THE MAGAZINE OF TRINITY UNIVERSITY SPRING 2020
The Power of
A Collection of Community Voices in a COVID-19 World
In March 2020,
But it kept turning and turning and turning . . .
February 4 All students who were studying abroad in China are safely back on campus.
March 3 Trinity advises against spring break travel and amends travel policies in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
March 11 After thorough and intense deliberations, Trinity makes the decision to move the rest of the semester to remote synchronous learning. Spring break is extended by one week, and students are asked to move out of their residence halls by March 16. The decision is met with mixed emotions as the entire Trinity community grapples with preparing for the unknown. Over the next two weeks, almost all residential college campuses in the country will make a similar decision as the nation pivots to physical distancing.
March 16 The NCAA suspends all spring sports programs for all divisions, effectively ending seasons for student-athletes. In addition, Trinity cancels or postpones all on-campus events, including student visit programs. With creativity and resourcefulness, University offices begin to transition many events to an online platform.
March 23 With the help and support of countless compassionate and empathetic faculty, staff, and administrators, remote synchronous learning begins at Trinity.
March 17 Trinity announces a Student Emergency Fund, set up to assist students with additional financial burdens placed on them by the coronavirus pandemic. Donations to the fund pour in almost instantly, with six matching challenges and counting. In addition, the University transitions to remote work for most employees.
March 24 The City of San Antonio mandates a shelter-in-place order to protect the community and help save lives by slowing the spread of COVID-19.
March 27 Trinity announces available funds to support faculty and staff who may encounter financial hardships because of the coronavirus pandemic.
For more than 150 years, Trinity has stood strong in the face of challenges—and we are not backing down in the face of the pandemic that currently grips our world. Our University has survived three moves, two world wars, the Great Depression, and numerous other financial, economic, and social crises. And in the face of this crisis, we are proud to have acted promptly and prioritized the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff. We are proud to be part of a city that supports its citizens’ well-being. And we are proud to be on this journey alongside dedicated Tigers who are empathetically embracing the unknown.
April 2 San Antonio joins together in a moment of silence at 9:20 a.m. for those who have died from COVID-19. The bells of Murchison Tower ring in harmony with the bells of the San Fernando Cathedral.
March 31 The University releases a “test-optional” policy for a three-year period for first-year undergraduate applicants, waiving the requirement to submit standardized test scores.
August 7 Senior Traditions Day, filled with time-honored and treasured Trinity traditions such as the Tower Climb and ring dunk, will kick off a rescheduled commencement weekend.
April 22 Trinity’s registration options are amended so that students may request to convert Spring 2020 classes to pass/fail registration through the end of the Fall 2020 semester.
May 16 Trinity holds virtual conferrals of degrees for the Class of 2020.
August 8 The spring Class of 2020 will celebrate their commencements together with family and friends. We look forward to seeing you back on campus!
This issue of Trinity magazine has been created by you. These are your stories of the moments that preceded Trinity’s move to remote synchronous learning, and of the minutes, hours, days, and weeks of challenges and opportunities that followed.
The Big Picture As students moved out of their residence halls, they began leaving notes of encouragement, resilience, and care outside the Witt Center. This sticky note wall became a beacon of hope for students as they wrestled with their emotions about the sudden transition. photo by Chaplain Alex Serna-Wallender ’08, M’09
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POETRY
The Power of
What have you seen today? Jenny Browne, MFA English
I believe in making a list, both as a good way to get a poem
We all have stories to tell.
Some of our stories are just that—ours. They are notes we take, secrets we keep, thoughts we dare not spill with anything other than ink. They are an exercise in remembering, or forgetting, or holding on. But some of our stories are meant to be shared with others. They are keys to happiness, bubbles of emotion, cautionary tales. They are roadmaps to journeys that lay ahead, beckoning others to travel with them. Either way, all stories are powerful. They have the power to touch us in personal ways, to surprise us, to inspire us. Telling and hearing stories from our communities, our world, ourselves—they have the power to heal. Pick up a pen or place your hands on a keyboard: Three Trinity English professors offer tips and advice on telling your stories through poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, with prompts to push you along the way.
started and as a form in itself. Especially in times like these, when our rattled brains struggle to sustain concentration, a list takes the pressure off. Often, as a warm up, I will ask beginning poetry students to make a list of everything they have brought with them to class. Items have included everything from half a sesame bagel to a father’s last words, from track spikes to irrational delight. My point is that a good list gathers together the mundane and the memorable into something that feels like actual, lived life. As the struggles of social distancing suggest, we are relationship-seeking creatures. List poems can also suggest new relationships between seemingly unrelated things. Sometime I start my own writing day with a list of words I like just for the way they sound. For years, I have borrowed (stolen?) an exercise from the poet Linda Gregg’s essay The Art of Finding. (It’s great! Look it up.) In it, she asks her own students to practice writing down six things that they have seen that day—not significant things, just things, and in doing so they learn to pay better attention. Lists connect ideas, experiences, and emotions both big and small, thereby making a container for new connections, contradictions, and surprises.
Prompt:
One of my favorite list poems is Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet’s “Things I Didn’t Know I Loved.” Use this poem as a model for your own list poem with the same title. If you want, begin as Hikmet does, with today’s date and the phrase “I am sitting…” Don’t worry about being poetic or about all the parts of the poem fitting together. Focus on specificity and variety—a mix of the concrete and the abstract, the permanent and the fleeting. Write for 15-20 minutes. Keep your pen moving. Don’t read or edit it until the time is done.
Jenny Browne, MFA, is an English professor and author of four poetry collections, most recently a volume of new and selected poems. She was the 2018 Poet Laureate of the State of
… And if you’re feeling proud of your story, share it with Trinity magazine in an email to Jeanna Balreira, editor, at jgoodri1@trinity.edu.
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Texas and the Distinguished Fulbright Scholar in Creative Writing at Queens University, Belfast Northern Ireland, in Spring 2020.
Things I Didn’t Know I Loved Maddie Kennedy ’19
I am sitting here, alone, not quite on Constance, not quite on the banks of the river, on some steps made seats. A front promises to come, stillness hovers everywhere, the trees join me in hoping for rain. Across the river, enough people to fill a house pass, not all at once, not together. I never knew I liked crowdedness, or at least I didn’t know to miss it yet, the cramped sound of other feet hitting pavement, of birds and fathers and mothers and dogs sharing here with me. I don’t think I like missing them, here, where it feels still quiet. I don’t think I knew how to like strangers as I do now, eagerly, readily, with the blind trust of a relationship indefinitely at six feet. Can I trust that they are trying, like me, that they are home loving those that they love? I know everybody is baking bread, just like me, I know that each day, some child waves at another from the window of a car. I know there was a band playing, safely, together and distant, in Roosevelt Park this evening. The grass is growing long, it itches at my ankles, we step carefully to avoid hills of ants. Castanets click a beat, I put my arms around my partner, and as we spin, I wonder if any of these strangers would dance with us. I know to love this moment, the itch and all, I know that I love twirling here together. Two geese join the bachata, flying overhead towards the water, as the sun sets. I know—or I think I know—those people would have joined, had we asked. There are so many I want to join us. I know I now love this place, the shifting knowing of each house on every street, the remembering which porch swing I admire most, which dogs barking from fences crave attention and which need distance. One window down, a stream of rainbow folded hearts fade from too much time in the sun. The skin on my back matches them, pink-red from riding too far yesterday. Just like my mother would want, the woman I love won’t let me go to bed before she covers the burns with aloe vera, taking off the spines, waiting until it oozes, coating me with the sticky-sweet-sticky layer before we sleep. Tomorrow, we will walk to the river, walk down Constance, sit and watch everyone around us watching something once more. Someone will swat away a gnat. The sun will set, the sky going pink over a deserted beer factory, she will hold my hand. I didn’t know I loved all of this, I don’t know if I do, but we are sitting watching the world wait for a return, hoping one day it comes.
Maddie Kennedy is a 2019 Trinity graduate and Texas native. When she’s not writing poems or walking around her neighborhood, she works in the nonprofit world in San Antonio.
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CREATIVE NONFICTION
Specific, Sensory, Shoeless Kelly Grey Carlisle, Ph.D. English
Pay Attention
Part of being a writer (and a good human) is noticing what’s happening around you and in you. Using some of the below, write a piece that begins “In this time of the coronavirus, I…” • Go outside. Listen. What sounds do you hear? How are they different from before? • Go for a walk. What do you see? How is this different from before? • Think of everything you have done today and list it. What have you done or not done? How is this different from before? Pick from Your Box of Chocolates
Close your eyes, and use your finger to pick one of these prompts to write about. Think about it in specific, sensory detail, rather than vague generalities or ideas. • What is the strangest thing you’ve seen since this started? • Where were you when you first heard about the lockdown order? • What did you buy extras of that might strike other people as odd? • What was the first coronavirus-related thing that made you cry? (Mine was watching the gardeners empty out Miller Fountain on Trinity’s campus the afternoon the work-at-home order came. It was like they were putting the campus to sleep.)
Prompt:
The Country of Quarantine Creative nonfiction uses elements of the imagination to make facts more compelling. Practice with this prompt: Imagine that Quarantine is an actual, physical place—a country—with borders, a language, history, national dress, customs, distinctive music and visual art, an ecology, laws. I love imaging Quarantine as a country because it lets me pretend my loved ones and I are in the same place. Now, think about your personal experience with these coronavirus times, and write about your country of Quarantine. How do they greet one another in Quarantine? What’s the word for “hello”? How do they make love in Quarantine? Or dance? What is the national anthem? What customs might strike outsiders as quirky? What are their favorite foods? What is the national pastime? Do they wear trousers in Quarantine? Or shoes? (Shoes are definitely out of fashion in my region of Quarantine.)
Recorded by Kristina Reinis ’20 after moving out of the studio following the closure of campus as a result of COVID-19
Kelly Grey Carlisle, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the
Kristina Reinis ’20, a double major in English
Department of English. She is an award-winning essayist
and studio art, plans to move to London,
and the author of the memoir We Are All Shipwrecks, for
England to reconnect with her family and
which her travels took her to the Dr. Oz Show and the
develop her career as an artist.
Nebraska state prison.
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Excerpt from Catalogue of Objects in Trinity University Studio 403 in Relation to Colleagues Kristina Reinis and Raquel Belden
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ITEM #001: GREEN CHAIR Description: Midcentury modern chair with a matte vinyl, pale green covering and four pine wood legs. Small rip at the front of the seat and scattered wear and tear, including paint marks. Chair was used to seat individuals who came into the studio for a portrait session. Reinis became desperately attached to this chair and schemed for two years to steal it. The chair no longer resides in the studio.
ITEM #042: DICKIES MEN’S SHORT-SLEEVED COVERALLS Description: Two men’s Dickies painting coveralls. One navy blue with the name “Kristina” embroidered in red above the right pocket, one black with the name “Raquel” embroidered in red above the right pocket. The jumpsuits had at least 12 pockets, were much too big, and were used to protect the artists’ clothes from paint. Belden preferred to consider Reinis as a “colleague.” “Friend” was too sentimental. These coveralls became a symbol of their working relationship and status as colleagues.
ITEM #031: CARDBOARD SCRAPS Description: Brown fragments left over from cutting up pieces of cardboard. They gathered over the wooden desk-top, snuck under it, got stuck to shoes, got stuck to paper, got matted in Reinis’ curly hair. Too small and weak to repurpose for other sculptures, the pieces got quickly shoved across the table along with drops of hardened hot glue until Reinis remembered to clean them up and throw them away. She swept up hundreds of these when she left the studio.
ITEM #200: SCRAPBOOK Description: 4” x 6” photo album with a clear plastic covering over an illustration of yellow flowers on a light blue background. Scrapbook completed by Reinis and Belden through a constant and surprising number of tears on March 11, 2020, from 8 to 11 p.m., the day Trinity closed. It contains Polaroids of the studio and of them, pieces from their workspace, and many entries from their quote collection. They made this scrapbook to remember the space where they met, ate dinner, did homework, schemed, cried, laughed, sat in silence, and made art together for the last four years.
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FICTION
Easy as 1, 2, 3 Andrew Porter, MFA English
Keep a notebook, and take notes regularly. In one of her essays, the
author Lydia Davis talks about the importance of taking regular notes and how this habit will sharpen both your powers of observation and your expressive ability. She encourages writers to not only write about their thoughts and feelings, but also the behavior of people around them, bits and pieces of conversation, the weather, facts they come across in books, and so on. As fiction writer Stuart Dybek notes, unlike potters and sculptors, fiction writers have to create their own clay or stone before they can begin shaping life from it. That’s what your notebook is for: creating the clay. Cultivate an interest in many types of art. Almost any writer will tell you
that you’ll never become a good novelist or short story writer if you don’t read a lot, and this is certainly true. However, I’ve always felt it’s equally important to look for artistic inspiration outside of fiction. Many of my own stories have moments in them that were directly inspired by poems, songs, paintings, films, photographs, and plays. Pay attention to image. The author Alice Munro refers to the little
pieces of reality in one’s fiction as the “starter dough”—these little pieces of memory that get the fictional part of our brains going and that also connect us emotionally to the story we’re creating. When I think of my own stories, I think of them as being entirely fictional, yet almost all of them also grew out of an image from my own life. I’m a big believer in the idea that certain images contain a kind of emotional residue and that it’s especially important to pay attention to those images from your own life that stay with you, even if you can’t explain why.
Prompt:
Take an image from memory—or perhaps an image that you wrote down in an old journal—and use that image as the starting point for a scene that is otherwise completely fictional.
Andrew Porter, MFA, is a professor of English and the director of Trinity’s creative writing program. He is the author of two books, and his short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2008.
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An excerpt from “Marie” Loretta Rodriguez ’20
As kids, we spent the long Texas summer days in the neighborhood swimming pool, plunging our tiny bodies into the water, sending ripples vibrating against each other’s skin. We played Mermaids and swam with our little legs pressed together, kicking our makeshift tails in unison. Mom watched us from the edge of the pool where she sat with her toes dipped in the water, small tubes of paint strewn on the concrete beside her and her canvas propped up on her lap. She squeezed blobs of color right onto the canvas and blended them into the picture in wispy strokes. Always abstract. We never knew what the paintings meant, but whenever Mom finished one, we always called it pretty. We only left the water to dive off the diving board or to eat the cubes of watermelon Mom packed for us in Ziploc bags. We plucked the fruit from the bags with our pruney fingers and plopped it onto our tongues. We chewed. We swallowed. Then, we jumped back into the pool and flipped our imaginary tails, our legs stuck together like glue. The two of us went on like this for a while. We called each other sisters. Marie was one year and one month older than me, though people always confused us for twins. We liked to walk hand in hand, ponytails swaying behind our bobble heads still too big for our bodies. All our games involved pretending. When summer ended and we stopped swimming in the pool, we stayed inside to play House and Grocery Store and Teenagers and Pregnant Mommies. We laughed at each other and poked our plush pillow-stuffed lumpy bellies, then rubbed them gently, asking each other, “Did you feel the kick?” Then one day, while I sat on the toilet to pee and Marie combed her hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom we shared, she turned to me and said, “I’m prettier than you.”
Loretta Rodriguez ’20, an English and Chinese double major and creative writing minor from McAllen, Texas, won Trinity’s
I stared up at her, whose hair cascaded down her shoulders in smooth waves. Marie flicked her gaze back toward the mirror as the last drops of pee trickled out of me, and all that followed was silence.
June Cook Creative Writing Award in 2019 and has been selected to participate in the Iowa International Writing Program’s Summer Institute in 2020.
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Tested by Experience Trinity community rises to the challenge of moving learning online For a university that prides itself on its
residential campus and experiential education, being asked to move out and move online is a tall task. This spring, there have been tears, lost opportunities, and growing pains. To ensure the safety of the University community, Trinity canceled sporting events, University-hosted gatherings, and even postponed commencement. There is not always a lesson to be learned from tests like these; some tragedies are simply tragic. But this spring, there have also been unmistakable triumphs, thanks to the tireless work, flexibility, and determination of our students, faculty, and staff. Science labs have become digital; choirs have joined voices through laptop and smartphone microphones; art students have showcased their work in a virtual gallery. So remember: We don’t have to get past this experience by solving every problem at once. As long as we keep piling up these small successes, we’ll pass this test.
Faculty and staff participate in the March 16 workshop “Facilitated Discussion: Adapting Studio Art and Performing Arts Courses.”
Eye of the (Trinity) Tiger Katherine A. Troyer, Ph.D. The Collaborative for Learning and Teaching I was looking forward to my admittedly
Katherine A. Troyer on vacation in Hawaii earlier in 2020, “before the world ended.”
non-exciting spring break plans: grading, editing an article, cleaning up my hard drive. My plan was shattered, however, when I got the call from Academic Affairs—Trinity was moving to remote synchronous learning for the remainder of Spring 2020. I was to assist our faculty and teaching staff with this critical transition. The following seven days were a mad dash of dawn-to-dusk work. It was the liberal arts version of Rocky—our own “Eye of the (Trinity) Tiger” montage. There were meetings, and then meetings about those meetings. With the help of others, I created a Keep Teaching website, a process that involved consulting hundreds of websites, identifying best remote-teaching practices, then converting these insights into an easily-digestible, webready, Trinity-specific form.
ead each author’s R story in full at gotu.us/TRINITYSpring2020
Too soon, the final weekend of spring “break” was upon me. The website was going live Monday morning no matter what, and I still needed to prepare for dozens of training sessions. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Friday evening the inevitable happened: I had a panic attack. I worried I was going to let everyone down. I feared I would not finish everything on time. I burst into tears. This wasn’t a gentle cascade down my cheeks, but rather the head-thrown-back outburst of a small child needing a nap. My partner—who knew these tears well from my dissertating days—proved to be my rock. Encouraging words, hugs, food, and a scary movie (my go-to as a horror scholar) calmed me enough to sleep. The next two days were grueling, but every time I neared my breaking point, someone would jump in and give me precious hours of their weekend to ensure that
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With less than two weeks to prepare for remote synchronous learning, faculty and staff attended trainings, some led by Katherine A. Troyer, to help them shift their courses online.
everything was ready in time. As I staggered into the office that Monday morning, with a packed week of trainings looming, several truths became self-evident: 1) All-nighters are a young person’s game. 2) M urphy’s Law guarantees that the University president and vice president of Academic Affairs will attend the trainings you are most stressed about leading. 3) U ltimate kindness often comes in the form of a highly caffeinated drink shoved into your hands.
