The Cardinal Newman Society recently presented William Thierfelder, former president of North Carolina-based Belmont Abbey College, with the Saint John Henry Newman Award, praising his bold leadership and defense of religious freedom, as well as his contributions to expanding the college during his tenure.
In the announcement of the award, the society praised Thierfelder “for his exemplary leadership and witness to the Church and culture, and we uphold him and Belmont Abbey College as models of faithful Newman Guide Recommended education.”
Dr. William K. Thierfelder received the Saint John Henry Newman Award for his transformational leadership at @BelmontAbbey and his unwavering commitment to faithful Catholic education and virtue formation. pic.twitter.com/wo3J4uGqqL
— The Cardinal Newman Society (@Newman_Society) June 21, 2026
Thierfelder served as the college’s president from 2004-2025, and has since continued to teach psychology at the institution and provide sports performance consulting to NFL and NCAA football teams.
During his time as president, Thierfelder “greatly expanded the College and established its national reputation for outstanding athletics, learning, and virtue — all the while refusing to yield to pressure to compromise Belmont Abbey’s Catholic mission and Benedictine heritage,” the society stated.
Within the 21 years of his presidency, undergraduate enrollment grew from 500 to more than 1,600, the Honors College was established and eight master’s degrees were launched. He also led a successful $150 million capital campaign, the society noted, and led the construction and renovation of 40 campus buildings.
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The Cardinal Newman Society is known for creating a list of recommended colleges and universities according to whether they live up to, in the society’s estimation, their Catholic identity. The statement praised Thierfelder for leading Belmont Abbey “to embrace its Catholic mission across all activities, including athletics.”
Well-acquainted with both academics and sports, Thierfelder himself was a sports psychologist, Olympian, and two-time All-American high jumper, the society noted. He oversaw significant growth of the college’s athletic program, which now has 44 teams, the seventh-largest program in the country, according to the society.
“Amid all this, Dr. Thierfelder has been a staunch defender of religious freedom, for which The Cardinal Newman Society is especially grateful,” the society continued. “When a few faculty members tried to force the College to include contraceptives in its insurance coverage — and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took their side — Dr. Thierfelder stood firm and ultimately prevailed.”
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Belmont Abbey also sued the Obama administration Department of Health and Human Services in opposition of its contraceptive mandate, the society noted, adding: “Dr. Thierfelder has also been a courageous leader in opposing attempts to impose gender ideology in sports, which would contradict Belmont Abbey’s core mission.”
The award was presented during the 2026 Newman Guide Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. June 17-19.
In an outgoing letter for Belmont Abbey’s newsletter in the summer of 2025, Thierfelder expressed immense care for the institution and spotlighted a quote from Cardinal John Henry Newman, the patron of the society and a patron of education.
“I think Cardinal John Henry Newman,” Thierfelder wrote, “was envisioning Belmont Abbey when he described the characteristics of a College; he wrote: ‘Moreover, it is the shrine of our best affections, the bosom of our fondest recollections, a spell upon our afterlife, a stay for world-weary mind and soul, wherever we are cast, till the end comes. Such are the attributes or offices of home, and like to these, in one or other sense and measure, are the attributes and offices of a College.’”