 2002.

For the past 10 years, Ippoliti has been working on a new antibiotic to cure tuberculosis.

“The final goal of my career is to cure tuberculosis,” Ippoliti said.

He plans to use the $1,500 annual grant to attend the numerous conferences, typically in Europe, that pertain to his tuberculosis study.

Ippoliti and his undergraduates’ work with tuberculosis stood out to Ditty as an example of how he lives out the university’s brand.

“He really is training the next generation of future scientists to think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good,” Ditty said.

Kreitzer’s idea to create the Ireland Award came from a desire to highlight faculty at the university for their outstanding work in their research and in their classroom.

Previously, the only St. Thomas-based award was the Professor of the Year Award. However, this award didn’t have very clear criterion, according to Kreitzer, and it didn’t look deeply into the nominees as teachers or as scholars.

“What we wanted to do was call out people who had truly amazing, outstanding scholarship and teaching records,” Kreitzer said.

“The idea is that your research informs your teaching and you bring what you’re researching into how you teach and you involve your students in your research,” said Mark Stansbury-O’Donnell, associate dean of the college of arts and sciences.

Ippoliti received his award on Feb. 16 in James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall.

“I’m very humbled and grateful that I was awarded,” Ippoliti said. “I love teaching and always have.”

Althea Larson can be reached at lars2360@stthomas.edu.