Much has happened between that week and now. Many people are facing serious setbacks. We are experiencing heartbreaks, finding new anxieties, and learning that life is much more complicated than we want it to be. Yet I have also had the privilege of witnessing so much good. Faculty have invested countless hours implementing teaching plans focused on equity and mercy. Staff have gone above and beyond job descriptions in smoothing out the edges of these sharp times. Students have found their voices in unexpected ways. And every time someone
has said that they need help, I have watched them be supported by colleagues and friends. This has been far from an ideal semester, and not every reaction or response to this situation has been perfect. Nevertheless, I can’t help but end on this rather Pollyanna note: that in this time of crisis, I’ve rediscovered how proud and grateful I am to be part of this Trinity community.
Living, Breathing Textbooks Jacob Tingle ’95, Ed.D., and Allison Hawk ’88 Sport Management Since 2016, we have co-taught “Sports Philanthropy 101: How Sports Influence
Society,” a course that we center on the concept of the “living textbook.” We bring in major sports executives, each chosen carefully to represent an important industry segment, and the students treat each guest lecturer as if he or she is a chapter from a text. During these lectures, the students learn from and interact with their “textbook material” in real time. “Sports Philanthropy” was quick to shift all of its “living textbook” lectures online. Though the conclusion to Spring 2020 is unique, in so many ways, the “living textbook” proves to be a creative and engaging way for students to keep learning as they navigate the complex, global landscape.
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Creative, Courageous, Complex Betty Curry Academic Support We can do hard things. This is at the heart
of Academic Support at Trinity: helping students learn to tackle challenges by making the most of their days, finding and using good strategies, and not being afraid to ask for help. We meet students where they are, encourage them to try new things, and remind them that they are capable of persevering through difficulties. It’s the best job in the world, working with these smart, curious, quirky, funny, complicated young adults as they hone their superpowers and take on obstacles and opportunities that come their way. So when campus life as we knew it turned inside out, we entered a fastmoving, ever-changing phase of adapting. I had a ringside seat to observe the smart, creative, and courageous community of decision-makers as they balanced new information, complex challenges, and
a very short timeline to provide a solid plan for the rest of the semester. It was a time full of confusion and sadness, but it was also energizing to be part of a community that has, throughout history, buckled down to make the best of a very difficult situation. The truth is that this has been really hard. We know and trust that from this experience, we all will grow and develop new skills and stronger resilience. The heart of the Trinity experience is in learning new and complex things, an experience that cannot be perfectly replicated when we can’t be together. But the essence is still with us: We maintain the commitment to help students recognize that they can do hard things, and they can use that mindset to make it through difficult times like these.
While no one wants our transition to Zoom-based instruction to last forever, I think that our students’ ability to adapt to this mode for engineering project work will serve them well in the future. So many engineering companies locate their design groups over far-flung locations worldwide, requiring collaborative teamwork among employees who never interact in person. Our unintended foray into online collaborative project work has provided our students with an introduction to the mode of work that will be required of them throughout their careers—even after this virus has been conquered. – Jack Leifer, Ph.D., Engineering Science
“For our observational component, instead of using telescopes, I encourage students to go outside and look up—some may even have binoculars or a small backyard telescope to use, but most are just observing with their eyes. The important thing is getting them outside and observing the sky, however that works for them.” – Niescja Turner, Ph.D. Physics and Astronomy
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The Toilet Paper Roll Challenge Erin Sumner, Ph.D. Human Communication and Theatre
One of my Zoom classes this semester was interrupted by my 3-year-old son who wanted help taping wings onto the empty toilet paper roll he was turning into a ladybug. Things spiraled from there, and I ended up giving students the option to skip their normal reading response assignment and instead complete a Toilet Paper Roll Challenge. The rules were simple: Transform a humble toilet paper roll into a magnificent work of art. While this exact situation would have never unfolded in my physical classroom, it reflects the sort of spontaneous levity that I love about teaching at Trinity. Clockwise from top left: Angel de la Rosa ’22; Maria Arteaga ’22; Erin Sumner and her son, Calvin; Lauren Wall ’21; Helen Liang ’23; Rayna Webb ’22
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Show & Tell Experience “Show & Tell,” the virtual
reality exhibition for 2020 senior art students, at www.showandtell.show. Featuring works in painting, sculpture, photography, animation, and mixed media, “Show & Tell” marks the culmination of 11 studio art majors’ undergraduate studies at Trinity University. By showing their work and telling their unique stories in their own artistic voices, the artists hope to initiate a meaningful dialogue with viewers. In Trinity’s first virtual reality senior art exhibition, artwork was photographed and displayed in a VR space modeled after the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery. The ehibit was opened to online viewers on April 30. Artists, top to bottom: Alexus Jimenez ‘20, Catherine Phillips ‘20, and Layna Hayes ‘20
TRINITY Spring 2020
The Chamber Singers individually recorded themselves singing at home, and choral director Gary Seighman stitched together their voices for a virtual recording.
The Final Traditions Allison St. John ’20 I’ll be graduating with my B.S. in
Shown & Told Gage Brown ’20 In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, I find myself struggling
to quell the feeling that my personal work isn’t enough. The feeling is heightened by the urgency of this moment and the magnitude of people in need of support right now, in addition to the pressure I’ve assigned to the senior show as my grand debut. My work has allowed me to heal my trauma, and I know it can provide solace to those whose experience bears semblance to mine. But is that enough? Could I be speaking to more prevalent issues during this global state of crisis? My recent works sprang from my decision to stop attaching my self-worth as an artist to public perceptions of my art. Exhibited in Show & Tell, these recent pieces are a result of that shift from forced universality to confidence in the value of my story.
chemistry, just a few weeks from the time of writing this, but commencement seems unreal as I finish my work away from final traditions. I suppose I did have a last concert with choir, a last time spent in my research lab, a last performance with the Acabellas, but I do feel robbed of knowing that they were my lasts. Much of my coping with the change has been in finding the ways in which my final traditions still get to be a part of my senior experience. I’ve been a part of the Chamber Singers at Trinity since my freshman year and have really found a home in that group. One thing I know every member of choir is missing right now, freshman or senior, is the
five hours a week that we sing together. There is something really magical and therapeutic that happens when you sing together with a group of people that you care a lot about. A lot of the members have been meeting remotely once a week, and I find a lot of comfort meeting with the group, even if it is tricky to make music together live due to lag and synchronicity issues. We were also lucky to be able to sing together separately in our virtual performance of Blake Henson’s “My Flight for Heaven,” which I have been playing on repeat since it was released. Listen to Trinity’s virtual choral performances, including “My Flight for Heaven,” at gotu.us/trinityvirtualmusic.
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Break a Sweat Finding positive paths to health, on your terms Right now, we’re all sweating both the small and the big stuff. And Trinity’s professors, alumni, counselors, psychologists, and spiritual leaders want you to know that’s OK. It’s healthy to grieve; it’s natural to worry; and it’s human to feel overwhelmed. Just don’t forget that it’s important to stay healthy. And that can mean different things for everyone: Some will try to stay active, others will try to relax. You might engage in new rituals and hobbies to counteract your stress, while your friends and family might turn to old traditions. However you choose to face your challenges, remember: Sweat can’t break you if you break it first.
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ead each author’s R story in full at gotu.us/TRINITYSpring2020
The Key to Wellness is Motivation Katherine Hewitt Counseling Services
Wellness is a state of mind just as much as it is a state of body, and little changes can go a long way. The best way to tackle wellness goals? Get motivated! Make a plan
Prioritize nutrition
Set a goal that is S.M.A.R.T.! Writing down your health goal that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely helps break it down into smaller, doable steps. Give yourself a week to reach your goal. Remember to pace yourself—you don’t have to work toward a goal every day.
The remote learning and work-from-home model has highlighted some nutritional dilemmas. These recommendations take a deeper dive for some solutions.
Get creative with physical activity Since many fitness facilities are closed and public health guidelines advise social distancing, get creative with the ways you engage in physical activity. • Connect with other healthy people digitally using video calls, activity apps, fitness tracker challenges, and online groups. You won’t be alone, and it sparks friendly competition! • Take daily living activities to a new level. Go for a longer walk, or take a lecture or conference call on the move, if possible. Chores such as sweeping, vacuuming, raking, and gardening all can work up a pretty good sweat when you set a time frame and intensity. • Follow a YouTube exercise class. Keeping your fitness status and physical limitations in mind, choose a workout that’s fun and appropriate for your activity level.
• Start your day with breakfast and try eating a meal or snack every three to four hours. Citrus fruits and root vegetables are good, long-lasting buys. • Fulfilling snacks have three components: fiber, protein, and some healthy fat. Consider dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. • You’re thirsty, not hungry! Fill up that reusable water bottle, and keep it close. • Poor sleep = stress, period. Consistent wake and lie down times help set you up for a proper eating schedule.
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When the pandemic shut down The Union Fitness, Steve Falk and his team began live-streaming classes for free.
Namaste Home Steve Falk ’98, M’99 Co-owner of The Union Fitness My business partner Lisa Ingle-Stevens ’99
and I found our shared passion for fitness at Trinity University in the late ’90s. We opened our first yoga studio in San Antonio in April 2004 with an SBA loan and some credit cards, and over the next 15 years, we expanded to three locations. In early March, we could see the writing on the wall and knew the shutdown was coming. We had to lay off a significant portion of our workforce and knew that many of our students would have similar circumstances. While we stopped charging our membership dues the day we closed, we still wanted to find a way to provide classes to our students during the shutdown. We are not audio/video production professionals (yet!), but the internet offers a free education for those who are eager to learn and experiment. We went from a few videos on our YouTube page to over 100 recorded yoga, Pilates, and fitness classes along with some guided meditations in just a few weeks. It is my belief that exercise is the best way to relieve stress and clear your mind; I learned this when studying at Trinity. To this day, nothing clears my head like a great workout. With that in mind, we pushed out these streaming and recorded classes for free to our community and effectively the world. It was important to us that our students, and really anyone at this time, have access to the various health benefits of fitness.
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Grief in the Midst of COVID-19: Mourning Our Losses Richard Reams, Ph.D. Counseling Services Are you aware that grief is one of the
ingredients in the “stress gumbo” of your emotional life? I invite you to name the flavors—both pungent and subtle—that are in the mix of your particular grief. For students, there are many pungent losses. Gone is the in-class learning environment. Gone are in-person conversations and recreation with Trinity friends and romantic partners. Gone is the in-person bonding that was occurring among sorority sisters or fraternity brothers so soon after bid day. Gone are the athletic practices, competitions, and camaraderie among teammates. In addition to grieving what has been lost (at least temporarily), we are also grieving losses that are to come. This anticipatory grief is also in the mix of our stress gumbo, a subtle flavor mingling with the pungent taste of fear about what may shape our future.
To be sure, there is the potential for significant grief ahead from death and financial fallout. Even in a best case scenario, our lives will change. A new normal will emerge after the pandemic subsides. For those of us who don’t like change, we now anticipate the loss of business as usual—or more broadly, life as usual. I can only begin to imagine the myriad losses you have experienced during the last few months and the losses you anticipate in the months to come. What other losses— experienced and anticipated—are flavoring your stress gumbo?
If you get stuck,
don’t sweat it... Some days are sweatpants
Staying Healthy TUgether Even separated, the Tiger community found ways to come together virtually and cheer each other on through a variety of challenges and webinars.
days. Some days we read too much news and we feel
overwhelmed and helpless and we spend
our day a little
lost. That’s
OK.
Let yourself have
CoRUNavirus Challenge
TUgether Tuesdays
Dean of Students David Tuttle challenged the Trinity community to complete 50 miles running, walking, skating, or even crawling! More than 160 Tigers signed up to crush more than 8,000 miles collectively, getting some fresh air and sunshine during the pandemic. The challenge also encouraged participants to donate to the San Antonio Food Bank, an extension of the Dean of Students Half Marathon fall program and its relationship with the Kayla Mire Food Drive.
Alumni Relations and Development partnered with Trinity Athletics to bring health- and wellness-focused webinars to the Trinity community every Tuesday of the remaining semester after spring break. Tigers followed along for snack prep advice in the kitchen of Lexi Phelps ’18, learned about nutrition from dietician Melissa Heuer ’01, sweated it out doing yoga with Steve Falk ’98, M’99 and Lisa Ingle-Stevens ’99, and more. Visit Trinity Athletics’ Facebook page to view all the webinars.
Wellness Warriors
Trick-Shot Competition
More than 20 Trinity faculty and staff logged on twice a week for Wellness Warriors, a Zoom version of the popular workout class led by Trinity fitness instructor Colleen Hill.
Inspired by a challenge hosted by the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association, Trinity Recreational Sports hosted a trick-shot competition open to employees and students. Submissions included a bagel toss into a toaster, a ping pong ball bounced off pans, and toilet paper juggling. View all the videos on Trinity Recreation’s Instagram account.
those days, and
trust that the next day is
another chance.
– Lori Kinkler, Ph.D. Counseling Services
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Spiritual Lives in This Threshold Moment Alex Serna-Wallender ’08, M’09 University Chaplain Much like the end of our semester, traditions
of ritual, gathering, remembering, fasting, and celebrating are going to look different, be different, and feel different in ways they never have before. To that end, I want to offer some simple practices, rituals, and ways of being that can be invitational reminders of who we are and who we want to be both as individuals and collectively in the season that lies ahead.
LAMENT AND GRIEVE
ROOT YOURSELF
REDISCOVER OR CREATE RITUAL
In a number of spiritual traditions, the act of communal grieving is the practice of lament. Or as theologian N.T. Wright would say, “Lament is what happens when people ask ‘Why?’ and don’t get an answer.”
While this practice will look different for everyone, I encourage you to find ways to root yourself, to return to your center if just for a moment, when everything seems to be just too much. Breathe. Be present.
Abrupt changes to our lives, while not always welcome, open up the possibility for us to consider what the new patterns of our days will look like and what rituals we might want to rediscover or create anew.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
LOOK FOR AND ACT WITH COMPASSION The simple act of noticing, of becoming aware of the ways in which people are acting with compassion all around us, can buoy our spirits. This can also inspire us to act with compassion in return.
HOPE
In The Book of Joy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu offers this reflection: “To choose hope is to step firmly forward into the howling wind, baring one’s self to the elements, knowing that, in time, the storm will pass.”
The Best Exercise Is the Exercise You’re Doing
Try to Resist For those who want to dip into resistance and bodyweight training during these wildly odd and turbulent times, give these six categories of movement patterns a try.
Upper Body: Vertical
Dominic Morais, Ph.D.
Stand tall, and push up on a resistance band by extending your arms above your head, keeping them under control.
Sport Management
Upper Body: Horizontal
Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it seemed like I couldn’t go a
day without hearing what I should be doing for my health. Eat this and not that; sit for this amount of time and stand for this amount; add supplements and essential oils to your lifestyle. In a world full of things that constantly fight for our attention, I like to live by simple guidelines to help declutter my mind. One of those guidelines is: The best exercise is the exercise you’re doing. I like resistance training as a form of exercise. I enjoy the feedback it provides in helping me make a mental connection with my body. This type of attitude is not new; the motto of sound mind in a sound body—mens sana in corpore sano—goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Stress comes in many forms in life, including exercise. So, at the end of the day, if I’m not looking forward to my exercise, then I’m doing it wrong. As long as there is some balance in health and fitness regimens, we would benefit from dropping our perfectionist approach toward wellness. If you like to take walks, then I say you take those walks. If you like to lift heavy deadlifts, then I say you keep going beastmode. Instead of exercising in order to avoid something, such as gaining weight, I like to frame it as something I want to approach, such as a moving meditation, or the opportunity to express myself through movement, or enjoying nature.
The basic push-up: Keeping your body long and your core tight, lower your body almost all the way to the ground and press back up again.
Lower Body: Pull/Hinge Keep your hips high and your shins nearly vertical as you use the back side of your body to pull a weight from the ground.
Lower Body: Push/Squat Keep a big chest and your hips back as you bend your knees past parallel and back up again.
Core: Static The plank: Similar to a push-up but on your elbows, breathe in and out while keeping your body tightly connected in a straight line.
Dominic Morais, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sport management in the School of Business. His passion for fitness encompasses his academic life as well as his side hustle as a strength coach. He’s currently pursuing a master’s degree in applied sport psychology, which is helping him stay “quarantuff.”
Core: Dynamic Sitting with your feet and knees together and feet off the ground, slowly rotate your upper body and look at the ground on each side.
Dominic shows us some of his favorite movement patterns in a series of videos at gotu.us/TRINITYSpring2020.
