Trinity University (Texas)

History

Trinity was founded in 1869 by Cumberland Presbyterians in Tehuacana, Texas . The school was formed from the remnants of three small Cumberland Presbyterian colleges that had failed during the American Civil War . Feeling that the school needed the support of a larger community, the university moved in 1902 to Waxahachie, Texas . In 1906, the university, along with many Cumberland Presbyterian churches, affiliated with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America .

In 1942, the Methodist -affiliated University of San Antonio was failing. Trinity was solicited by community leaders in San Antonio who wished to maintain a Protestant -related college in the city. The university left Waxahachie and took over the campus and alumni of the University of San Antonio. The old Waxahachie campus is currently home toSouthwestern Assemblies of God University . In 1945, the school acquired a former limestone quarry for a new campus.Texas architect O'Neil Ford was hired to design a master plan and many of the buildings. Construction began in 1950, and the current campus opened in 1952. Since 1969, Trinity has been governed by an independent board of trustees and has maintained a covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA) .

Under the leadership of Dr. James W. Laurie, the university's 14th president, Trinity took advantage of its new location in a rapidly growing major urban center to grow in academic stature. Dr. Laurie was responsible for drastically increasing Trinity's endowment, largely funded by the James A. and Leta M. Chapman Charitable Trust ofTulsa, Oklahoma . ^{[ 2 ] [ 3 ]} The enlarged endowment allowed Trinity to construct a new, modern campus in its “University on the Hill” location and to increase the quality and range of its faculty while maintaining an extremely high faculty to student ratio. This in turn allowed Trinity to be more selective in student recruitment. This work was continued by Ronald Calgaard, who followed Laurie's successor, Duncan Wimpress. Former president John R. Brazilfocused on replacing outdated campus buildings and improving the school's financial resources. The "Campaign for Trinity University," which launched in September 2005, sought to raise US $200 million for a variety of purposes. At its conclusion on September 25, 2009, the Campaign raised US $205.9 million, surpassing the original goal. ^[ 4 ] On January 23, 2009 it was announced that Dr. Brazil would retire as Trinity's President in January 2010. That same day he was awarded Trinity's Distinguished Service Award, Trinity's most prestigious honor, by the Board of Trustees. ^[ 5 ]On September 25, 2009 it was announced that Dr. Dennis Ahlburg would assume the presidency in January 2010. ^[ 6 ]

Large Interior Form , a sculpture on Trinity's Coates Esplanade

[ edit ]Campus

Trinity overlooks downtown San Antonio, adjacent to the Monte Vista Historic District and just south of the Olmos Park and Alamo Heights neighborhoods. The 117-acre (0.5 km ² ) Skyline Campus, the university's fourth location, is noted for its distinctive red brick architecture and well-maintained grounds, modeled after an Italian village by late architect O'Neil Ford .

[ edit ]Sustainability

The environmental movement at Trinity is known as Red Bricks, Green Campus. Trinity is a member of the Presidents' Climate Commitment and is actively working towards carbon neutrality. Trinity was ranked 5th in the RecycleMania Challenge. Students pushed for fair trade options, and now all coffee sold at the university is certified fair trade. In 2009, Trinity University scored a C- on the College Sustainability Report Card , also known as the Green Report Card. ^{[ 7 ] [ 8 ]}

[ edit ]Notable buildings and structures

• The 166-foot (51 m) tall Murchison Tower is the most dominant landmark on the campus, designed, as many other buildings on campus, by O'Neil Ford , who also designed San Antonio Landmark the Tower of the Americas a few years later based on this design. It was previously the highest point in San Antonio. The tower is now lit at night (excepting evenings when the lighting interferes with on-campus astronomical observances), a tradition begun on September 22, 2002 to commemorate Trinity's 60th anniversary in San Antonio.

