Trinity Magazine | Fall 2020

THE MAGAZINE OF TRINITY UNIVERSITY FALL 2020

Common Ground Tigers build community

A New Look Campus has looked different this fall. With only around 1,000 students living in the residence halls, the familiar rhythms of life at Trinity have been quieter, more subdued. But if you know where to look, campus is also humming with a united determination to make the most of this unprecedented situation. No amount of masks, video screens, or plexiglass can dull our #TigerPride. compiled by Jeremy Gerlach photos by Joshua Moczygemba ’05

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MEET THE STAFF TRINITY Fall 2020 Molly Mohr Bruni editor

Editor Molly Mohr Bruni Art Director Laura Kaples Copy Editor Ashley Festa

Laura Kaples art director

Fred Valenzuela graphic designer

Advisers Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 Michelle Bartonico ’08

Contributors Carlos Anchondo ’14 Kay Casey Tamara Dillow Ryan Finnelly Tina Ford Nicolette Good ’07 Miriam Sitz Grebey ’10

Editorial Team Ted Gartner ’91 Jeremy Gerlach Marisa Kitchen Joshua Moczygemba ’05 Sydney Rhodes ’23 Garrett Robertson Madison Semro ’21 Carla Sierra Taylor Stakes Fred Valenzuela

Coleen Grissom Susan Lavenant Joy McGaugh ’04 Justin Parker ’99 Joannah Pickett Selim Sharif Burgin Streetman

Jeremy Gerlach writer

Joshua Moczygemba ’05 photographer

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 mmohr@trinity.edu | 210-999-8406 magazine.trinity.edu

Taylor Stakes photographer + videographer President Danny J. Anderson Board of Trustees

Michelle Bartonico ’08 writer + adviser

Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 adviser

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Ruth K. Agather April Ancira ’02 Erin Baker ’99 Annell R. Bay ’77 Ted W. Beneski Stephen W. Butt ’77 Miles C. Cortez ’64 Janet St. Clair Dicke ’68 Cydney C. Donnell Thomas Evans ’84 Douglas D. Hawthorne ’69, M’72 Marshall A. Hess ’88 Gen. James T. Hill ’68 Jelynne L. Jamison M’88 E. Carey Joullian IV ’82 The Rev. Dr. Richard R. Kannwischer ’95

Christopher M. Kinsey ’79 Katherine Wood Klinger ’72 John C. Korbell Oliver T.W. Lee ’93 Steven P. Mach ’92 Robert S. McClane ’61 Melody Boone Meyer ’79 Michael F. Neidorff ’65 Thomas Schluter ’85 Thomas R. Semmes L. Herbert Stumberg Jr. ’81 Jessica Thorne ’91 Michelle L. Collette ’06 Alumni Adviser The Rev. Dr. James D. Freeman ’83 Synod of the Sun Rep.

CONTENTS

10 Close to Normal 19 Learning Curve 22 Ver MAS, Ser MAS 26 Breaking Bread 29 Finding "Your People" 32 Seeking Intentional Inclusion 40 In the Eyes of a Child

DEPARTMENTS 8 President’s Message 9 Editor’s Note 44 Alumni Profiles 50 Trinity Today 55 Trinity University Press 56 Lit Picks 58 Tiger Pride 63 In Memoriam 64 Alumni News 66 Class Notes 72 Commentary

Making the Cover The first day of school looked quite different

THE MAGAZINE OF TRINITY UNIVERSIT Y FALL 2020

than ones from years past, from masks and elbow bumps to one-way signage and Zoom classrooms. We sent our photographer, Joshua Moczygemba ’05, up Cardiac Hill and around upper campus to capture candid photos of this historic day. View the full photo album at gotu.us/FirstDayofSchool.

Common Ground Tigers build community

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

President Danny Anderson takes a selfie with first-year students before the virtual Tower Climb during orientation.

The infuriating racial injustices that unfolded this summer—and that continue to unfold—have affected

us all in profound ways. The COVID-19 pandemic continues its inexorable march. Uncertainty reigns in our economy and down our political aisles. It continues to be a daily challenge to make meaningful connections with friends and loved ones.