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Facts Speak For Themselves Trinity professors lend expertise to coronavirus pandemic Right now, reliable information is as hot a commodity as toilet paper. It feels like we’re getting conflicting advice around every corner about how to stay safe, how to stay healthy, and how to stay ourselves. Now, more than ever, is the time to cut out the noise and pay attention to the experts. You’ll know them because of their track record: a history of top-notch education, real-world experience, and a commitment to the use of data, rational thought, and scientific discovery. And at Trinity, our professors are some of the best experts out there on topics ranging from health care leadership and biology to economics and international relations. So take it from us: Reliable information might seem hard to find, but it’s the one product that doesn’t run out.
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COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
Viral Disinformation LABOR AND THE ECONOMY Aaron Delwiche, Ph.D. // Communication Red vs. Blue. Rural vs. Urban. Black vs. White. Millennial vs. Boomer.
Our political system was under attack long before COVID-19 took the life of its first victim. For almost a decade, decentralized armies of propagandists, bots, and sock puppets have been disseminating disinformation on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, carefully leveraging user behavioral data to identify ideal targets for their messaging. These malicious communicators pit communities against one another, deliberately driving painful wedges through cultural fault lines. These efforts have been successful because we have failed to nurture the vital antibodies that protect democracies from drifting into authoritarianism and fascism: media literacy, critical thinking, and historical awareness. What’s more, our civic immune system has been deeply compromised by a secondary infection; large segments of the population are unable to agree on even the most basic truths. We are increasingly isolated by the algorithms that power our social networks, and we are distanced from those who hold opposing worldviews. As a propaganda researcher for more than three decades, I once believed that a decentralized internet could be used to neutralize propaganda’s pernicious effects. However, shortly after the 2012 election, I began encountering deceptive messages that defied conventional understandings of propaganda strategy, upending everything we once thought we knew. Old-fashioned propaganda was concerned with consistent, reinforced variations of a single core message; the new propaganda is haphazard, scattered, contradictory, and ubiquitous. Old-fashioned propagandists cared about credibility, carefully maintaining the perception of truthfulness; new propagandists cultivate multiple identities, abandoning a mouthpiece if caught in a lie. The new propagandists understand what decades of communication research have been trying to tell us: Persuading individuals to believe in something is quite difficult. There are too many intervening variables and too many contested readings. On the other hand, persuading people to believe in nothing is remarkably easy.
Economic Aftermath David Macpherson, Ph.D. // Economics The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is causing a significant
change in my research focus. As a labor economist, I investigate the determinants of workers’ compensation and employment. In the past, I have examined factors that cause wage differences across workers, such as minimum wage laws, discrimination, fringe benefits, and labor unions. Now, I will focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the swiftest economic decline in history and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, which lasted a decade between 1929-1939. The pandemic has already had substantial effects on employment—layoffs, furloughs— and work patterns—working from home—in the U.S. These effects have varied significantly across states, cities, industries, and occupations, and by age, gender, and race. My primary research focus is an investigation of the effects of COVID-19 on employment and work hours in the United States. My analysis will examine the downturn in the labor market as well as its recovery until COVID-19 is no longer a substantial threat. The recovery in employment and earnings may occur more slowly than first thought, absent widespread availability of COVID-19 testing and subsequent development of an effective vaccine. The speed of recovery is likely to vary greatly both across states and between highly and less-populated labor markets. The pandemic is also causing changes in how I am revising my co-authored Economics: Private and Public Choice textbook. We are adding a special topic on the economic impacts of COVID-19 and government policy responses as well as discussions throughout the book on issues such as price gouging. I will be including these discussions in my “Principles of Microeconomics” classes this fall. Students will, unfortunately, be able to apply their own personal stories to the analysis of the COVID-19induced economic fallout.
Aaron Delwiche, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Communication who teaches courses on topics such as virtual world
An applied economist, David Macpherson is the E.M. Stevens
development, transmedia storytelling, and mobile gaming. In 2018,
Professor and chair of the Department of Economics. His
with support from the Mellon Undergraduate Research Foundation, he
research focuses on real estate, pensions, discrimination, labor
worked with Mary Margaret Herring ’20 to relaunch the media literacy
unions, and the minimum wage.
site PropagandaCritic.com.
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INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Global Challenges Call for Compassion Katsuo Nishikawa Chávez, Ph.D. // Center for International Engagement It was the second week of January; I was in my hotel room in London.
I had the BBC on the news, and the words “sustained human-tohuman contagion” made me turn my head. “Bookmark for later,” I thought, rushing to join students and colleagues on the Sport in London program. This was already going to be a busy year—Sport in London was our first program of 2020, and we had more than a dozen other study abroad and field research opportunities set for several overseas destinations, including a first in South Africa. Spring 2020 would culminate in a major milestone: Trinity would send its 1,000th student abroad under the Trinity Tomorrow strategic plan. Two weeks later, the situation in China had gone from worrisome to dangerous. I sat down with the Center for International Engagement team as they sprung into action. As a team, we worked together with one purpose: Get our students back from China, now. In 48 hours, we had flights for every student in China and arrangements for them to rejoin the Trinity community.
But we all know what happened next. The epidemic became a pandemic, and Italy became China, and then nowhere was safe. Evacuating six students from China quickly transformed into evacuating 153 students from 52 countries. “Safety first.” It has long been our driving mantra, but it became even more important in these dire circumstances. Now more than ever, the importance of a global mindset is essential for everyone. Safety has so many aspects, all of which we must implore one another to consider: protecting one another’s health and wellness; feeling comfortable expressing our frustrations or limitations; and treating people with kindness and compassion, no matter their cultural background. Katsuo Nishikawa Chávez, Ph.D., is the director for the Center for International Engagement and an associate professor of political science. He is also actively involved in Trinity’s MAS and EAST programs, and he focuses his research on Mexico, democracy, and Latino immigration.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Social Inequalities in San Antonio Christine Drennon, Ph.D. // Urban Studies We have been aware of the inequalities in our city
Christine Drennon, Ph.D., is the director of the urban studies program. Her research delves into the historic inequities between San Antonio’s neighborhoods that are reflected in our life chances.
24
for a long time, but what we need to realize is that these social inequalities exacerbate the impact of a pandemic like this one. Not only are lowincome communities of color reporting higher infection rates, their daily lives are also impacted disproportionately. Yes, all of us have been affected in numerous ways: Retirement accounts have taken a hit, investment portfolios dwindle, vacations have been canceled or postponed. But in too many of our neighborhoods, families are struggling to feed their children, and children lack the resources they need to continue to learn. While we work to get through this pandemic today, we must also begin to prepare for the next one. To some, that means stockpiling medical equipment and toiletries, but to our city, it must mean addressing the inequalities we are aware of so we become more resilient and robust. How? We need to think in terms of short-medium-and-long term strategies.
TRINITY Spring 2020
Short-Term:
• Pass PreK4SA and extend it to all who qualify • Support our paid-sick-leave ordinance so workers can stay home when they are sick Medium-Term:
• Adopt a citywide living wage so families, no matter their occupation, make enough money to fulfill their daily needs and save a bit for an emergency • Extend the Alamo Promise to anyone who qualifies economically, knowing that education—if delivered equitably—is truly an equalizer Long-Term:
• Get out of the growth mindset for our city and concentrate resources on the population already here, rather than attract those who are not Maybe COVID-19 will finally force us to have the really difficult conversations we’ve been avoiding and tackle the issues that plague us—inequality, segregation, and poverty. Let’s see this as an opportunity to create our own best practices and become a leader and a truly equitable city.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Controlling the Novel Coronavirus Jon Dougherty, Ph.D. // Biology
Amer Kaissi leads a graduate class discussion through Zoom in April from his backyard. Tyler Wilson ’07, M’09, vice president of population health
During the largest Ebola virus outbreak on record (2014–16), I
was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health and observed as diagnostic assays and vaccines developed by NIH researchers were employed in West Africa to assist in the outbreak response. Subsequently, diligent work continued on multiple fronts, including therapeutic development and molecular biology, to better understand the virus-host interaction. Information gleaned from these studies was used to drive public health policy and education. We now find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. While there are substantial differences between the current pandemic and previous infectious outbreaks, we can apply the lessons from previous epidemics to our current efforts. An essential aspect of any pandemic response is limiting virus transmission as quickly and extensively as possible. The efforts required to achieve this depend on the virus, prior immunity in the population, and the mechanism of transmission. Controlling the novel coronavirus is particularly difficult, as there is substantial spread from asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic persons. Additionally, the absence of preexisting immunity in the population and the ease by which respiratory pathogens transfer between persons has led to the extreme infection-control measures seen globally. As we learn more about SARS-CoV-2, I expect that our efforts will be tailored to mitigate the disease while minimizing their negative impacts. We need to be cautious with regard to how and when we loosen our social distancing policies moving forward. One goal should be to avoid a second wave of infections that make the recent social and economic suffering for naught. I expect that this would require improved diagnostics, maintaining social distancing where able, and extensive virus surveillance to detect any surge in infections. Hopefully, this unique experience has provided everyone with insight into the practical applications of basic scientific research, the multidisciplinary response to global health threats, and the importance of science education as a bulwark against emerging diseases. Jon Dougherty, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Biology who specializes in molecular virology and microbiology. He completed
at Austin Diagnostic Clinic, was a guest speaker.
HEALTH CARE LEADERSHIP
Leading with Humility and Strength Amer Kaissi, Ph.D. // Health Care Administration In March 2019, in the small town of Christchurch, New Zealand,
a terrorist killed and injured dozens of worshippers at two local mosques while broadcasting the rampage live on Facebook. Jacinda Ardern, the country’s young prime minister, showed exemplary leadership by reacting to the crisis with a powerful combination of humility and strength. She hugged people, she held their hands, and she told them that she supported them. But she also took decisive action by passing a bill that banned all assault rifles and military-style semi-automatic weapons only six days after the attacks took place! The attacks were a tragic—but perfect—time for Ardern to show her leadership style. Less than a year later, COVID-19 is presenting another major test, and it looks like she is passing it with flying colors. Strength and decisiveness were clear again when New Zealand immediately banned travelers from China in early February before it even had a single case of the coronavirus. The country then implemented a national lockdown and closed its borders to all nonresidents. The goal was not to flatten the curve—it was to eliminate it all together! Humility and compassion are abundant in Ardern’s frequent Facebook live chats where she is both authentic and reassuring. An amazing 88 percent of Kiwis trust their leader to make the right decisions about addressing the crisis. As of late April, New Zealand had 1,107 cases of COVID-19, of which 1,006 people had recovered. Only 13 deaths had been registered in a country of 5 million people. Ardern has shattered the idea that humility and compassion are soft traits that cannot be combined with strength and determination when dealing with crises. She noted publicly, long before 2019: “One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.”
a postdoctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Health, where he
Amer Kaissi, Ph.D., is a professor of health care administration and the
worked in BSL-4 conditions on highly
author of the award-winning book Intangibles, which outlines how
pathogenic viruses.
high-performing leaders combine humility and strength.
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Raise Your Voice
Trinity students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents recount their experiences As our world changed this spring,
we asked the Trinity community to describe their new normal. Students have searched for new spaces to learn and grow, faculty have formed new routines and developed new skills, and alumni and parents have had lifelong plans altered in the blink of an eye. Your voices have told us that this new lifestyle means different things for different people. That this “new normal” is actually anything but. But our community has also told us that, scattered as we are, it’s still good to hear one another.
The tea kettle sings as two children settle in the playroom, now converted
to a family office. The dogs come in from the backyard-turned-playground. Two weeks ago, I would not have dreamed this would be my normal. Throughout the day, colleagues and alumni that I’m meeting with over Zoom will watch as I run from the room when my child falls from a slack line, watch me stir lunch on the stove while we discuss Alumni Weekend, and undoubtedly notice when my focus trails and I have to remind myself not to multitask. I am not doing this perfectly, but I am getting through it. – Katie Storey Director for Alumni Relations
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Keeping the Pace in a New Space Sydney Rhodes ’23 When I got the email, I remember sitting in my kitchen totally dazed. I had to move out. I had to say goodbye to all my new friends. I had to close a chapter of my life that I felt hadn’t truly started yet. All the routines I had grown accustomed to in the last six months were out the window. Suddenly, the independence and the friends that I’d gained at college disappeared. It felt impossible to get any work done for the first two weeks back. I couldn’t find the motivation to keep up the pace I had maintained back on campus now that I was home. Fortunately, it didn’t stay that way. I found that keeping the pace got easier once I dedicated a space to my studies and timed things so that I could take a break from school with my family in the evenings. It’s not an ideal situation, but for now, my dog and I will continue to attend my classes through Zoom, and the Trinity community will look forward to coming together again in the fall.
Being a medical student in quarantine is a confusing experience. It’s very internally conflicting to be spending hours learning clinical science and yet feel so useless watching the situation unfold through a glass window as someone not yet equipped to enter the healthcare workforce. However, it’s also incredibly humbling to watch the sacrifices of physicians and so many unsung heroes of the healthcare team. It reminds me that I’ve picked a hard path, but more importantly it reassures me how proud I am to be walking it. – Danyal Tahseen ’19
Progress, Not Perfection David Tuttle Dean of Students When the coronavirus hit the news, I really was not interested. I was more focused on the Spurs missing the playoffs—this disaster (the virus, not the Spurs) seemed a world away, literally. Then, everything changed at a break-neck pace. The first two weeks were all about reactions, and it seemed like we were all in one long meeting. And of course, in every meeting there is someone who thinks they are the smartest person in the room, talks too much, and is combative. I am usually that person. But I am proud of the way my colleagues stepped up and responded. I learned a lot about the character of the University. We haven’t been perfect, for sure. All of the preparation in the last two decades couldn’t prepare us for this. But the foundations that were built, the care for health and safety, the student-centered focus, the collegiality, the emphasis on communication, and the commitment to excellence have served us well. While I wouldn’t want to do this again, I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else.
UT Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School
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Look for the Helpers Gabrielle Largoza ‘20 The Care Collective is a student-run initiative that works to meet the
needs of those in our extended Trinity family. Anyone can request aid, and we match them with a volunteer who has expressed their capacity and ability to help. People can submit aid requests for help with errands, tutoring, emotional support, and more. As word about our project began to spread, volunteers came pouring in. We now have over 50 volunteers from across the country and are running letter-writing and mask-making campaigns to mobilize this incredible volunteer base. The fact that Trinity’s response to a crisis is “How can I help?” is truly inspiring. Thank you to our team: Rohan Walawalkar, Isabela Carson, Aamuktha Karla, Rachel Poovathoor, and Abigail DeNike. Each member had his or her own reason for wanting to help, but our uniting factor is that we all answered this call. For that, I will always be grateful.
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Sew Supportive Genevieve Humphreys ’21 After three years of being at Trinity, moving home was an adjust-
ment. The biggest change was not having all my usual extracurriculars for channelling my creative energy. So, what does a crafty person do when they are stuck at home? Start a project! The idea came pretty early on when an apparent need was identified: masks. I had no idea when I started that I would make more than 400 masks in one month. When I was not in class or working on homework, I was cutting fabric, ironing, pinning, pleating, snipping, and sewing. Even stuck at home, it is an incredible feeling to be proactive and productive. It keeps me from the alternative: sitting on my couch, exhausting all the streaming content the internet had to offer. (Well… I still did that, but while sewing.) People can abide by CDC recommendations while accessorizing with a fun pattern to brighten their spirits. I am happy to be a part of this positive effort, though I am looking forward to my next sewing project being something a little more normal, like a new dress! Maybe even with a matching mask.
The Hajovsky family quarantines together in Houston.
In Praxis Martin Hajovsky ’87, P’22 The day Trinity made The Call regarding the
rest of the semester, I was in the car with our sophomore son. He had just gotten back to Houston after visiting his brother in New York, and with the way things had been going that week—with the evening’s events bearing very little relation to the morning’s optimism—we were fully expecting the news from Trinity to be what it was. To my son’s immense credit, by the time he went to bed that evening back at home, he had a plan in place. We’d head to Trinity Thursday morning, collect his things, and get back to Houston. The one caveat is that he also planned to go back three days later to say goodbye to his roommates, who would not be able to get there until then. As you can imagine, the second trip did not happen. Nor gathering with other Trinity students in town. Nor his high school friends. Other than some small walks and errands,
Trinity University for all intents and purposes is the room upstairs in our house; study carrels in Coates Library now the floor of his room; the trip to Mabee Hall the walk to the kitchen. (Though my idea of installing a TigerBucks slot in order to access the refrigerator and pantry has yet to pass committee scrutiny.) My wife graduated from Trinity in 1985, and I followed in 1987. For just under 40 years (40 years? ohmahgerdness!) Trinity has been the place that has defined the beginning of our adulthood. We return frequently because there have been many places we have lived, but only one counts as our first true home away from home. We met each other there, fell in love there, and started our lifelong path that has been typified by what we as Trinity students understood to be “The Trinity Way,” meaning that any day you learn something new is a good day. We became Trinity alumni, but we never stopped being Trinity students.
