NOTRE DAME, Ind.—A University of Notre Dame philosopher has become the third woman in history to be named a member of a Vatican academy on St. Thomas Aquinas, the school said Tuesday.

Therese Cory, the John and Jean Oesterle Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies in the Department of Philosophy, is now one of 50 total members of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Cory was added to the academy by Pope Francis.

The academy was started in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII to study and promote the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

The professor specializes in Aquinas and studies Arabic-to-Latin translation of Aristotle’s thought.

Cory is currently writing a book about Aquinas’s metaphysics.