But holding fast to those connections is more important than ever. I’m pleased to report that, while the Trinity campus looks and feels very different today, we are creating a new kind of community. In classrooms, over Zoom, in residence halls, through a multitude of student organizations, and even while breaking bread at Mabee Dining Hall—Trinity Tigers are doggedly building and affirming essential human connections. We are cultivating communities crafted from situations we have never seen before.

The racial injustices and structural inequities that taint our nation have shed light on similar issues at Trinity. Much has changed over the years, but difficult behaviors and biases remain. We are learning about the legacy of these biases through the efforts of the Trinity University Roots Commission, and we have seen these biases’ continuing impact in our most recent campus climate survey.

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In August, I received the initial report from Trinity’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force. It makes recommendations that call on every area of the University to work collaboratively to improve diversity, understand equity, and ensure inclusion. We will move with urgency and seek ways to accelerate projects where possible.

Whether it’s bias or virus, our community faces an adaptive challenge: We are not dealing with a technical problem that simply requires the right expertise to fix. Adaptive challenges live in our hearts and our stomachs. Adaptive challenges deal with values, loyalties, beliefs, and identities. Adaptive challenges require a process for change and a process for mobilizing groups to work together toward a goal.

I am committed to moving the Trinity community toward adaptive change that will last. In this disorienting, chaotic era, we must all strive to live outside of ourselves while bringing to bear our unique talents and perspectives to affect positive change together.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay strong.

Danny J. Anderson, President

EDITOR’S NOTE

In the last month of my pregnancy, I went desk to desk in our office begging for

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I want to congratulate you and your staff for producing such a memorable spring issue, packed with meaningful and inspiring coverage. I kept picking up the magazine, returning to read some of the stories again, finding them to be inspirational and refreshing in these challenging times.

I am the yearbook adviser at John Paul Stevens High School, and I forwarded the link to the online magazine to the 10 students who will make up the leadership team for the 2021 yearbook. I found your magazine so rich in content that I asked them to read the publication from cover to cover and list yearbook coverage ideas for our campus yearbook, inspired by the stories told in your publication. I wanted to let you know that the difference that you and your staff make in the lives of others extends beyond the Trinity community.

—Christine Keyser-Fanick P'19

antacids to quell my heartburn. Midway through my trek, I stopped at the desk of one of my colleagues who has a toddler son of his own. He shook his head and held up his hands in defeat, and I moved on.

About 20 minutes later, that same colleague strolled into my office and triumphantly placed a travel-sized container of TUMS on the edge of my desk.

Unbeknownst to me, he had hiked down to the bookstore to buy me antacids and, learning they were out of stock, then walked office to office around campus until he victoriously tracked down a colleague with TUMS to spare. I was moved to tears.

See, the parents in our office have a special bond. Over the past six years, our office has seen nine births (and all of them boys—but the first girl is coming our way next month!). We give each other the expected advice, but we have also shared, in no particular order: baby clothing, parenting memes, breast pumping horror stories, creepy tales of toys making noises in the middle of the night, and the locations of the best hidden bathrooms on campus to discreetly suffer through morning sickness.

I leaned on this community even more as COVID-19 upended what little I knew about parenting to begin with.

I’ve felt less alone talking with them about the struggle of working from home with young children, and how to know the right time to send our kiddos back to school (hint: there is no definitive, right answer). We also bonded over the heart-wrenching toughness of protecting both our older parents and our children by separating them during the worst of COVID-19.

We’ve bridged the virtual gap as best we can. Despite the distance, we’ve shared photos of our kids heading off to preschool or trying their first food (sweet potatoes, and it did not go well). We’ve texted videos of escape artists climbing out of their cribs and TikToks of Zoom nightmares. When I’ve needed it most, this community of colleagues has been my backbone for navigating parenting in a pandemic.

Though a bit niche, this is just one community you will find at Trinity. The University is made up of plenty of these micro-communities—those without an official name and formed from equal parts proximity and shared experiences—as well as the more well-known groups like Greek life, athletic teams, and student organizations. This issue focuses on Tigers building these communities both during their time at Trinity and after graduation. I hope that somewhere in these pages, you’ll find "your people” who helped make Trinity, Trinity for you.