This semester, we have had to reorient our minds radically around what “being a Trinity student” really means. Absent that wonderful place, are you still one? Well of course the answer is yes. We’ve always known that much in our heads. However, now, as both parents and alumni, we are seeing that answer in practice, or as our former professor Paula Cooey would have said, in praxis. It is staying focused and disciplined, adapting to new and completely unforeseen circumstances, feeling and expressing your frustrations but not letting it get in the way of your work, being good and kind to others, asking questions again and again and again, then getting answers, and asking some more. Experiencing his whole “synchronous remote learning” gig, our son is called to be a Trinity student way more than we ever were. In my first year at Trinity (as dinosaurs walked the Earth), I was in a physics study session with several friends. We were all struggling with a problem dealing with forces and motions when the then-chair of the department, Fred Loxsom, poked his head in to see what we were doing. He suggested a minor adjustment, and then added: “But of course, put it all on an elevator and then you’ll have a REAL problem!” (We ushered Dr. Loxsom out of that room with some ferocity.) Right now, we’re all on Dr. Loxsom’s elevator. We thought we had it hard before, but now we’ve all had to step back from our familiar ways of doing things and ask ourselves, “OK, what do we do next as things get just that much harder?” We see in our Trinity student his experiences with the school we know so well. He is having to be a Trinity student in practice as well as embody one in praxis. We have had to interact with him on that basis as well, using skills we learned at Trinity to do so. We are all learning something new every day, and you know what? No matter what else, that makes today a good day.
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Spreading Positivity, Not Germs The Trinity community takes to social media to provide support and encouragement while quarantined
When your graduate student in our Master of Arts in Teaching program accepts an offer for her first teaching job ...& you know it’s coming so you capture the reactions of celebration & love from her cohort & faculty! Congrats Khaniya! – Angela Breidenstein ’91, M’92, education professor
Trinity University Alumni Happy Hour with Pableaux Johnson ’88 and Joe Daschbach ’95 (safely distanced, of course). – Hugh Dashbach ’95
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TRINITY Spring 2020
With my online classroom helper Selena, who has now made multiple appearances in online U.S. Religions lectures to the delight of @Trinity_U students. – Angela Tarango, religion professor
HOPPY I was home to make Easter cookies this year. Hope everyBUNNY has an EGGcellent Easter! #TUmilkandcookies – Brette Thornton ’23
A neighborhood photographer is doing a #frontstepsproject in our neighborhood! So fun to have something positive right now. – Angela Sammons P’22, P’24
“TUPD officers pulling 12-hour shifts to keep less officers exposed. LeeRoy says, ‘Put your mask on!’” – Trinity University Police Department Three year old: This is where @Trinity_U is. Let’s build the tower. #GoTrinity #Tigerlove #facultykids – Kelly Grey Carlisle, English professor
Dr. Rebecca Densley’s Principles of Advertising class celebrates our first remote #maroonfriday with help from @mobilesworking #tucomm – Trinity Department of Communication (L-R) Laura Smeaton ’92, Amy McGee ’92, Susan Scheuer ’93 As the sun sets on another day, I am reminded of a recent trip I took to Indian Rocks Beach near St. Petersburg #Florida with my #sororitysisters earlier this year. Some of my truest, dearest, longestlasting friendships are still those forged through my sorority in my college years. I know there is a lot of uncertainty right now as we brace for what #thenewnormal might look like, so I think it is more important than ever to remember the things we are #grateful for. I am grateful for my #SigmaThetaTau sisters, our annual trips together, and that walk together on the beach to experience this gorgeous sunset melting into the sea. – Amy McGee ’92
The real April Fools joke is that I have to Photoshop my senior grad photos #classofcorona – Sophie Dwyer ’20
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The Big Picture More than 1,500 Tigers—an all-time record–returned to campus in October for Alumni Weekend. At the inaugural Oakmont Block Party (pictured), Tigers from classes dating back to the 1950s attended decade-specific mixers in the historic houses of Trinity’s Oakmont Court.
EDITOR’S NOTE TRINITY Spring 2020
In an issue composed of stories, this is mine: Never in my life would
I have expected to attend a funeral mass on Instagram Live. From Brazil. For my father-in-law. Until April 28, 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic was an annoying and frustrating inconvenience. It upended my job
Editor Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 Managing Editor Molly Mohr Bruni Graphic Designers Laura Kaples Fred Valenzuela
functions. It cut short my 2-year-old’s school year. It forced me into a small, shared office with an extraordinarily smart professor who takes up the entire whiteboard with his math-without-numbers. And more than 3,000 miles away, it had spread like wildfire among healthy, happy members of my husband’s family—most of whom were on their way toward the smoother end of a rocky recovery. On April 28, 2020, my husband’s father died, his wise and animated soul crushed by complications from the coronavirus. It had been 48 hours since the doctors felt the best option was to “make him comfortable.” It had been 26 days since my mother-in-law had last seen her husband. It had been 28 days since he was admitted to the hospital showing signs and symptoms. And more than 3,000 miles away, it was my birthday. Seven days later, with the iPhone on a tripod on our living room coffee table, a priest is blessing the life of Ernesto Soares Balreira Filho while family members are repeatedly typing praying-hands emojis, faces with heart eyes, and Amém. A nondescript hymn rises from the priest’s phone, placed neatly beside the Eucharist; across the language barrier I recognize an Aleluia, an Espírito Santo. Cabral sighs. Grief isn’t supposed to be this way—separate from those we love the most, when we need them the most, and when they need us. Absent physical touch, absent smells of home-cooked meals from
Contributors Carlos Anchondo ’14 Jordan Bruce ’21 Bri Davis ’15 Abby DeNike ’20 Elizabeth Ford ’93, M’96 Nicolette Good ’07 James Hill ’76 Robin J. Johnson Brindl Langley
Editorial Team Ashley Festa Jeremy Gerlach Garrett Robertson Taylor Stakes
Aly Lilley ’09 Joy McGaugh ’04 Margaret Miller Joshua Moczygemba ’05 Sydney Rhodes ’23 Kale Ridge ’21 Sharon Jones Schweitzer ’75 Carla Sierra Burgin Streetman
We extend a heartfelt “Thank You!” to everyone who shared their stories for this special edition of the magazine. This issue is about the community that makes us One Trinity, and it couldn’t have happened without you.
Trinity is published by the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing and is sent to alumni, faculty, staff, graduate students, parents of undergraduates, and friends of the University. Editorial Offices Trinity University Strategic Communications and Marketing One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 jgoodri1@trinity.edu | 210-999-8406 magazine.trinity.edu
neighbors, absent the Espírito Santo in the church sanctuary that takes the form of sniffles and songs and memories. A lonely grief, but not a singular one, giving new meaning to “alone, together.” After the service came the stories. Você se lembra quando o meu pai… ? Meu pai era o tipo de homem que… No, I didn’t remember. But Cabral and Didi and Andrea and Ernesto Neto and Dona Nina did. They remembered well into the night, their stories bringing vivid and vibrant life back to a man who truly loved living. “I can’t wait to tell our baby these stories,” Cabral says to me, placing his hand on my tummy, one tear in his left eye. “But why wait until September,” I ask, “when we can start telling them now?”
Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08
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President Danny J. Anderson Board of Trustees Ruth K. Agather April Ancira ’02 Erin M. Baker ’99 Annell R. Bay ’77 Ted W. Beneski Jelynne L. Burley ’88 Stephen W. Butt ’77 Miles C. Cortez ’64 Janet St. Clair Dicke ’68 Cydney C. Donnell Douglas D. Hawthorne ’69, M’72 Marshall A. Hess ’88 Gen. James T. Hill ’68 Walter R. Huntley Jr. ’71, M’73 E. Carey Joullian IV ‘82 The Rev. Dr. Richard R. Kannwischer ’95 Christopher M. Kinsey ’79
Dr. Katherine Wood Klinger ’72 John C. Korbell Oliver T.W. Lee ’93 Steven P. Mach ’92 Robert S. McClane ’61 Melody Boone Meyer ’79 Marshall B. Miller Jr. Michael F. Neidorff ’65 Thomas Schluter ’85 Thomas R. Semmes L. Herbert Stumberg Jr. ’81 Jessica W. Thorne ’91 Michelle L. Collette ’06 Alumni Adviser The Rev. James D. Freeman ’83 Synod of the Sun Rep.
MEET THE TEAM If you hear loud noises, it’s just my office mate. I can meet during Jack’s naptime.
Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 Editor
Molly Mohr Bruni Managing Editor
I miss hearing y’all cussing.
Laura Kaples Graphic Designer
Jeremy Gerlach Brand Journalist
Let’s offline about that.
Garrett Robertson Content Producer
Taylor Stakes Multimedia Manager
Fred Valenzuela Graphic Designer
Trinity Community Thank You!
I’m on top of it, Rose.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | 2019 OF TRINITY UNIVERSITY THE MAGAZINE
THE MAGAZINE OF TRINITY UNIVERSITY | 2019
THE MAGA ZINE
OF TRINIT Y
UNIVE RSITY
| 2019
Letters from Friends
| 2019 TRINITY UNIVERSITY THE MAGAZINE OF
THE MAGA ZINE
OF TRINIT Y
UNIVE RSITY
I received Trinity magazine today
Each time I read the latest Trinity
and wanted to tell you how much I
magazine, I imagine Dad with a
enjoyed it. As I read about Trinity’s
huge smile on his face! There are
founding in Tehuacana, I was
so many wonderful and amazing
reminded of one of my favorite
things happening on the Trinity Hill!
stories about a boy whose girl-
– Sally Laurie Murphy ’54
friend went to Trinity when it was
Daughter of former Trinity
at Tehuacana. About the time he
President James Laurie
learned to spell Tehuacana, Trinity
| 2019
moved to Waxahachie, and he decided to get a new girlfriend! – Tom Wilbanks ’57
Memories we filled our 150th anniversary commemorative issue with 150 memories of life at trinity.
Many Tigers took to social media to share their own memories.
Balcony Life
Mountain Laurels
balcony window to let me know
Swinging in a hammock of the brand new Prassel and listening to the grackles while reading Jane Eyre.
I got engaged on my Trinity balcony.
he was almost there.
– Christie Manners ’91
[I] set up a card game of Crazy 8s
When I was dating my now husband (of 50 years ago last week!) he used to throw pennies up to our fourth floor of Lightner
– Kathleen Greene ’82
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planted one at our home in Fort Worth as a reminder. – jujuhulsey
and rigged the deck to say one
That fragrance will always be ‘Spring at Trinity.’
No one has ever committed
word on each of her 8 cards—
– maryannebarber1
shenanigans on a balcony
“Andrea I love you will you marry
at Trinity.
me.” She said yes, and we will
I wish I had a scratch-and-sniff
– Geoffrey Hummelke ’94
celebrate our 20-year anniversary
print of this photo. – mconder24
– Bonnie Wright Clemons ’65
The ROTC guys rappelling off the roof! (I think that was in Lightner–been a few years!)
Indeed the smell of Trinity. We
in May. – David Coney ’99
When I smelled that grape Kool-Aid smell... I always felt like I was coming home – penguinitx
Cardiac Hill Cardiac Hill gave me shin splints, but I wouldn’t trade them for all my time at Trinity. – Samantha Hubbard ’91 As I say on my tours, it’s an excuse to skip the gym. – Jordan Bruce ’21
I will never forget the day that my roommate dropped a floppy disk onto the rocks below, and we watched it melt. – Julia Ringwalt Burnside ’84
I remember that first morning of classes, back in 1977...walking up, climbing up, those stairs. I was winded, out-of-breath, sweating like a pig in August heat and humidity. A frightened freshman, I was housed in Calvert. But then, by fall, I realized I had climbed the stairs with no effort–it got me into shape!
Cat Alliance | Trinity
either. It was just the way we got
[A] cat that I used to have, Brandy, was born at Trinity in Calvert dorm. She was a great cat, lived to be 19 years old.
from lower to upper campus.
– Jane Polk ’78
I walked up and down those steps hundreds of times each year. We never thought much of them at the time (early ’60s). We never called it Cardiac Hill
– George Achziger ’81
My daughter often sends me pictures of her sitting down with a cat who has come up to greet her. Makes the school feel more like a home. – Alexandra De Leon Johnson P’23
I love Trinity.
It’s one of the reasons why we love our daughter going to school there.
– Patricia Gonzales Santos M’81
– Gabrielle DeLuca P’20
– Roger Floyd ’63 Thank you all for your kindness to these kitties! Another reason why
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TRINITY TODAY
First-Generation College Celebration New event recognizes first-gen students
Clawing Up the Rankings Trinity receives national and regional recognition Trinity Reclaims No. 1 in the West U.S. News and World Report
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# TOP
13
Among Liberal Arts Institutions and No. 111 College in the Nation U.S. News and World Report
% Education
for Undergraduate Princeton Review
Trinity’s First-Generation College Celebration, held in November, commemorated the prevalence of first-generation students, approximately 12 percent of Tigers, for the role they play in cultivating a student body with diverse thoughts and experiences.
Writing Center Tutors Earn Certification Student tutors earn Level One CRLA Certification Tutors at the Trinity University Writing Center have reached Level One Certification by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). CRLA training emphasizes collaborative and active learning and critical thinking. The student tutors completed 10 hours of training, passed multiple evaluations, and tutored for a minimum of 25 hours. The Writing Center is now pursuing Level Two Advanced Certification.
2019-20 Lecture Series University brings diverse array of speakers to campus The University brought a variety of notable speakers to campus for lecture series, including: Reading TUgether Lecture: Eula Biss Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series:
Barbara Schaal and Hakeem Oluseyi Distinguished Lecture Series:
Gen. Stan McChrystal Maverick Lecture: Judy Woodruff MLK Jr. Commemorative Lecture:
Robert Bullard Flora Cameron Lecture on Politics and Public Affairs:
The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP
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Celebrating the Class of 2020 Celebrate the Class of 2020 through social media using the hashtag #2020TUgether May 16, 2020 VIRTUAL CONFERRAL OF DEGREES
Winter Commencement Tiger graduation completes year of Trinity’s 150th Anniversary More than 100 undergraduate and graduate students became Tiger alumni during Trinity’s 2019 winter commencement. Surrounded by family, friends, and faculty, these alumni felt the Spirit of Trinity during the last event of the University’s 150th year.
Trinity Lends 3D Printing Equipment 3D printers help produce PPE for efforts against COVID-19
Trinity Donates PPE During Pandemic University partners with alumna to benefit Seguin medical facilities
Trinity lent four of its 3D printers to local startup CANopener Labs to help the company produce personal protective equipment for area health care workers. An effort spearheaded by Les Bleamaster III ’98, the science facilities manager for the Center for the Sciences and Innovation (CSI), the 3D printers were moved from their normal location in the CSI Makerspace to Canopener earlier in the spring. Specifically, the 3D printers are helping Canopener produce brackets to hold face shields in place.
Trinity donated desperately needed personal protective equipment to the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center in Seguin, helping its emergency room, intensive care units, and network of about 170 physicians associated with the medical center. The University partnered with Deana Henk M’95, a Trinity health care administration graduate and executive director at the center, to facilitate the donation. Les Bleamaster III ’98, science facilities manager for the Center for the Sciences and Innovation (CSI), and David Lopez, lab supervisor for CSI, worked together with Seguin resident Tess Coody-Anders ’93, vice president for Strategic Communications and Marketing, and Osvaldo Crespo, director for Environmental Health and Safety, to gather supplies, including coveralls, surgical gowns, and face masks and shields.
Trinity welcomes its Class of 2020 into its alumni network at the virtual conferral of degrees. Tune in to the Tiger Network at live.trinity.edu at the time of the virtual degree conferral. • Graduate Ceremony | 9 a.m. • Undergraduate Ceremony (Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music) | 10:30 a.m. • Undergraduate Ceremony (Bachelor of Science) | 2:30 p.m. August 7, 2020 SENIOR TRADITIONS DAY
To kick off the traditional Spring 2020 commencement experience, graduates may participate in time-honored and treasured Trinity events, including the Tower Climb, the ring dip, and the president’s reception. August 8, 2020 TRADITIONAL COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES
Trinity will hold traditional commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Aug. 8. The Spring 2020 undergraduate and graduate classes are welcome back to campus to celebrate commencement exercises in person with friends, family, and loved ones. For more information, visit the University’s commencement webpage at gotu.us/ClassOf2020. Public health conditions may force the University to reevaluate these plans, and Trinity is committed to communicating updates or changes as soon as possible.
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TRINITY TODAY
Guenther Park Rededication Trinity honors generosity of Erhard R. Guenther and his family Trinity rededicated the historic Guenther Park area on Dec. 5, 2019, as part of the University’s 150th Anniversary. The original Guenther Park, dedicated in 1953, honored the legacy of Erhard R. Guenther, whose generosity helped Trinity breathe new life into a workable tract of land that had once been an abandoned limestone quarry. This gift, given by Alfred G. Beckman, helped Trinity reach its goals for a comprehensive building campaign. Trinity’s Guenther Park reaffirms the support given by the Guenther family in a space reminiscent of and near to the original park, and it protects a natural space in which students can continue to learn and grow.
Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Grant $275,000 grant empowers 10 department chairs Trinity received a $275,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, which will help empower 10 department chairs to develop their leadership capacities while addressing institutional needs. Chairs will attend professional development workshops and receive support and guidance from an
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external executive coach. These chairs will then direct projects that affect institutional change of their own design, each with a measurable outcome.
Dill and Khullar
Debate Team Ranks Highest in Program History Student duo finishes the year No. 14 in the country Two of Trinity’s stellar debate team seniors finished the year No. 14 in the nation, a historic first for the debate program. Ansh Khullar ’20 and Ian Dill ’20 are the first Trinity debaters to ever finish the year in the top-16 rankings of the National Debate Tournament, which was canceled due to the pandemic. Leaving a lofty legacy for future Tigers to follow, Dill and Khullar ranked alongside teams from Harvard, Georgetown, California-Berkeley, Dartmouth, and Michigan.