• Laurie Auditorium seats 2,865 and hosts both campus and community events. The university has many lecture series, such as the high profile Trinity Distinguished Lecture Series [1] , Stieren Arts Enrichment Series, Nobel Economists Lecture Series [2] , and Flora Cameron Lecture on Politics and Public Affairs. Guest lectures at Laurie Auditorium occur routinely throughout the academic year and have included Henry Kissinger , Tony Blair , George HW Bush (former Trustee of the University), Ken Burns , Condoleezza Rice , Pervez Musharaff Colin Powell , Carl Sagan ,Desmond Tutu , Bob Dole , Margaret Thatcher , John Major , Benjamin Netanyahu , Thomas Friedman , Charles Krauthamer, José María Aznar , Tom Brokaw , John Edwards , Gerhard Schröder , Doris Kearns Goodwin , David Kay , Queen Noor ,John Glenn , Lord George Robertson , Benazir Bhutto , Lech Wałęsa , Madeleine Albright , Thomas Kean , Brit Hume ,Barbara Bush , Rudolph Giuliani , Michael Beschloss , Shimon Peres , Jimmy Carter , Gerald Ford , John Updike ,Lawrence Eagleburger , Mario Cuomo , William Bennett , Jimmy Carter , Juan Williams , Pierre Salinger , Sam Nunn ,Vicente Fox , Dan Rather , Dominique de Villepin , Bill Clinton (organised by the San Antonio Business Council) andJohn Cleese .

• The 164,000-square-foot (15,200 m ² ) Elizabeth Huth Coates Library houses (as of 2007) 937,000 books and bound periodical volumes. The library, an advanced facility for a school of Trinity's size, also houses over 200,000 volumes of government documents, over 1.3 million microforms, over 65,000 media items, and maintains 2,400 periodical subscriptions and access to over 20,000 electronic periodicals. The library's annual acquisition budget is over US $1.5 million. [3] In 2007, the library was awarded the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from theAssociation of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Sponsored by ACRL and Blackwell's Book Services, the award recognizes the staff of a college library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution. [4]

• In 2006, the Jim and Janet Dicke Art Building, the Campbell and Eloise Smith Music Building, and the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall were substantially renovated under the guidance of Kell Muñoz Architects , providing greatly improved facilities and 20,000 additional square feet of space. The building subsequently won a merit award for design from the City of San Antonio in 2008 [5]

• The Margarite B. Parker Chapel seats six hundred and is known for its large Hofmann-Ballard pipe organ , the largest pipe organ in South Texas. ^[ 9 ] comprising 5 divisions, 102 stops , 112 ranks, and over 6000 pipes. A state-of-the art four-manual console was installed in Summer 2007, with the aid of the University's Calvert Trust Fund [6] .Non-denominational services are led by the campus chaplain Sunday evenings.

• The newly constructed Northrup Hall, finished in 2004 and designed by Robert AM Stern Architects, is used for administrative and faculty offices and classrooms.

• Sixteen residence halls - as a residential campus, students are required to live on campus for three years and many stay for their fourth. As a result, Trinity has a variety of residence halls located on lower campus. Halls reserved for first-year students include Beze, Calvert, Herndon, Miller, Winn and Witt. Upperclassmen halls include Isabel, Lightner, Murchison, Myrtle, North, Prassel, Thomas, South and Susanna. One residence hall, McLean, houses both first-year and upperclass students.

• The Coates University Center houses an information desk, dining areas, post office, bookstore, bar, meeting rooms, offices and a number of student organizations.

• "Conversation with Magic Stones" (or, more commonly, simply "Magic Stones"), a series of metal sculptures created by Dame Barbara Hepworth .

[ edit ]Academics & Rankings

The university offers 39 majors and 52 minors in the traditional liberal arts and sciences , fine arts , andengineering , and graduate programs in accounting , teaching , school psychology , school administration , and health care administration . ^[ 10 ] Trinity stresses close interaction between students and faculty members across all disciplines, with a 10:1 student/faculty ratio.