Molly Mohr Bruni

P.S. You may have noticed that our favorite redheaded editor, Jeanna, isn’t penning this note. She welcomed the latest addition to our office’s motley crew of boy babies in late August! (page 68)

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CLOSE TO NORMAL TRINITY’S CLASSROOMS HELP BUILD BACK SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND CONTINUITY

by Jeremy Gerlach

Students enjoy class outside on a (rare) cool fall day.

IN 2020, THE STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS IN TRINITY’S CLASSROOMS ARE AS CLOSE AS THEY’VE EVER BEEN. Not physically, for obvious reasons. A global pandemic has dedensified campus, spreading students six feet apart—and beyond, as parts of campus operate remotely—and pushing classrooms into new digital spaces.

This separation has been a painful process for many. Current students are missing international experiences, athletic events, even chances to say goodbye to graduating friends.

But the strongest ties still connecting Tigers are the ones at the heart of the University: those formed in the classroom.

Each of our classes has become its own community. They’re strengthening voices in a world where masks and mute buttons can stifle our sound; they’re teaching students that we stand on common ground, no matter what zip code we’re dialing in from; they’re revealing that energy is all around us; and they’re teaching us that life can flourish, even in the tiniest of spaces.

We’ll show you why class—of all things—is the new highlight of everyone’s week: because it’s just about the closest thing to “normal” we can all get right now.

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Grace Hanshaw '22 (kneeling) examines plants at Confluence Park during Kelly Lyons’ plant biology course.

UNEXPECTED SEEDS Biology professor Kelly Lyons has always handed out homework. But now, she also sends her students home with radishes.

Lyons teaches a class of nine students in BIOL-3427, a course in plant biology. The group meets for a lecture and lab each week, examining plants as food and energy resources.

Lyons says the class has been fortunate enough to be able to meet in person, even if meeting requires spacing six feet apart and involves talking for hours through masks.

Lyons’ students have eagerly invested their energy into a class project where they take home vegetables to grow, examining how their plants compete given limited space. For many students cooped up in their rooms for months, it’s nice to see life thriving in cramped spaces.

“I’ve never seen students this excited about growing their own radishes,” Lyons says.

Grace Hanshaw ’22 and Taylor Condron ’22 loved the idea when Lyons suggested it.

“She asked us, ‘Who already has a garden at home and loves plants?’” Condron says. “And everyone’s hand shot up. So this is just like us adding to that garden.”

The plants are an easy conversation starter, Hanshaw adds.

“It’s fun to bring the class home, and even more so because our class gets along really well,” she says. “We keep sending each other pictures of our radishes, which we think is funny. But there’s a sense

of community we’ve had to find in each other because that’s the only normalcy we can get.”

For Michael Leonard ’22, another student in the course, having a tight-knit class has become an essential part of the Trinity experience in 2020, but it’s not something he’s taking for granted.

“I had a lot of friends who graduated last semester who I never got to say goodbye to,” Leonard says. “I just took for granted that after spring break I’d get a little more time with them, and I never got that.”

So it makes sense that Lyons’ class unites around a “seize the moment” attitude. The group frequently ventures outside to the San Antonio botanical gardens and other vibrant nature spots. There, they study monarch butterflies with tagging kits, examine plant specimens, and soak in the fresh air. “[Lyons] gives us clippers and says, ‘Bring me a plant. I’ll tell you about it,’” Hanshaw says.

“I never regret going outside,” Lyons adds. “I’ve had days where I assume students are going to hate me because it was freezing or pouring rain, but in my course evaluations students will have written, ‘That was the best day, when Dr. Lyons tortured us!’”

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Biology professor Kelly Lyons helps students identify plant species.

Whether through torture or gentler methods, Lyons has taken an active approach to strengthening the community in her classroom this semester, Hanshaw says.

“She’ll come in one day, stop in the middle of class, and ask, ‘What’s wrong? The energy level doesn’t seem good today.’ Then she goes around the room, person to person, and takes time to just talk to us about what we each have going on.”

To Condron, Lyons’ active approach to community building can turn even the unexpected aspects of class into treasured experiences.