Giving from the Heart Student emergency fund supports those in need during crisis Seeing immediate needs arising from the sudden shift to remote synchronous learning in the middle of the spring semester, the University established the COVID-19 Student Emergency Fund in mid-March. This fund is designed to help cover expenses directly related to the pandemic, including food, housing, medical care, technology, and travel. It is supported in part by the established Raymond Judd Student Emergency Fund. Trinity encouraged donations to this fund from alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends. Several individuals and organizations matched incoming gifts, including Trustee Ted Beneski; alumni Chris Scoggins ’95 and Jay ’93 and Shannon McTiernan ’96 Thomson; the Chi Delta Tau Foundation, Spurs Foundation, and Bengal Lancer Foundation; and individual Greek alumni. As of late April, the fund had raised more than $71,000 from almost 350 gifts, with 280 of those gifts from alumni. Including the challenge matches, the Student Emergency Fund has garnered more than $126,000 total. To date, Trinity has received more than 250 requests for financial assistance from the fund.
A KIND Gift Daniel Lubetzky ‘90 gives $1 million to Department of Education
Kelleher Agather
LeBlanc Burley
Bay
Donnell
Trinity Adds Four to the Board Board of Trustees welcomes an all-female slate of new members In 2019, Trinity welcomed four new members to its Board of Trustees, which continues to draw leadership from a well-rounded set of individuals with diverse experiences and backgrounds. Trinity’s newly elected Trustees include:
Trinity University’s Department of Education received a $1 million gift from Trinity alumnus Daniel Lubetzky ’90, executive chairman and founder of KIND Healthy Snacks. The gift will support the Lubetzky Social Emotional Learning Faculty Research Fellowship fund, which will bolster faculty research projects in social-emotional learning. This support includes a partnership with Empatico, a free online learning platform founded by Lubetzky that connects classrooms around the world. The gift includes a grant that will launch Empatico within many San Antonio area school districts, as well as an endowment that promotes social and emotional learning-based research and teacher preparation. Led by Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos, Pat Norman, Rocio Delgado, and Heather Haynes Smith ’97, M’98, the Department of Education will equip and deploy more than 495 teachers and counselors to use Empatico with approximately 162,000 students.
Ruth Kelleher Agather
artner at Rosenthal Pauerstein P Sandoloski Agather LLP in San Antonio Annell R. Bay ’77
hairperson of the corporate governance C committee for Apache Corporation in Houston Jelynne LeBlanc Burley M’88
resident and CEO of the Center for P Health Care Services in Bexar County Cydney C. Donnell
ulio S. LaGuarata Professor in Real J Estate and executive professor and associate department head of finance at the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University in College Station Lubetzky
Turning the Corner Stumberg crowns 2019 champion, welcomes next finalists Trinity entrepreneurs Bobby Magee ’21 and Chris Stewart ’21 have built LuxTurn, a device for motorcyclists that flashes a powerful LED-projected turn signal onto an adjacent lane. LuxTurn allows motorists to apply this technology to both their turn signals and their brake lights. This product won $20,000 in seed money as the winner of the 2019 Stumberg Venture Competition, Trinity’s premiere pitch contest for studentrun startups. The program provides $50,000 in total investments through both rounds of competition as well as support, education, and mentoring during the Summer Accelerator program. Joining LuxTurn at the top of the Stumberg podium was digital education platform Storyspread, launched by Chikanma Ibeh ’22, taking home $5,000 of prize money. Though the 2020 edition of the competition had to be held remotely, a new generation of startup finalists has risen to the challenge: Chiropack, a re-engineered backpack from Neha Kapur ’22; CompassVet, a humane, at-home pet euthanasia service from Tiffany Perez ’21; Empower Media, an entertainment support initiative from Sebastian Trujillo ’22, Austin Sanders ’22, and John Jay ’22; Revive Snacks, a healthy snack option from Kincannon Wilson ’22 and Amy Platter ’22; Sapphire, a smart bottle lid from Tara Lujan ’22 and Zachary Taylor ’20; and Tacos Papi, authentic Mexican street tacos from Alvaro Marquez ’20 and Francisco Macias ’20.
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TRINITY UNIVERSITY PRESS
Fault Lines: Portraits of East Austin John Langmore After years of observing the fragmentation of East Austin’s Latino and African American communities, photographer John Langmore began to chronicle the historic neighborhood. He captures the area’s unique nature to make Texans aware of the people affected by the state’s growth.
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How the Gringos Stole Tequila: The Modern Age of Mexico’s Most Traditional Spirit Chantal Martineau How the Gringos Stole Tequila traces the spirit’s evolution in America from frat house firewater to luxury good. Martineau spent several years immersing herself in the world of tequila— traveling through Mexico and the U.S.—and now offers a glimpse into tequila’s social history.
Marfa Garden: The Wonders of Dry Desert Plants Jim Fissel, Martha Hughes, Jim Martinez, and Mary Lou Saxon Marfa Garden is a full-color celebration of more than sixty flowering plants of the Chihuahuan Desert and neighboring regions spanning West Texas, parts of New Mexico and Arizona, and northern Mexico. It is a showcase for colorful plant diversity.
The West Will Swallow You: Essays Leath Tonino Leath Tonino has traversed “the alphabet of the American West,” writing about its mysterious and powerful beauty. Although the adventures collected here range widely in terrain and tone, the Western landscape is always front and center.
San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg ’99 sports his Read Local T-shirt.
Read Locally, Think Nationally TU Press uses campaign to benefit local booksellers across the nation
300 Years of San Antonio and Bexar County edited by Claudia Guerra
Dispatches from the End of Ice: Essays Beth Peterson
Now in paperback, this book captures the iconic stories, moments, people, and places that define one of the oldest communities in the U.S. Diverse authors joined forces to produce this illustrated, thematic telling of the city’s history.
A few months after Beth Peterson moved to a village on the edge of Europe’s largest glacier, things began to disappear: The glacier was melting, and two friends went missing. Part science, part essay, and part research—these essays are the writer’s attempt to understand disappearance.
Trinity University Press is committed to civic engagement with ideas. Published books, public programs, and related media help us all understand our place in a crowded world with a particular focus on the following areas: bilingual early childhood literacy; the human relationship to the physical environment, ranging from wilderness to constructed, urban life; social equity and justice; the interdependence of animal and human life; and southwestern U.S. and Mexican regional
In 2019, Trinity University Press launched its “Read Local” campaign at the San Antonio and Texas book festivals. According to Press Director Tom Payton, “We’re shining a light on local writers, booksellers, publishers, readers, and stories. Celebrating that is a message that resonates everywhere.” This spring, the Press planned to broaden the campaign with T-shirts, stickers, buttons, and Fiesta medals. Instead, as COVID-19 saw gatherings canceled, they took the Read Local campaign online locally, including the San Antonio Book Festival as a beneficiary of part of the revenue. Seeing retailers across the country struggle, TU Press then took Read Local national to support more than 1,800 independent U.S. booksellers, using a sporty campaign design by former Press intern Sarah Cooper ’15. During May and June, national sales proceeds will benefit the nonprofit publishing mission of the Press as well as the Book Industry Charitable Council, an organization that provides support to small booksellers in times of crisis. Local sales continue to benefit the San Antonio Book Festival. “We’re community-focused and committed to civic engagement, so this initiative is perfect for spreading the Read Local message while helping small businesses we value,” Payton says. Visit read-local.org to start Reading Local today!
“We’re shining a light on local writers, booksellers, publishers, readers, and stories.”
studies. For more information, visit tupress.org.
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LIT PICKS
Admired and Endured Coleen Grissom’s Reading List
Wouldn’t you think that after more than 50 years of
starting the spring semester attending administrative committee meetings or sitting in a big circle leading bright, articulate young adults in examining a contemporary novel, one would be thrilled in 2020 to sleep a bit later and to have committees or classes replaced by cleaning out litter boxes and replenishing the bird feeders? Well, think again. Consider that almost everything is, in fact, a trade off. I realize it’s not a pretty picture, but I did dance a little jig when a former student Jeanna Goodrich Balreira, now something called “Director for Content Strategy” at Trinity, asked me if I’d like to submit some reading suggestions for this publication. I do have more time for reading, and I still teach two Literary Excursions (one in Boerne, one at the Landa House for the San Antonio Public Library Foundation) for “more mature” students (which is a euphemism for “chronologically older than college-age”). In my ongoing struggle to keep up with the times, as well as accept the changes in eyesight that come with aging, I buy books both on Kindle and in hard copy. I never want to give up the feel, heft, and smell of a “real” book and being able to say, “It’s in that last paragraph on the lower right corner of the page about half-way through the book.” (Since I worked my way through undergraduate school in the college library erasing markings in library books, I have never ever marked in a book. EVER.) To decide what I’ll read next, I scan literary reviews in periodicals I admire, most often the The New York
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Times and Kirkus Reviews. I also, without fail, collect the latest works from contemporary writers whose previous novels I’ve admired: Margaret Atwood, Louise Erdrich, Richard Russo, Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, David Sedaris, Carl Hiaasen, Miriam Toews, George Saunders, Jennifer Egan, Ian McEwan, Colum McCann, Jesmyn Ward, Michael Chabon, Richard Flanagan, and more. If these writers aren’t on your must-read list, trust me, add them. As the astute among you quickly notice, I rarely read nonfiction. The state of the nation and the world (as understood through journalism) is more than I can handle.
From “most admired” to “just endured because I started it,” here are readings I recommend this year: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood — a powerful, motivating continuation of her classic The Handmaid’s Tale. The Overstory by Richard Powers — You aren’t worried about the environment and don’t think everything in the universe is interconnected and interdependent? Then skip this. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan — Need the verisimilitude of prisoners of
wars’ experiences? This one is epic.
On Home TURF: A group of Trinity University Retired Faculty (TURF) used to meet for lunch in the Skyline Dining Room on a regular basis, but even they have turned to Zoom for their monthly get-togethers. Attending the May digital luncheon were Ken Hummel, Bob Blystone, Joe Davis, Tucker Gibson, Don Van Eynde, Paul Golliher, Rick Cooper, Karen Waldron, Carl Hubbard, Rich Butler, Bill Walker, Shirley Rushing, and Danny Anderson. Ben Plummer joined by phone.
Women Talking by Miriam Toews — A gripping, funny, fast-moving story of, as one critic put it, “deep moral intelligence, a master-class in ethics beautifully dressed as a novel.” Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo — A remarkably funny book that offers realistic insights into working-class life in a depressed economy. Florida by Lauren Groff — Short stories written in Groff’s remarkably mesmerizing prose. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea — “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy
family is unhappy in its own way.” The Friend by Sigrid Nunez — Okay, I read this mostly because the cover features a handsome Great Dane, and the plot considers human love and grief as well as the bond between humans and their dogs. (I just turned 86, for God’s sake. Give me a break.) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones — Miscarriages of justice distress us all, and Jones explores a devastating one in a powerful manner. A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey — Remember picaresque literature? Rogues of low social order engage in fast-moving plots combining believable slapstick and serious messages.
Milkman by Anna Burns — Every critic admired this Booker Prize winner, but I struggled with unnamed characters and the digressive prose. I also needed to know and care more about the Irish “Troubles” of the ’70s. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens — Atop the bestseller list throughout 2019, this novel seems way too familiar to many books I read when I was an adolescent. My advice? Just wait a short while for the inevitable movie version. Please continue (or start) making reading fine fiction an integral part of your life. I promise it will help you believe, as I do, Margaret Atwood’s observation, “After everything that’s happened, how can the world still be so beautiful? Because it is.”
Warmest best wishes to you and to all you love, Coleen Grissom Professor Emerita of English Trinity University
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TIGER PRIDE
2019 Athletics Hall of Fame The Trinity University Athletics Hall of Fame inducted its 11th class during Alumni Weekend on Oct. 5, 2019, at halftime of the Tigers football game with Austin (TX) College.
Jerheme Urban ’03 Football and Men’s Track & Field
Amy Barrett Adams ’97 Volleyball
Jerheme Urban ’03 was a nine-year National Football League veteran and member of two Super Bowl teams: the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals. He was a 2002 AllAmerican in football and was the first player in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) history to win four straight Track & Field Athlete of the Year awards. Urban broke 14 football and track records in his career. He has completed six seasons as head football coach of the Tigers.
Amy Barrett Adams ’97 was an American Volleyball Coaches Association AllAmerican and the SCAC Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. She is the school recordholder in career aces at Trinity. Adams is also one of only six players in school history to record 1,300-plus kills and 1,300 or more digs in a career.
Tara Rohde Andersen ’05 Women’s Basketball
Christyn Schumann Baer ’06 Women’s Track & Field
Josh Card ’05 Men’s Soccer
Bo Edwards ’00, M’01 Football and Baseball
Tara Rohde Andersen ’05 was the 2005 Jostens Trophy award winner as the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year. She was also a key member of Trinity’s 2003 NCAA Championship team. Andersen was an All-American in 2004 and 2005 and earned Academic All-America honors in 2004.
Christyn Schumann Baer ’06 was a four-time NCAA Division III Champion in the high jump and a five-time All-American from 2004-2006. She was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award and was an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient in 2006.
Josh Card ’05 was a National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American in 2000 and 2002. He broke five Tiger school records during his career and remains the all-time leading goal-scorer. Card led Trinity to its first NCAA semifinals appearance in 2002.
Bo Edwards ’00, M’01 was a two-time American Baseball Coaches Association AllAmerican in baseball and was the SCAC Player of the Year in 1998. He also was an Academic All-American in 1999 and received the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2001. Edwards broke 23 records in baseball and football during his Trinity career.
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TIGER PRIDE
Becky Geyer Women’s Basketball Coach
Larry Gottfried ’80 Men’s Tennis
Becky Geyer led Trinity to the 2003 NCAA Division III National Championship. She held a career record of 229107 (.682), breaking the school record for wins and winning percentage. Geyer was a two-time Division III National Coach of the Year and was the 2003 San Antonio Express-News Sportswoman of the Year.
Larry Gottfried ’80 was a three-time All-American in 1977, 1978, and 1979. He broke the Tiger record with 91 singles wins and led the 1977 and 1979 teams to the NCAA Division I Finals. In 1978, Gottfried also handed tennis great John McEnroe his only collegiate loss.
James Hill ’76 Public Address Announcer and Sports Information James Hill ’76 has been the official “Voice of the Tigers” since 1994. His signature line, “Here come the Tigers,” can be heard all over campus. Hill has dedicated 40 years of distinguished service to Trinity’s athletic department.
Mary HammRidings ’76 Women’s Tennis
Rod Susman ’63 Men’s Tennis
Mary Hamm-Ridings ’76 led Trinity to the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Collegiate National Championship in 1973, 1975, and 1976. She was an All-American in 1976. Hamm-Ridings was a USTA Singles Finalist in 1974 and was the USTA Doubles runner-up in 1973.
Rod Susman ’63 was the first nationally ranked men’s tennis player recruited by Trinity. He is also a member of the St. Louis Tennis Hall of Fame. Susman reached the Mixed-Doubles Semifinals at Wimbledon as a professional and was ranked in the top 20 on the World Tour.
The Mississippi Miracle Football play The Mississippi Miracle was a 15-lateral play in 2007 at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, that covered 61 yards and spanned more than a minute. It is believed to be the longest-lasting play in college football history. The play was nominated for an ESPY for Best Play and was Time Magazine’s Top Sports Moment of 2007. The play was named the Pontiac GameChanging Performance of the Year, resulting in a $100,000 scholarship for Trinity’s general scholarship fund. Jon Wiener ’10 and Justin Thompson ’07 made the call on a live webcast. The team was led by longtime head football coach Steve Mohr, a 2015 Trinity Athletics Hall of Fame inductee.
top row, from left to right Wade Lytal ‘09, Steve Arnold ‘08, Chris Coleman ‘09, Brandon Maddux ‘08, Blake Barmore ‘08, Tyler Feezell ‘08. bottom row, from left to right Josh Hooten ‘11, Shawn Thompson ‘09, Steve Mohr, Riley Curry ‘09, M’11, Michael Tomlin ‘08 magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY
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TIGER PRIDE
Edmonson
Canepa
Football
Women’s Soccer
Guided by sixth-year Head Coach Jerheme Urban ’03, the Tigers shared the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Championship with Berry (GA) College. Coach Urban was elected by his peers as the SAA Football Coach of the Year. The Tigers sizzled, winning their final seven games, and finished the season with an 8-2 record, along with posting a 7-1 mark in the SAA. Trinity junior running back and special teams standout Michael Edmonson was elected to the D3football.com All-America Specialists Third Team and as the SAA Special Teams Player of the Year. Senior offensive lineman Patrick Quintana was tabbed for the Honorable Mention AllAmerica Team. Earlier, the two Tigers were selected for the D3football.com AllSouth Region First Team and the All-SAA First Team. Edmonson was ranked second in all of the NCAA Division III kick returns and was fourth in blocked kicks. Quintana graded out to a 93 after starting at both center and guard. Senior wide receiver Tommy Lavine joined Edmonson on the All-SAA First Team Offense. Senior defensive back Nic Hover, junior defensive lineman Campbell Miller, and sophomore linebacker Michael Jewett were tabbed for the All-SAA First Team Defense.
