Trinity University
Trinity University is a private liberal arts college in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded as a coeducational institution in 1869 by Cumberland Presbyterians as the merger of three schools whose enrollment had dropped during the Civil War. Its first campus in Tehuacana was built on of land donated by John Boyd. The school moved its campus to Waxahachie in 1902, and finally, San Antonio in 1945.
Trinity's campus, built atop a former lime quarry, is located north of downtown San Antonio, between the Monte Vista Historic District to the west and Olmos Park to the north. Designed by O'Neil Ford, the campus has been designated a National Historic Landmark District. There are 288 faculty members, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 8:1. As of 2024, the university had an enrollment of 2,490 undergraduate students and 143 graduate students.
Following a liberal arts and sciences curriculum, Trinity University's four schools offer 57 majors, 63 minors, and 6 graduate programs. The diverse student body represents 47 U.S. states and 58 countries. Students participate in over 100 student organizations, including the campus newspaper, Trinitonian, and the campus radio station, KRTU-FM. The Trinity Tigers compete in the NCAA Division III Southern Athletic Association.
History
Founding
s founded Trinity in 1869 in Tehuacana, Texas, from the remnants of three small Cumberland Presbyterian colleges that had lost significant enrollment during the Civil War: Chapel Hill College founded in 1849, Ewing College founded in 1848, and Larissa College founded in 1855. John Boyd, who had served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845 and in the Texas Senate from 1862 to 1863, donated of land and financial assistance to establish the new university The Texas Hall building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Waxahachie campus
Believing 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.The Stock Market Crash of 1929 severely hindered the university's growth. Enrollment declined sharply, indebtedness and faculty attrition mounted, and trustees began using endowment funds to maintain daily operations. Consequently, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed Trinity's accreditation status on probation in 1936, jeopardizing its future. Once again, its leaders began to consider relocation to a larger community to improve the university's viability.
Woodlawn campus
Meanwhile, in 1942, the Methodist-affiliated University of San Antonio was failing. San Antonio community leaders, who wished to maintain a Protestant-affiliated college in the city, approached Trinity with a relocation offer. The university left Waxahachie and took over the campus and alumni of the University of San Antonio.. For the next decade, the Woodlawn campus, on the city's near-west side, was Trinity's home while it developed a permanent home. Lacking adequate facilities, the university functioned by using military barracks and quonset huts to house students and to provide library and classroom space.Quarry campus
In 1945, Trinity acquired a former limestone quarry for a new campus and hired Texas architect O'Neil Ford to design a master plan and many of the buildings. Construction began in 1950, and the current campus opened in 1952.When it moved, the campus was largely undeveloped. Under the leadership of 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. Laurie was responsible for drastically increasing Trinity's endowment, largely funded by the James A. and Leta M. Chapman Charitable Trust of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The stronger endowment allowed Trinity to construct a new, modern campus and increase the quality and range of its faculty while maintaining a high faculty to student ratio. In 1969, Trinity entered into a covenant agreement with the regional synod of the Presbyterian Church that affirmed historical connections but transformed Trinity into a private, independent university with a self-perpetuating board of trustees. The campus continues to be a "historically connected" member of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.
Development and expansion
Trinity's development continued under Ronald Calgaard, who followed Laurie's successor, Duncan Wimpress, in 1979. Under Calgaard, the university implemented a number of changes. These included its transformation into a residential undergraduate school, the cutting the number of master's programs offered from more than 20 to 4, decreasing its student population from about 3,300 to 3,000, increasing merit scholarships, placing a focus on national student recruitment, and creating a series of speakers and cultural events open to the public.Calgaard's successor, John R. Brazil, focused 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 $205.9 million, surpassing the original goal. Brazil served as Trinity's president through January 2010. Upon announcement of his retirement, the board of trustees awarded him its Distinguished Service Award, Trinity's most prestigious honor.
Dennis A. Ahlburg served as president from January 2010 to January 2015. During Ahlburg's presidency, Trinity developed and executed a strategic plan to shape the future of the university. Academically, Trinity refined its curriculum to further define a liberal arts education, developed an entrepreneurship program, and realigned the business program. Trinity also refocused its marketing to raise the university's national profile. Finally, under Ahlburg, Trinity built the Center for Sciences and Innovation, which modernized and combined science facilities to ease collaboration across disciplines.
Danny J. Anderson, a Latin American literature scholar and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas, succeeded Ahlburg as president in May 2015, serving until May 31, 2022. During his tenure, improvements included the construction of Dicke Hall, home for Humanities studies; transformation of the Halsell Center into a modern learning environment, and creation of the Michael Neidorff School of Business, an AACSB-accredited undergraduate business school. The school was named a National Historic Landmark District during Anderson's tenure. Anderson also implemented several initiatives aimed at increasing the school's inclusivity and by the end of his term 40% of Trinity's student body came from underrepresented backgrounds.
Vanessa Beasley, former vice provost for academic affairs, dean of residential faculty, and associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University was named Anderson's successor on May 31, 2022. Megan Mustain, provost and vice president for academic affairs, was interim president until Beasley began her tenure. She is the first woman to lead Trinity and began her term at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year.
Campus
Trinity overlooks downtown San Antonio and is adjacent to the Monte Vista Historic District and just south of the cities of Olmos Park and Alamo Heights. The 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.The 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, 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 Trinity Distinguished Lecture Series, Stieren Arts Enrichment Series, Nobel Economists Lecture Series, and Flora Cameron Lecture on Politics and Public Affairs.
The Elizabeth Huth Coates Library houses more than 1 million books and bound periodical volumes. The library is home to 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$1.8 million.
In 2006, the Ruth Taylor Fine Arts Center, consisting of 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 20,000 additional square feet of space. The building subsequently won a merit award for design from the City of San Antonio in 2008.
The Center for Sciences and Innovation, completed in 2014, modernized the university's science, engineering, and laboratory facilities and helped ease collaboration across disciplines. The center sits on the former site of the William L. Moody Jr., Engineering Building. Renovations to connect existing buildings allow for a 300,000 square-foot science facility. The complex, certified LEED Gold, features a rooftop observatory, a living "green" roof and rooftop greenhouse, and an open-air innovation and design studio. The new building helped Trinity earn a top-five ranking in the Princeton Review for best science lab facilities.
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, comprising 5 divisions, 102 stops, 112 ranks, and over 6,000 pipes. A state-of-the-art four-manual console was installed in summer 2007, with the aid of the university's Calvert Trust Fund. Non-denominational services are led by the campus chaplain Sunday evenings.
In the fall 2022, Trinity opened its latest building, Dicke Hall, which houses the Humanities Collective, the English Department, and the Religion Department. The building is 3 stories with 40,000 square feet, 6 classrooms, and 1 lecture hall. It was designed by the San Antonio architectural firm Lake Flato Architects using a mass-timber structural system also known as Engineered wood.
Miller Residence Hall, home to first-year students at Trinity University, was renovated and updated in 2010, earning gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in the process. In addition, Calvert Hall, the Thomas-Lightner complex, and The Center for the Sciences and Innovation have been registered with the Green Building Council's LEED program and are awaiting certification. Trinity is a member of the Presidents' Climate Commitment and is actively working toward carbon neutrality.