“You have your syllabus and the material, but it’s the things you don’t expect that ‘make’ the class,” Condron says. “Dr. Lyons gives us radishes, and we plant them. She brings moss in and asks us to grow it in petri dishes. And we do it—sure! Now every single one of us has moss by the windowsill. One student is growing peas, and I asked

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if I can bring my potatoes to school and plant them. Things that aren’t part of the class but just end up happening, those are my favorite parts.”

Why are the unexpected parts of this class the most important?

Frankly, students say it’s nice to get good surprises for a change.

“There’s a lot of anxieties and uncertainties with everything that’s going on,” Condron says. “So just having a class where we’re in person, that was a surprise, and it helps a lot.”

“It’s refreshing to be able to show up in person, go outside, all while staying safe,” Leonard adds.

And it’s also a surprise to realize classmates you might never have talked to before are sharing your experiences. “People I haven’t ever known before are now genuinely asking me how I’m doing,” Hanshaw says. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Music professor Gary Seighman conducts choir in a parking lot on campus.

BREATHING ROOM We’ve all spent months avoiding the air from other people’s lungs.

Fortunately for Gary Seighman, director of choral activities at Trinity, voices can travel farther than six feet.

Meet Trinity’s 2020 choral ensembles: Split into two sections of about 30 Tigers each, the choirs go through one of the most rigorous and challenging routines on campus to be able to meet in person. The ensembles rehearse in a parking lot and sing while masked up, each positioned 15 feet apart. They spread out over an area that Seighman says feels like “half a football field.”

These precautions come after careful research and preparation from Seighman, who could make a strong case for having earned an honorary degree in physics and public health just for figuring out how to make this type of class work.

“It’s like putting a plane together in midair,” Seighman says. “Just to figure out how we were going to sing together in person, I had to put on my science hat to understand things like air exchange rates or the effects masks have on aerosol activity during singing.”

But when voices start ringing out and harmonies stack, no matter how faint, Seighman says it’s all worth the trouble.

“EVEN 100 FEET APART, SINGING BRINGS US TOGETHER.” “Students need to be part of something like this, spiritually and emotionally,” he says. “Even 100 feet apart, singing brings us together.”

Corrinne Tallman ’24, a soprano from Fort Collins, Colorado, says singing is meant to be a shared experience, right down to the wacky vocal outdoor warmups the class performs before practicing.

“We look silly because we’re this group of people making weird sounds—half of campus is probably wondering, ‘What is going on over there?’” Tallman says.

Saniya Cole ’24, an opera-loving soprano from Richmond, Texas, says the group also sounds strange because it’s spaced out so far. “It’s

hard to hear everybody else—it doesn’t sound like a choir outside, but when I see everyone singing and looking at the music, it feels like a choir.”

And that choir, Tallman says, has felt more like a community this semester than she expected.

“That’s one of the wonderful things about music—you have something in common with everyone in your class. I’ve bonded far more quickly with this choir than any other in my life, even though we’re so much farther apart physically. This struggle has brought us together as people,” Tallman says. “I don’t feel complete without music. When social distancing started, it was devastating. It felt like a piece of me had been taken away. But when we sing here, it feels like everything is right in the world. When you sing with people in a choir, your heartbeats sync up.”

For Seighman, that type of unity has the potential to make for incredible music. “In my 12 years at the University, I’ve never had a group of first-years that has had this type of kinship. They’ve all had this same experience of loss—losing opportunities, concerts, missing friends,” Seighman says. “I sensed it even during auditions; there was this energy they had. Drawing from that, we’ll create something beautiful.”

While all these students have experienced loss over the past year, Cole and Tallman are focusing on what they still have left.

“Music has helped me figure out who I am, discover my talents.

It’s gotten me through the darkest parts of my life—it’s been there for me,” Cole says. “If I stop singing, I’m afraid I will lose my voice.”

“I’m treating every rehearsal, every practice, every opportunity to sing as something dear to me,” Tallman adds.

Even though the music in those rehearsals is faint, stifled by masks and distance, Seighman says his students’ voices still carry farther and more powerfully than he imagined was possible.

“Don’t underestimate what our students can achieve. It is hard to go into every rehearsal nowadays as energized as before this all started," Seighman says. “But seeing our students walk in, every day, and give it their all is an inspiration to me.”

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FROM DUST TO DATA Geosciences professor Brady Ziegler, like many Trinity professors, is adjusting to a classroom that has been partially scattered to the winds.