With fourth-year Head Coach Dylan Harrison ’02 at the helm, the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Division III Round of 16 for the first time since the 2016 season. Trinity completed the year with a 17-4-1 overall record and an 8-0-0 mark in conference play. The Tigers made their 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and headed to Abilene, Texas, for the opening rounds. Trinity defeated Pacific Lutheran (WA) University and host Hardin-Simmons (TX) University. Next up was a trip to Grantham, Pennsylvania, for the Round of 16, which was won by eventual NCAA champion Messiah (PA) College. Trinity was ranked 20th by the final D3soccer.com poll and 22nd by United Soccer Coaches. Prior to the NCAA postseason, the Tigers competed in the SCAC Tournament at Georgetown, Texas. Top-seeded Trinity— which won the regular-season title—received a bye to the semifinals and defeated the University of Dallas (TX). The Tigers and host Southwestern (TX) University fought their way to a 0-0 tie, and the Pirates won the championship by penalty kicks. Coach Harrison was elected SCAC Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year for the third straight occasion. The Tiger coaches were selected as the NCAA Division III West Region Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches. Sharing the honor with Coach Harrison were Assistant Coaches Spencer Valdespino, Claire Edwards ’08, and Jeremiah Narvaez.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Senior defender Kristen Canepa was named the SCAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in a row. She also was elected to the United Soccer Coaches All-America First Team and the D3soccer.com All-America Second Team, earning All-America kudos for the second consecutive year. Joining Canepa on the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region First Team were sophomore midfielder Camryn Beall and sophomore forward Katy Ward. Sophomore midfielder Cece Hendricks made All-West Region Third Team. Canepa qualified for the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-West Region First Team, and junior goalkeeper Paige Wallace made the Second Team.
Hill
Women’s Golf The Tigers swept team and individual titles at their Alamo City Classic in October at The Quarry Golf Course. Trinity finished 37 strokes in front of second-place Schreiner (TX) University, winning the fallseason tournament for the third time in four years. Sophomore Raquel Hill won the individual title after rising from third place on the opening day. Carla Spenkoch is in her 22nd year as the head of Trinity’s women’s golf program.
TIGER PRIDE
Bartee
Krimbill
Men’s Golf
Men’s Tennis
Trinity won the team championship of its Alamo City Classic in October at The Quarry Golf Course, taking the title by one shot. Senior Peyton Bartee was Trinity’s top finisher with a third-place finish. Sean Etheredge is in his seventh season as head coach of the Tigers.
Junior Cameron Krimbill won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southwest Region Men’s Singles Championship in Georgetown, Texas, in September. Krimbill qualified for the ITA Cup at Rome, Georgia. He came up short in a three-setter in the opening round. He bounced back to win a three-set match in the consolation round but then lost in the consolation semifinals in three sets. Krimbill tied for 11th place at the tournament. The men’s tennis team is led by 11thyear Head Coach Russell McMindes ’02.
Men’s Swimming Junior swimmer Beau Tipton turned in an excellent performance in the 200-meter butterfly at the Toyota U.S. Open in December at Atlanta, Georgia. Tipton swam the event in 2:03.32 for 34th place in the preliminaries, coming in one second better than his seed time. A number of the best swimmers in the world converged on Atlanta for slots in the U.S. Olympic Trials, to be held in June at Omaha, Nebraska. Scott Trompeter is in his third season as head men’s and women’s swimming coach.
live.trinity.edu Tiger Network is Trinity’s live streaming network, covering athletics and special events for a worldwide audience. Tiger Network showcases #TigerPride in full HD with realtime replays, color commentary by professionals and student-athletes, and on-demand options.
Van Der Lee
Men’s Soccer
Tipton
Led by 29th-year Head Coach Paul McGinlay, the Tigers received their 18th consecutive bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament and hosted the first two rounds. Trinity claimed a first-round victory over the University of Texas-Dallas but fell short to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CA) Colleges in the second. The Tigers completed the campaign with a 12-7-2 overall record.
Watch events ON DEMAND On-demand videos include: • Tiger Enrichment Series webinars • Concerts and performances • Archived speakers and lectures • Commencement exercises • And more!
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TIGER PRIDE
Early in the season, Coach McGinlay captured his 500th career victory. He now stands at 509-85-31 (.839) and is ranked second in winning percentage among all-time NCAA Division III coaches. Prior to the NCAA Tournament, Trinity hosted the SCAC Tournament and opened with a quarterfinals victory over the University of Dallas (TX). Texas Lutheran beat the Tigers in the semifinals. Four Tiger players earned All-SCAC recognition. Junior midfielder Quentin Van Der Lee and sophomore defender Jacob Galan were selected for the United Soccer Coaches AllWest Region First Team, with Van Der Lee getting the nod for the second year in a row. Junior forward Andrea Codispoti made the All-West Region Third Team.
Ellis
Volleyball
SCAC Academic Honor Roll A total of 67 Tigers qualified for the SCAC Fall Academic Honor Roll. To be eligible, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.25 for the semester and be a regular member of a varsity athletic team in a conference-sponsored sport. Women’s soccer led the way with 23 student-athletes, followed by men’s soccer with 18. Trinity volleyball had 12 qualifiers, while women’s cross country had eight, and the men’s cross country team posted six student-athletes on the roll.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Led by 35th-year Head Coach Julie Jenkins, the Tigers completed one of their most successful seasons in Trinity history, finishing third in the NCAA Division III. The Tigers returned to the NCAA Division III Elite Eight for the sixth time. The sixth-seeded Tigers edged thirdranked Calvin (MI) College 3-2 in a thrilling quarterfinals matchup at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Trinity extended its winning streak to 23 matches, one victory shy of tying the school record for a single season. The semifinals appearance was the third for the Tigers and the first since 2002. Second-seeded Johns Hopkins (MD) University—the eventual 2019 NCAA champion—came out on top 3-1 in the Cedar Rapids postseason event. Trinity completed the campaign with a 37-5 overall record. Sophomore middle blocker Emily Ellis was selected for the All-Tournament Team. Trinity began its 25th NCAA postseason event with a decision over Hunter (NY) College at Newport News, Virginia. Juniata (PA) College fell to the Tigers in the regional semifinals, and a victory over Marymount (VA) University propelled Trinity to the Elite Eight. Ellis was elected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Second Team and was joined by
junior outside hitter Avery Tuggle on the AllAmerica squad. Each player was selected for the AVCA All-West Region Team, and junior outside hitter Annie Rose Leggett made the Honorable Mention Team. The road to the NCAAs began with the SCAC Tournament at Seguin, Texas. Trinity defeated Austin (TX) College in the semifinals and then bested Colorado College to win its 19th overall SCAC Championship. Tuggle was named the SCAC Volleyball Player of the Year and was tabbed as the SCAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Coach Jenkins was elected by her peers as SCAC Coach of the Year for the 14th occasion of her career. During the regular season, Coach Jenkins recorded her 950th career victory. She now stands at 973-421 (.698) and is the winningest active coach in the NCAA Division III.
TIGER PRIDE
M. Kaffen
Cross Country Z. Kaffen
Women’s Tennis Seniors Zoe Kaffen and Mary Kaffen captured the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III Southwest Region Women’s Doubles Championship in September at Abilene, Texas. The twin sisters qualified for the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia, and opened with a first-round victory. The Kaffens lost a quarterfinals battle and lost a three-setter in consolation to finish tied for seventh place. The women’s tennis head coach was Gretchen Rush ’86, who completed her sixth season at the helm in 2020 before announcing her departure from Trinity.
The Tigers sent three runners to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at Louisville, Kentucky. Senior Brianna Ratliff placed 95th in the 6K women’s race, and junior Jordan Juran finished 237th. The event marked the first time in Trinity cross country history the Tigers had two female individual competitors at the NCAA Championships. Both Ratliff and Juran were members of the 2017 squad, which qualified as a team. Junior Harry Bellow tied for the fifthhighest finish in Trinity’s cross country record books by coming in 111th in the men’s 8K competition. Head Coach Emily Daum ’09 has guided runners to the NCAA Championships in five of her six years at the cross country helm. The Tigers qualified for nationals because of high finishes at the NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional Championships at Memphis, Tennessee. Bellow earned AllRegion honors for the third straight year and finished ninth in the individual men’s event. Ratliff became an All-Region recipient for the second consecutive time with her 10th place finish in the women’s race, and Juran placed 14th for the regional accolades. The Tiger women finished fourth as a team, and the men came in 11th.
The SCAC Championships were held at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and both Trinity teams finished as runners-up. Bellow finished third in the race and earned All-SCAC kudos for the third straight year, leading a group of four men who garnered all-conference recognition. Ratliff was a third-place finisher for the second year in a row and was one of four women to earn All-SCAC distinction. Juran turned in her career-best performance by placing fourth, picking up her third consecutive All-SCAC honor. Junior Keaton Holt finished ninth in the men’s race and received All-SCAC honors for the second time. Holt also was presented the SCAC Elite 19 Award for athletic and academic accomplishments. Ratliff was awarded a $10,000 NCAA Ethnic Minority Graduate Scholarship.
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TIGER PRIDE Trinity Buddies Softball
Trinity softball player Gina Monaco ’21 founded Trinity Buddies, a nonprofit mentoring program that uses softball to foster growth on and off the field. Monaco formed Trinity Buddies with the help of its partner charity, Wish for Our Heroes. Through Trinity Buddies, Trinity Softball works with the McAllister Park Little League, leading skills camps for the Little Leaguers and hosting them as honorary players at a Trinity softball game to give them the experience of a collegiate athlete.
Serving Up Service Tiger Athletics show their #TigerPride by serving the local community. Check out service projects Trinity’s athletic teams have done this year.
Christmas Give Back
Street 2 Feet
In December, Trinity Football hosted its second annual Christmas Give Back. Organized by junior offensive lineman Billy Oliver, the football team took 16 children from nearby elementary schools Christmas shopping. “I helped with the Give Back last year and got to see how happy the kids were shopping for Christmas toys,” Oliver says. “Growing up, I used to get gifts donated from college students in my area doing charity work, and now that I am in a position to give back, I want to be able to help others like I was helped.”
As part of the Street 2 Feet nonprofit, Trinity Volleyball joins homeless people in their weekly walk, jog, or run. The program provides homeless people at Haven for Hope a way to get moving and feel the benefits of exercise, and they experience a sense of community, a team to rely on, and a way to kickstart healthy lifestyle changes.
Football
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Volleyball
Rebounce
Women’s Tennis An estimated 125 million tennis balls wind up in America’s landfills every year—and they take 400 years to decompose. Trinity Women’s Tennis launched Rebounce in 2019, where they collect used tennis balls for recycling and redistribution. Local shops sell some of the tennis balls, and all proceeds benefit dog rescues and homeless pet shelters in San Antonio. The rest of the tennis balls are sent to a facility in Vermont where they are ground up into “green gold” and used in the construction of new tennis courts and a wide variety of green products.
TIGER PRIDE
Honoring Our Seniors
Will Insull
Zoe and Mary Kaffen
Jordan Pitts
Class of
Thank you to our senior student-athletes!
Androniki Defteraiou
Tucker Norris
2020
From the first time our student-athletes ever picked up a bat or racquet or laced up their cleats, sneakers, or spikes, they have always been in a rush. There’s a clock running out, a base to steal, a serve coming in hot. But this spring, it feels like that clock ran out too soon. Trinity was forced to cancel entire games, meets, and championship events. For our seniors, these are irreplaceable experiences lost. But Trinity is honored by the achievements, effort, and perseverance that this senior class packed into their athletics careers. Their time at Trinity may have rushed by, but these experiences and memories won’t run out with the clock.
Raphael Martin
Adrienne Edwards
Baseball
Track and Field
Golf
Tennis
Rafe Chaumette Michael Herrera Seth Jones Carter Fronk Michael Goodrich Branden Hance Will Insull James Nittoli Matthew Thomas Devon Wright
Raphael Martin Makenna Bentley Androniki Defteraiou Theresa Feller Andy Garza Amanda Gerlach Brianna Ratliff Laura Taylor
Peyton Bartee Tucker Norris
Jordan Pitts Ashley DeBauge Francesca Canjar Mary Kaffen Zoe Kaffen
Softball Adrienne Edwards Danielle Ruiz
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IN MEMORIAM
EMILIO NICOLAS SR.
JOHN DAVID BRANTLEY
EFRAIN GONZALEZ
Emilio Nicolas Sr. M’52, longtime member of the Trinity Board of Trustees and Trustee Emeritus, died Oct. 12, 2019. He was 88. A native of Mexico, Nicolas pioneered Spanish-language television in the United States and was involved in creating the network that became Univision. Nicolas received numerous national and international awards over his career, including The Spirit of Broadcasting, awarded on a few occasions by the National Association of Broadcasters. Nicolas was a loyal Trinity supporter and served on the Board of Trustees from 19802006, after which he was named Trustee Emeritus. His son Emilio Nicolas Jr. and grandson Emilio B. Nicolas both followed in his footsteps, graduating from Trinity as undergraduates in 1975 and 2002, respectively. At Nicolas’ grandson’s graduation, former Trinity President Ron Calgaard remarked that was the first time in Trinity’s history that three generations of the same name had graduated from the University.
John David Brantley M’54 died Dec. 29, 2019, just days shy of his 91st birthday. Brantley joined the Trinity English Department in 1965 and served as chair from 1968 nearly until his retirement in 1992. One former Trinity English Department member described Brantley as “one of those kinds of leaders who encouraged people to find their own way to contribute to the department and grow as persons.” The colleague also mentioned that Brantley’s sense of humor, fairness, and community were hallmarks of his chairmanship. In addition to departmental responsibilities, Brantley served on a number of committees, including chairing the University Curriculum Council and the Faculty Research and Development Committee. He derived his greatest enjoyment, however, from interaction with undergraduate and graduate students, telling a Trinitonian reporter, “I love teaching and being able to talk about literature with people. It’s not a teaching device; it’s more a part of me.”
Trinity University Police Department (TUPD) officer Efrain Abundio Gonzalez Jr. died Nov. 23, 2019. He was 65. He retired from Trinity in October after 19 years of dedicated service, rising through the ranks from patrolperson to security sergeant and, ultimately, service ambassador. Gonzalez was a military veteran who proudly served in the Army before coming to Trinity. He was awarded several medals, including the Army Infantry Badge, Airborne Parachutist Badge, and the Army Commendation Medal. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1978 and achieved a final rank of major. “Efrain was respected by all members of the Trinity University police department and was a mentor to many, including myself,” says TUPD Chief of Police Paul Chapa. “He took great pride in serving the Trinity community and was so proud when he moved his daughter Ashleigh into her freshman residence hall at Trinity. He will truly be missed by all.”
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IN MEMORIAM
president emeritus
Ron Calgaard 1937-2020
Ron Calgaard, president emeritus of Trinity University, died April 10, 2020, following a brief illness. He was 82 years old. Calgaard served at Trinity’s helm from 1979 to 1999 and was the longest-serving president in the University’s history. “President Calgaard’s enormous contributions impacted all aspects of the life of Trinity University. Our national stature has become a reality because of his vision and commitment. Trinity continues to benefit from the wisdom and connections he nurtured to ensure the University’s future,” President Danny J. Anderson said. Under Calgaard’s leadership, Trinity achieved national recognition for excellence in liberal arts and sciences education. One of his early and most significant accomplishments was leading the University community in redefining Trinity’s mission. That mission continues to define Trinity’s pursuits and reputation today. During President Calgaard’s tenure, the University focused its educational emphasis on undergraduate education. Calgaard transformed Trinity into a residential University that greatly improved the sense of community among students, raised the admissions standards, and increased the geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the student body. Under Calgaard’s leadership, Trinity also became a national leader in Division III intercollegiate athletics.
Calgaard had a reputation as a resourceful leader with exceptional management skills and fundraising abilities. The Commitment to Distinction capital campaign early in his presidency raised nearly $50 million to support faculty recruitment, research, curriculum development, and scholarships for students. Calgaard increased the size of the faculty and dedicated substantial resources to developing a faculty that would support the mission of the University as a vigorous learning center. He added more than $100 million in new and renovated facilities to the Trinity campus. Calgaard and his wife, Genie, modeled a “culture of presence” on the Trinity campus. There were few activities on the University’s calendar that they missed. The Calgaards were well known for hosting countless events over the years, welcoming Trinity faculty and staff, students and their families, and the community into their home on Oakmont. Even after retirement from Trinity, the Calgaards continued to support the University financially and through their participation at campus events. Trinity’s Board of Trustees celebrated Calgaard’s legacy through an unrestricted scholarship and a professorship in his honor as well as a rededication of the new Ron and Genie Calgaard Performance Gymnasium.
Calgaard served in leadership positions in numerous national educational organizations and was an active community leader, lending his expertise to many nonprofit and community organizations. His community service and extraordinary leadership were recognized with several awards, including Trinity’s Distinguished Service Award, and induction into the Trinity Athletics Hall of Fame and the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame.
Prior to joining Trinity, Calgaard served as vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at the University of Kansas. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Genie; daughter Lisa Sands and husband Peter, and grandson Eliot Sands; son Kent Calgaard and wife Francie, and granddaughter Kathleen. A celebration of his life will take place at the Margaret B. Parker Chapel at Trinity University at a future date.
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ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni Weekend Trinity’s 2019 Alumni Weekend set an all-time record for event registrations, with more than 1,500 Tigers returning to campus during the year of Trinity’s 150th Anniversary. Alumni reconnected with professors at Fiesta with the Faculty, climbed Murchison Tower (some for the first time since their own commencement ceremonies), and partied the night away at the Oakmont Block Party. Reunion giving also set a record at more than $3.5 million.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni Awards During Alumni Weekend 2019, Trinity held its Alumni Association awards ceremony to recognize successful and noteworthy Tigers.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
Jason H. Hafner ’93 Hafner is a professor of physics, astronomy, and chemistry at Rice University, where his research lab uses nanomaterials to develop new methods to study molecular structure in biomembranes.
SPIRIT OF TRINITY AWARD
Allison Hawk ’88
Hawk is the founder of a communications consultancy, AHC Consulting, where she provides strategic communications services to a variety of clients throughout the U.S.
OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNA AWARD
1869 Challenge Trinity’s 1869 Challenge set high goals in 2019—and Tigers shattered them. The University challenged alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, and friends to come together for 1,869 minutes and make at least 3,100 gifts, which would unlock $31,000 from a group of anonymous donors.
The Trinity community blew past that goal with four hours to spare, then crushed the next challenge of 3,500 gifts just more than an hour later. When the dust settled, the 1869 Challenge resulted in 4,711 gifts, raising $556,016 for student scholarships, academics, athletics, campus life, and more.
Leticia Bode ’05
As a Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor in the communication, culture, and technology master’s program at Georgetown University, Bode studies the role communication and information technology plays in the use of political information.
TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE ALUMNI ADVISER OF THE YEAR
Laura Kalb ’14
Kalb serves as a Zeta Chi alumnae adviser, working with the women of Zeta Chi to help them navigate organizational trials, challenge them to be the best they can be, and support them through their time as active members.
TOWER FIVE AWARD This award recognizes Tigers who serve as examples of successful transitions from future to young alumni. Aly Hazelwood Lilley ’09
Salvator Perdomo ’13
Elizabeth Eder Northern ’09
Nick Shockey ’09
Mark McCullough ’11, M’12
To foster a sense of togetherness during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alumni Relations and Development launched TUgether Tuesdays and Thursdays, featuring webinars with alumni. From live yoga classes with The Union Fitness to poetry read by Naomi Shihab Nye ’74, Tigers gathered– virtually, of course–to hear from experts on physical and mental health, career planning, and arts and humanities. “TUgether Tuesdays and Thursdays are not only about
empowering our alumni, families, and students with opportunities to connect and learn, but they are also about highlighting the unbelievable strength, intelligence, and ability that our Tigers possess,” says Aly Lilley ’09, associate director for athletic giving and engagement. “COVID-19 may have limited our time together in the physical sense, but it gave us a moment to connect in the virtual and emotional sense that is meaningful in completely new ways.”
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CLASS NOTES
of being a Chi Beta, being a Spur, being head cheerleader and riding on LeeRoy’s cage each time the team scored (yes, they had a real tiger back then), and being elected Trinity Queen.
to Mesquite, Nevada, where he is active in nonprofit and civic organizations. In 2018, he was elected to a four-year term on the Mesquite City Council.
1964
1969
Frances Ross works at Coldwell
Jesse S. Crisler retired as
Skippy Hopkins received the
lifelong friend Jody (Jordan) Wallace ’50 of Mason, Texas, visited and reminisced about their time at Trinity. Sadly, Pritchett passed away on March 24, 2020.
1958
Riley K. Smith practices somatic
Mikey Stoner Ruddock M’60
psychotherapy, and he dives into the nature of being human and his bubble theory in his blog at www.rileysbubble.com.
Citizen of the Year Award from Jacksonville, Texas, in January 2019.
1961 Fred Finch wrote a novel titled
Saint Kimberly.
1957
retired from teaching and returned to San Antonio to live at Franklin Park, a senior residential living facility. Ruddock and her husband enjoy watching their grandchildren play volleyball at Alamo Heights. One of her grandchildren, Avery, is interested in attending Trinity University and playing volleyball. Ruddock would be thrilled to have another Tiger in the family and hopes for Avery to have just as much fun as she did. Ruddock’s fondest memories are
George H. Gault retired in 2011
Banker D’Ann Harper Realtors, Stone Oak Office, with his daughter. Prior to his job with Harper Realtors, Ross was Guy Chipman’s top agent and an agent for more than 40 years.
1965 Barbara Hubbard McDonald
requests information about Holt Atherton’s life and death. He was a good friend at Trinity. If you have any information, please contact her at barbhmcd@comcast.net.
1966 Bennett Boeschenstein is a
Albuquerque alumni took over Tractor Brewing Company and shared their #TigerPride at a happy hour on Oct. 22, 2019.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Wayne T. Smith is the chairman
and chief executive officer of Tennessee-based Community Health Systems Inc. He is the former chairman of the Federation of American Hospitals and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. Modern Healthcare magazine named Smith one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for each of the past 14 years, and he was voted one of the top CEOs in the healthcare facilities sector in Institutional Investor magazine for eight consecutive years. Smith was a 2010 Auburn University Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He was confirmed by the Alabama Senate as an Auburn University Trustee on Feb. 14, 2013, and his term expired on Feb. 13, 2020.
1960
1950 Mary (Verner) Pritchett (left, both photos) of Abilene, Texas, and
1968
retired city council member and mayor pro tem, city community development director, and city planner. He is also a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania and Kenya.
humanities professor of English from Brigham Young University in August 2017. Crisler and his wife, Lou Ann ’69, keep busy with their seven children and 14 grandchildren, and they travel as much as possible. Crisler enjoys reading whatever he wants, knowing he does not have to take notes on it to teach to the students. They celebrated their 50th class reunion at Trinity in fall 2019. Carole Poling McMichael Reese
teaches history and theory at the Tulane School of Architecture in Louisiana. She directs Tulane’s City, Culture, and Community Ph.D. Program, which crosses schools and departments to involve sociology and urban studies in the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Social Work.
CLASS NOTES
Shirley Cover Nuss retired after
1970
safe and sober transitional living for homeless men and women seeking a life away from drugs and alcohol. The nonprofit was failing but is now thriving, with a new $4.5 million, 14,000-square-foot building built on a 90 percent pro bono basis by the construction community of Dallas.
Harris S. Creech retired and
1977
34 years of teaching at Cranbrook as an adjunct professor for Michigan State University. She lives on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan and looks forward to spending winters at her condo in Naples, Florida.
lives near his daughter and five grandchildren.
1971 Ron Piretti was the fight director
Sam Fisher retired this past
August from the University of South Alabama after 32 years as a political science professor.
for a production of West Side Story in Tokyo. Different from most theaters, the sets are stationary, and the audience revolves around each set.
Karen Knight retired and sold
1972
1979
Peter Hofmann published
Kathryn Roberts retired from
another groundbreaking book, Dentistry Xposed: Protecting You, Your Smile and Your Wallet, which exposes the dark and cloudy side of dentistry and mouth-related health. Visit DentistryXposed.com or Amazon to order this lifesaving book.
1974 Naomi Shihab Nye is the poetry
editor for The New York Times Magazine and the 7th new Young People’s Poet Laureate of the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. Marsha Hobin Williamson
received an Audrey Kaplan Inspiring Women of the Southwest Award on Sept. 19, 2019, presented by the Southwest Jewish Congress, “Building Bridges Throughout Our Community.” She was honored for her work with Dallas 24 Hour Club, a nonprofit that provides
Trinity President Danny Anderson treated 26 Bay Area alumni to lunch and conversation about the state of the University at One Market Restaurant on July 17, 2019.
her dental practice in May 2018. Knight and her husband moved to Arlington, Texas, to be closer to her mother.
the University of Texas at Austin after 22 years. Roberts is a 14-year member of the Community Club Toastmasters in Austin and received the Distinguished Toastmaster Award. She enjoyed writing several family recipes and the corresponding East Texas family history to contribute to the book From Tea Cakes to Tamales: Third-Generation Texas Recipes in 2016. Roberts also completed an 8-mile Spartan Obstacle Course Race at the age of 61 and has a medal to show for it!
1980 John Exline of Clark Invest-
ment Group was appointed to the Institute of Management Accountants Global Board of Directors, one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting
Dallas young alumni hosted a high-energy outdoor adventure, including kayaking and paddleboarding on White Rock Lake followed by lunch at White Rock Alehouse, on July 20, 2019.
profession. Exline will serve a two-year term through June 30, 2021.
1981 Lynne Perry began a transition
Wendy Rigby is the new editor
of the Estes Park Trail-Gazette in Colorado as of Feb. 3, 2020.
into semi-retirement after 33 years as a vice president and senior financial adviser with Merrill Lynch. Perry had a fabulous career and now enjoys traveling and golfing. Perry will maintain an office with part-time work until January 2022.
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CLASS NOTES
Jeff Ramsey, founder of The
Ramsey Charitable Trust Inc., initiated the Ramsey Scholarship Endowment Fund for Trinity University students.
1983 Ansen Seale was selected as
the 2020 Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Art League and Museum. He is honored to be following in the footsteps of his Trinity professors: Phil Evett (1962 Artist of the Year), Bill Bristow (1965 Artist of the Year), Robert Tiemann (1966 Artist of the Year), Jim Stoker (1973 Artist of the Year), and Elizabeth Ridenhower (1988 Artist of the Year).
1984 Liza Stockwell started a position
with Lamar Advertising as the San Antonio advertising manager.
1985 Bingo! Houston
Steve Webb was named presi-
dent of Southern New England, TD Bank. He will lead the SNE Metro commercial and retail banking teams in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, upstate New York, and Connecticut. Webb has more than 30 years of banking experience, serving as New Hampshire market president–commercial. Webb also serves as a Trustee for the Wentworth Douglass Health System, sits on the board of the New Hampshire Bankers Association, and is a member of Robert Morris Associates. Peter Westin earned his doctor-
ate in the history and sociology of technology and science from Georgia Tech in August 2019 after service as an Army officer (infantry and counterintelligence) and many years in business. Westin taught University of Virginia undergraduate engineers at the School of Experiential Learning and said it was a rewarding position. Westin is still married to the wonderful Carol Gordon-Westin, whom he wed in 1982 as a Trinity ROTC student and working “townie.” Never give up!
alumni pressed their luck at a BYOB holiday party on Dec. 5, 2019, at the SPJST Lodge 88 Bingo in the Heights event.
1986 Michele Bailey teaches children,
teens, and adults gardening skills and nurtures their curiosity and love for the environment at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Columbus, Ohio. This summer, Bailey led the Teen Corps program, teaching gardening, marketing, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and life skills to urban teens ages 15-18. In her free time, Bailey is a voiceover actor hustling for the next gig! (michelebaileyvo.com) Jeffrey Kerr works for PBF
Energy in Parsippany, New Jersey, as a business operations analyst supporting the risk management group. Kerr also sings tenor in the Morristown, New Jersey-based Masterwork Chorus. The Masterwork Chorus is a choir of more than 100 adults that performs choral masterworks in metro NYC’s Carnegie Hall with orchestras and soloists.
1988 Alison Hayter was awarded a Texas
Alumni from the Denver Chapter and Colorado Springs Network, along with a prospective student and family, cheered on the Tiger men’s soccer team during their win at Colorado College on Oct. 27, 2019.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Foreign Language Association Excellence in Teaching Award on Oct. 18, 2019. Hayter teaches French and Spanish at Frankford Middle School in Plano ISD.
Leslie Pujo was recognized by
Who’s Who Legal on its international list for 2019. Pujo gives guidance to clients on franchise registration and disclosure matters, franchise relationship issues, and pre-litigation dispute resolution, as well as structuring franchise and other distribution systems in a variety of industries. Tracey Timpanaro co-wrote
a historical book that earned five prestigious international awards: 2019 Communicator Award; 2019 Hermes Gold Award; 2019 Grand Winner, Apex Awards; and 2019 MarCom Platinum and Gold Awards. The book covers 100 years of the construction equipment industry.
1989 Amy Cutts edited and published
her grandmother’s autobiography, Chopin Through the Window: An Autobiography by Franziska Stein, available in paperback and on Kindle. It is a gripping life story, filled with drama, romance, and humor, that exposes the terrible cost to civilians of World War II, the Cold War, and a brutal civil war.
DEPT. HEAD
Show your #TigerPride Judge Erin O’Connell was ap-
pointed to the 2nd Judicial Court by Gov. Lujan Grisham in Albuquerque, New Mexico. O’Connell is a Democrat and serves District 2, Division 17 as well as New Mexico’s Trial Lawyers Association board. Prior to her work for New Mexico’s judicial courts, O’Connell had a solo law practice, clerked under former New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels, and served for five years on the high court’s Appellate Rules Committee. Alumni in Los Angeles enjoyed a private event with Trinity President Danny Anderson on July 15, 2019, at Redbird near downtown to learn about Trinity’s plans for the 150th Anniversary and beyond.
1990 Carole Anhalt was selected as
this year’s winner of the Harry Huntt Ransom Dissertation Fellowship Award in Medical Humanities. Rick Bales wrote a book, The
Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century (2020), that was published by the Cambridge University Press. Bales is a professor of law at Ohio Northern University and a visiting professor at University of Akron School of Law. Allison Hannah Brady lives in
Hong Kong and travels throughout Asia. Brady stays connected to San Antonio through family and is also a Trustee of the Saint Susie Charitable Foundation. Her son will soon become a CPA, and her daughter was hired at a school in Hong Kong. Michael McBride, as of
October 2019, serves as the regional president and chief operating officer for St. John Health System in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. St. John Health System is part of Ascension.
1992 David Imhoof was in Germany
for three weeks conducting research for his next book and research project. Imhoof is also negotiating a contract with Bloomsbury Press for a university textbook to be published worldwide that he will write about European history. Trinity University, of course, played a role in preparing him for this.
1994 Ellen J. Foster received a 2019
Distinguished Teaching Award in Higher Education from the National Council of Geographic Education after being nominated by the Mississippi Geographic Alliance. Foster, who received her master’s degree in teaching at Trinity, was granted a sabbatical from the University of Mississippi in 2019 to conduct research comparing teaching practices in Mississippi and Iceland.
Submit your updates online at gotu.us/ alumniupdates
1995 Dr. Leigh Johnson-Migalski is
a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Adler University in Chicago. Johnson-Migalski has more than 10 publications in various peer-reviewed journals. She is a proud wife and mother. Josh McMorrow and his family
(Priya ’98, Ben, and Lily) relocated to Berlin in June 2019. He accepted a position as vice president and group general counsel of Atotech.
1993 Susannah Nix won the Romance
Writers of America 2019 RITA Award for Contemporary Romance: Mid-Length for her third novel, Advanced Physical Chemistry. The RITA Award is the highest award of distinction in romance fiction and recognizes outstanding published romance novels and novellas.
National Capital Area alumni were treated to an extra wintery wonderland on Jan. 5, 2020, in Alexandria, Virginia
magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY
61
CLASS NOTES
Langley Anderson arranged
“Mutualism,” an exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Art Gallery. Anderson, an accomplished and published photographer, explored the “relationship between science and art... displaying the inherent beauty of nature.” She won several awards and served on multiple committees. Amanda Seymour is the
The New York Alumni Chapter enjoyed a special holiday performance by the Trinity Handbell Choir at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park on Nov. 30, 2019. Following the concert, the choir and alumni warmed up with hot chocolate and coffee at the Loeb Boathouse.
1996
1998
Madeline Roberts Vann com-
Stacy Bunck, managing share-
pleted her Master of Education in counseling and is a resident at the Farley Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. Roberts Vann focuses on empowering professionals, such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, lawyers, business leaders, and military leaders, to overcome addiction.
holder at Ogletree in Kansas City, Missouri, was an honoree of the 2019 Flex Success Award, which recognizes partners or shareholders at Diversity & Flexibility Alliance member law firms who have achieved success while working a reduced-hours schedule.
1997
1999
Leticia Cabrera Rodriguez is
David Abell retired from his
working as the higher education liaison for Ana Sandoval, the City of San Antonio District 7 councilwoman.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
laser startup to form a law firm and create a company in the financial services industry. He is looking forward to seeing everyone at the Chi Delts’ 55th Anniversary Gala!
founder and president of M Consulting and Deeper Love International. As a consultant, she specializes in personal growth, relationship fulfillment, and life fulfillment. Her nonprofit educates on human trafficking, domestic abuse, and spirituality-based relationship healing. Her company and nonprofit both serve local and international audiences.
2001 Felicia Kemp lost her sweet
son, Grayson Rainer Kemp, who passed away on Dec. 7, 2019, at the age of 5. She continues to fundraise for a cure for Tay-Sachs disease through her annual Take a Hike Tay-Sachs Virtual 5K each spring. To participate and support, follow on Facebook at facebook.com/ takeahiketaysachs.
2003 John E. Exner IV joined national
employment law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. as a principal in Los Angeles. Exner focuses his practice on the representation of businesses and individual clients in a variety of employment-based and family-based immigration matters, as well as workplace compliance. Lee Mason and his family
relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, where he works for Cook Children’s Health Care System as an applied behavior analyst. Jerheme Urban spent more than
half his life on Trinity University’s campus: as a student-athlete, an NFL player working out in the off-season, and an assistant coach before becoming the head football coach. His dedication to Trinity and its athletics program was recognized with his induction into the Trinity University Athletics Hall of Fame. This ceremony took place on Oct. 5, 2019, during halftime against Austin College. As a student-athlete, he was a three-time all-conference performer and received All-America honors in 2002 when he helped lead the Tigers to the NCAA Division III National Championship. Urban still holds seven of the nine records he broke during his Trinity
Alumni in London mingled with
On Jan. 31, 2020, Fort Worth
current students taking part in
alumni spent a special afternoon
the “Sport in England” winter
volunteering for The WARM Place,
break course with Jacob Tingle
a nonprofit agency that provides
’95, Angela Breidenstein ’91,
peer-support groups for children
M’92, and men’s soccer coach
and their families after the death of
Paul McGinlay on Jan. 2, 2020.
a loved one.
CLASS NOTES
career, which include total touchdowns scored and career receiving touchdowns. He also received 16 conference championships in track and field and became the first person in conference history to be named Male Athlete of the Year for four consecutive years.
2004 Angela Peake M’05 was voted teacher
of the year at her school for the 201920 academic year.
2006 Finny Mathew received the Enid
Young Professionals 10 Under 40 award. Joe Saenz was featured in the August
2019 issue of San Antonio Magazine. After graduating from Trinity University, Saenz earned a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in New York, later opening Swine House Bodega, a sandwich shop that works to source its meat locally.
2008 Jeanna Goodrich Balreira graduated
with her Master of Arts in technical communication from Texas Tech University in May 2019.
Alex Lee-Cornell and his wife, Kathy,
are both ministers of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), living in Dallas. They have two sons: Owen, who turned 3 in October, and Gabe, who was born at the end of 2019. Rachelle Ramirez celebrated six years
of practice as a criminal defense attorney in 2019, five of which have been in the Office of the Public Defender of Gaston County, North Carolina. Ramirez was nominated employee of the month for donating a vacuum cleaner to the office.
2009 Jen Burkey was hired as a brand
MARRIAGES
strategist at TikTok, based out of the Chicago office.
Sheryl Stoeck ‘99 and Peter Stranges
Shahpary Pulido, a fashion designer,
Courtney Smith ‘11 and Adrian Negrón
founded Palo de Yucca in 2016. Her brand, based out of Mexico City, is a global trend sold in luxury hotels around the world as well as high-end department stores in France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Japan, the United States, and Mexico. The San Antonio Mexican Friendship Council invited Palo de Yucca to be the showcasing brand for its annual charity gala on Sept. 26, 2019, at the Venue Villa. There was a fashion show, pop-up shop, and gala dinner for 500 guests.
Aug. 3, 2019
May 26, 2019 Jessie Burch ‘12 and Adam Doody Sept. 21, 2019
2010 Kristin Raja, from Sigma Theta Tau’s
New Active Class of 2007, is headed to Antarctica with a Women in STEM group in November to promote research on climate change. + Read more about Raja at gotu.us/kristinraja.
Matthew Barsalou ’10 and Emily Stumme March 9, 2019
NEW ADDITIONS Preston Gordon to Jennifer Dewar ‘02 and Michael Dewar ‘02
Christina Carni Rasmussen M’12
was promoted in January 2020 to senior director for corporate strategy and implementation at Vizient.
Sept. 16, 2019 Francesco Rovati to Rachelle Ramirez ‘08 and Alessandro Rovati May 4, 2018
2012 Christopher Kradle was hired by Baker
CLASS NOTES SUBMISSIONS
Vicchiollo in Edina, Minnesota, as an associate attorney focusing on trusts and estates.
Send your class notes to
Katie Leonard is a nurse practitioner
Photo Submissions: Bigger is better!
in adolescent family planning at the Colorado Children’s Hospital.
alumni@trinity.edu or fill out the form at gotu.us/alumniupdates.
Digital photos should be saved at high resolution—300 dpi with dimensions at least 1800 x 1200 pixels. Email photos to alumni@trinity.edu. Prints can be mailed to Alumni Relations, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, Texas 78212-7200.
magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY
63
CLASS NOTES
2014 Carlos Jorge Anchondo graduated with
his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism in May 2019. Shacoya “Shay” Atkins started a position
as a training and compliance specialist at Boysville Inc. Atkins and her husband, Desmond ’14, also celebrated their son Dominic’s first birthday.
Loredana Cerrato started a job as principal
Portland alumni checked out Trinity University
project manager with Nuance Communications Professional Services Healthcare.
Press’s commemorative 150th Anniversary book, Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future, in an intimate event with senior director for
2016
Alumni Relations Ryan Finnelly in the library (of course!) at McMenamins Kennedy School on July 18, 2019.
2013 Lucy Cevallos, along with Sydney
It’s an I-35 meetup! Austin and San Antonio alumni connected for a “Meet in the Middle” event on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019 at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels.
(Foreman-Gerbino) Garcia ’12, Zack Garcia ’12, and Jonathon Loos ’12 all pursued graduate degrees at Dartmouth College at the Tuck School of Business and Guarini School of Graduate Studies in New Hampshire. Lucy and Zack graduated from the Tuck School of Business in 2019, and Sydney will graduate in 2020, all with a master’s degree in business administration—increasing Trinity alumni representation by 100 percent. Jonathon is pursuing his doctorate in ecology and evolution, studying ecological economics of watershed systems.
Rocío Guenther started a job as the direc-
tor of constituent services for San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg ’99. Jeremy Wolf, once a left fielder for Trinity
University, now snags fly balls for the Israeli national baseball team. Wolf, who lives in Tel Aviv, is one of 10 other U.S. baseball players who became Israeli citizens to be eligible for Olympic-qualifying events. Only six countries will play baseball in the 2020 Olympics, Israel being one of them.
2018 Paige Adrian is the project coordinator
for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s DSRIP department, making sure low-income patients receive Medicaid and medical treatment.
San Antonio alumni celebrated not going back to school during the first week of classes at Trinity with a happy hour at Bombay Bicycle Club St. Louis Tigers cheered on the St. Louis Cardinals at their Aug. 25, 2019, game against the Colorado Rockies in a suite generously provided by Michael Neidorff ‘65 and Centene Corporation.
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TRINITY Spring 2020
on Aug. 23, 2019.
150TH YEAR REUNIONS
Bringing Down the House
Class of 1969
Class of 1974
Class of 1979
Class of 1984
Class of 1989
Class of 1994
Class of 1999
Class of 2004
Class of 2009
No matter your class year, Oakmont Court was the place to be at Trinity’s 2019 Alumni Weekend. Trinity’s most scenic neighborhood set the stage for a series of personalized reunions unlike any other. All along the block, each historic house offered a glimpse into a different decade: alumni still grooving from the 1960s, 1970s alumni bringing the funk, gnarly 1980s alumni, totally rad Tigers from the 1990s, 2000s alumni keeping it chill, and 2010s alumni dabbing the night away. As the sun set on an unforgettable day, Tigers of all stripes got the chance to mingle and remember their unforgettable experiences at Trinity.
Class of 2014
magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY
65
IN MEMORIAM
Jean Wilson
Ann McMurphy ‘49
Val Salmon ‘53
Gene Cropsey ‘57
Marilyn Jones ‘61
Jerome Spencer ‘64
Tunnel ‘35
Dec. 18, 2019
Dec. 23, 2019
Sept. 13, 2019
Dec. 19, 2019
April 20, 2019
Aug. 10, 2019 Nell Koch
James Wyatt ‘53
Edith Stevens
Mary Jane Joyner ‘61
James Cullum ‘65
Jeanette Rigby
Prassel ‘49
Jan. 19, 2020
Drawe ‘57
Dec. 20, 2019
Aug. 11, 2019
Dickson ‘39
Oct. 23, 2019 John Brantley ‘54
June 15, 2019 Roy Smith ‘49 Lillian O’Neall ‘40
April 2, 2019 Dec. 24, 2019
Aug. 1, 2019
Maria Alaniz
Clare Dooley ‘65
Margaret Fuller ‘57
Kellor ‘61
Nov. 14, 2019
Jan. 9, 2020
Aug. 6, 2019
Viola Garcia
Dec. 27, 2019
James Quirk ‘65
Mary Alexander ‘50
Guerro ‘54
Sarah Gilliland ‘57
Gerald Mann ‘61
Sept. 13, 2018
June 16, 2019
Sept. 10, 2019
Aug. 27, 2019
Lucie Chapman
Joan McIntosh
Jane Durke
Leo Osterhaus ‘61
Ardyce Pfanstiel ‘41
Van Metre ‘50
Martin ‘54
Harrison ‘57
July 28, 2019
Jan. 10, 2020
Aug. 20, 2019
May 10, 2019
July 16, 2019
Auweta Roberts ‘41
Ralph Reed ‘65
April 7, 2017
Marianna Slinsky
James Davis ‘51
David W. Brown ‘55
Roger Keithly ‘57
Foreman ‘42
Dec. 30, 2017
May 27, 2019
Sept. 21, 2019
Ellen Maverick
John Esquivel ‘55
John Hedglin ‘58
Frances Knowlton
Dickson ‘51
Nov. 4, 2019
Dec. 19, 2019
Mazurek ‘43
Oct. 21, 2019
June 27, 2018 Charles Leigon ‘51 Shirley Hasting ‘48
Rodney Rhodes ‘58
July 10, 2019
July 27, 2019
July 3, 2018
March 1, 2019
Sharpe
Ruth Ann Capasso ‘62 Aug. 30, 2019
Rettmann ‘55 Oct. 17, 2019
Nieschwietz ‘48
Jan. 14, 2019 Shirley Ballard
McCullough ‘59
Strother ‘55
Oct. 22, 2019
March 10, 2019
Jan. 2, 2019
Agnes Barnes
Nancy Robinson
Gray ‘52
Goss ‘56
June 12, 2019
May 3, 2019
Emilio Nicolas ‘52
Charles Harwell ‘56
Oct. 12, 2019
July 11, 2019
Dean
Paul Lucero ‘56
Countryman ‘53
Sept. 13, 2017
Harwood ‘49 Oct. 5, 2019 Laroque Dubose ‘49 Dec. 20, 2018 Oris Koch ‘49
Oct. 4, 2019 John McCormac ‘53
Carol McGinnis ‘49
Aug. 8, 2019
June 26, 2019
Aug. 10, 2019
TRINITY Spring 2020
May 13, 2019
Walter Helmers ‘60
Williams ‘63
Dec. 26, 2019
Sept. 11, 2019
James Long ‘60
Martin
Aug. 3, 2019
Van Winkle ‘63
Thomas Bambery ‘70
Sept. 1, 2017
April 13, 2018
Gordon Flack ‘64
Ann Hubbard
June 8, 2019
Gaddis ‘70
Joe M Babb ‘69 Dec. 21, 2018
Thomas Carter ‘61
Albert Esquivel ‘61 Nov. 11, 2019
Dale Branum ‘57
June 26, 2019 John Pitts ‘68
Alverta Shaffer
Feb. 6, 2018 July 11, 2019
Nancy Wilson
July 3, 2019
Nov. 24, 2019
Ralph Perryman ‘56
Sept. 29, 2019
Jo Evans ‘67
Humphrey ‘67 John Connally ‘62
Booker Cameron ‘60 Carolyn McKenzie
Jan. 1, 2020
June 12, 2019
Ross Bernhard ‘52 Schneider ‘48 July 2, 2017
John Arnold ‘67 Bowman ‘62
Rood ‘51
Aug. 7, 2019
Aug. 23, 2019
Marco Gilliam ‘59
Lois Rynning
Dec. 17, 2018
Thomas Fry ‘66
Joyce Clor Sorenson
Claire
June 7, 2017
Aug. 7, 2019
Joan Bodner
June 17, 2019
Aug. 24, 2019
Evelyn Collins
Kerelle Batterson ‘66
Henri Battle ‘62 Phillips Huck ‘55
Feb. 7, 2019
May 11, 2019 Phyllis Sewell ‘61
Sept. 25, 2019
Nov. 6, 2019 John Stinson ‘65
Philip Schuback ‘61
66
June 27, 2019
Aug. 14, 2019 Stephen Neill ‘64 Sept. 1, 2019
William
James Galimore ‘75
Benjamin Rosales ‘82
Hunnicutt ‘70
Oct. 27, 2018
July 18, 2019
John Lacourse ‘75
Jeffrey St. Onge ‘83
Dec. 8, 2019
Oct. 3, 2019
Albert Rodriguez ‘75
Molly Hoff ‘84
June 12, 2019
July 21, 2019
Barbara Corliss
Mary Kunc ‘86
Bemrich ‘76
Dec. 22, 2019
Aug. 19, 2019 Robert Clark ‘71 Oct. 28, 2019 Gordon W. “Woody” Fairman ‘71 Aug. 31, 2019 Mary Payne
Aug. 6, 2019
Houze ‘71 Oct. 12, 2019
Jan Bennett Melinda Herzog ‘76
Steger ‘88
Jan. 3, 2020
Sept. 5, 2019
Lawrence
Rachel Herrera ‘89
Michaels ‘76
Nov. 25, 2018
Michael Seitzinger ‘71
June 24, 2019 Megan Budney
Aug. 16, 2019 Kelly Hejtmancik ’72
Lynn Moody ‘76
Augustine ‘93
Dec. 31, 2019
Oct. 23, 2019
Dec. 26, 2019 Ann
Maria Van Ryn ‘02
Caroline Briseno ‘73
Mayfield-Epps ‘77
Dec. 28, 2019
June 29, 2019
Dec. 25, 2019
Gerald Findley ‘73
Joe Baucum ‘78
Jones ‘03
Nov. 30, 2019
Feb. 6, 2019
Sept. 6, 2019
Warren Kerber ‘73
Kathleen Vann ‘78
William Melton ‘06
Sept. 1, 2019
Aug. 20, 2018
June 9, 2019
Clyde Parker ‘73
Jesse Aguirre ‘81
Rollin King ‘10
June 18, 2019
Aug. 23, 2019
Dec. 6, 2019
David Hamm ‘74
Maura Fox ‘81
Dec. 1, 2019
Nov. 9, 2019
Hershel Homer ‘74
Steve Milstead ‘81
Jan. 14, 2017
Sept. 8, 2019
Eleanor Russell ‘74
Ellen Darling
Nov. 13, 2018
Zimmer ‘81
Pia Humphreys
Sept. 9, 2019 Deborah Watkins ‘74 Sept. 19, 2019
From being on the frontline as health care workers to sewing masks and writing letters of encouragement, Trinity Tigers sprang into action to help during this crisis. If you’re looking for ways to help your Trinity community, consider these options:
Share Your Story
Ronald Morton ‘71 July 7, 2019
Show Your Stripes
Hanno Ehrhardt ‘82 Sept. 10, 2019
This magazine was created for you, by you, but the stories inside represent only the smallest sliver of what the Trinity community is going through during this pandemic. University Archives is collecting stories, documents, and materials related to the COVID-19 crisis. Every Tiger who participates helps deepen Trinity’s historical narrative, creating a well-rounded, honest representation of the pandemic’s impact on the Trinity community for future generations to look back upon. Share your story with University Archives at gotu.us/COVID19archives.
Donate to Students in Need
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unanticipated financial hardship for many Trinity students, and our community has wasted no time raising funds to support them through the Raymond Judd Student Emergency Fund. Tigers have donated $71,000 and counting to help with more than 250 requests from students for financial assistance directly related to the coronavirus crisis. As long as this crisis persists, students will continue to need your support. Donate to the Judd Student Emergency Fund at gotu.us/helpstudents.
magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
If you have ever been in a meeting with me—or had me sit in on a
meeting of yours—you may have noticed an ever-present fixture: a small pocket journal, filled with notes, musings, questions, and the occasional doodle. I go through these notebooks at almost the same rate I go through chocolate candy. They are a collection of my thoughts, a reminder of what I’ve learned. They are my own Trinity history books. As we have moved through this semester at Trinity, I have kept by my side a second personal journal of sorts. Clippings, lists, timelines, quotes, drawings. My stories and the stories of others. Because storytelling matters. It is a powerful tool both for selfdiscovery and for discovering more about others, and a platform for the voices of heroes—ordinary and extraordinary. In her book Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen discusses the healing power of stories. “I have discovered the power of story to change people,” she writes. “I have seen a story heal shame and free people from fear, ease suffering and restore a lost sense of worth. I have learned that the ways we can befriend and strengthen the life in one another are very simple and very old. Stories have not lost their power to heal over generations. Stories need no footnotes.” We each have a story to tell. The experience of this pandemic is unique, united by a sense of community, yet strikingly different for each individual. By writing, telling, and sharing our stories, we will begin to understand our lives in the days of the coronavirus. As you read the stories in this special edition of Trinity magazine, I encourage you to think about ways you might be able to pull storytelling into your own interactions. Tap into the wisdom that comes from this shared social experience. Connect with others through curiosity and creativity. Then, see if you get the people around you to start sharing their stories in return. I thank the contributors in this issue who have kickstarted Trinity’s storytelling this semester. I also thank those who help to guarantee the future of Trinity’s story through their unwavering support of our students and our campus community. Faculty, staff, alumni, and parents have spent countless hours to help steer this University through uncharted waters. Our stories will continue to be our guide as we move forward together as a force in motion. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay strong,
Danny J. Anderson President
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TRINITY Spring 2020
Share your stories. Share your network.
Share your support.
GOTU.US/TRINITYTRUE
Trinity True celebrates the spirit of consecutive giving and faithfulness to Trinity University. The University honors loyal alumni, faculty, and staff who support Trinity consistently over time, regardless of the amount. Gifts of any amount to all areas of the University are counted toward Trinity True membership. Consecutive years of giving are counted by fiscal year, which runs from June 1 to May 31. A Trinity education instills passion, creativity, and agility, preparing Tigers for challenging and uncertain environments. Now is the time to continue making a Trinity education available to the best and the brightest students.
One Trinity Place San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
In Absentia, in the ’40s “The commencement experience [for the Class of 1946] became unique in
the annals of both Trinity University and the University of San Antonio when an outbreak of polio in San Antonio prompted the City Health Department to shut down all education facilities for two weeks just as final examinations were scheduled to begin. As a result, the faculty exempted all fifty-four seniors from final examinations and granted their degrees in absentia. Underclass students, however, received study guides for the completion of courses and reviews by mail, and returned after the quarantine to finish the semester.”
– from A Tale of Three Cities by R. Douglas Brackenridge Read about commencement plans for the Class of 2020 on page 39.