The 41 students in his “Earth's Environmental Systems” class, run as a “TigerFlex” hybrid course, are divided into two groups. About two-thirds of his students attend class in person, and a smaller group of remote learners are currently spread across Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and even Italy.

“I want everyone, even those who have to hop on through Zoom, to feel like they’re invested,” Ziegler says. “It’s important for me to get people who feel like they’re stuck at home integrated into the class.”

Ziegler says his students are studying an “introduction to geology with an environmental flair.” They’re examining how earth materials interact with humans, from contaminants in groundwater to effects of flooding on infrastructure. They’re also thinking about the scientific evidence of climate change.

In his classroom, Ziegler has inclusion down to a science. He starts each day with the little things, such as taking small pauses when asking questions, which lets students at home have a chance to respond. “My remote students are chatting regularly now,” he says.

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This philosophy extends to Ziegler’s pedagogy. He uses the “jigsaw method,” where students split into groups to learn new material and then teach each other by assembling the material piece by piece.

“I’ll have one student looking at plate tectonic boundaries, another looking at earthquakes, another at volcanoes or sea floor age. Then we come together as a group to combine our data and see what’s going on,” Ziegler says.

The payoff of this type of community-building shows in a unique research project the class is working to complete. The group is currently examining the elemental content of street dust in San Antonio. The fact that some students aren’t in the city might be a challenge for some classes. But for Ziegler, an inclusive mindset has turned this obstacle into an opportunity. He has mailed sampling materials out to his remote students, who are taking dust from their own areas to use as comparative data for the research.

“For any good scientific study, we need a control,” Ziegler says.

“So if we’re going to say anything about the quality of street dust in San Antonio, we need to be able to say something about the quality of dust outside San Antonio. So those people who might be ‘stuck’ at

Geosciences professor Brady Ziegler manages a hybrid class, with students participating in person and online.

home, now they’re invaluable to the work we’re doing.”

In addition to those scattered across Texas, two of Ziegler’s students are joining in from California and Pennsylvania. He even has a student in Italy, but the jury is still out as to whether mailing a soil sample across national borders constitutes a violation of international law.

“He might be exempt from turning in his homework,” Ziegler says.

Eventually, the entire class will be able to work with a large data set in order to find any patterns they can. “It’s fun because this is real research with real questions that haven’t been answered yet,” Ziegler explains.

It’s a small consolation for not being able to meet in person, Ziegler says. But with enough creativity and dedication, the classroom can bridge even continent-sized rifts.

“All attitudes are strong at this point. Everyone is very much engaged, including those at home,” Ziegler says. “Those students are just as apt to stand up and answer questions as anyone else. I’m trying to minimize the feeling of ‘otherness’ they might experience. It’s a matter of just treating them like they’re actually there.”

“SO THOSE PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE ‘STUCK’ AT HOME, NOW THEY’RE INVALUABLE TO THE WORK WE’RE DOING.”

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COOKING UP PHYSICS The real world has a way of disrupting any learning environment.

Whether global pandemics or minor distractions, any number of obstacles can cause a frustrating amount of friction for students just trying to study. So, according to physics professors Jennifer Steele, Orrin Shindell, and Nirav Mehta, it’s time to embrace the messiness of the real world.

“Students always want lab work to be a cookbook: Show up and follow instructions,” Mehta says. “We’ve always had the fancy equipment—motion detectors, carts on tracks—but you can get hung up on that.”

And when your 150-person, six-section introductory physics lab can’t always meet in person, students and professors have to find a way to take physics home. There’s a lot of material to cover: an entire semester of studying mechanics—including the concepts of energy, momentum, and force—all spanning five labs.

Fortunately for Trinity students, physics is all around us.

Mehta and Steele are among many Trinity faculty who have redesigned their labs for home learning, allowing students to gather data remotely through downloadable software that can record and analyze the motion of any object they want to use for their experiments.

“We’re making use of the fact that everyone has a cell phone with a camera,” Steele says. “We’ve made the labs so that anyone, from students here on campus to our remote learners throughout the country, can go into their kitchen or their garage and find something they can use to complete their lab.”

Mehta, for example, points out that students can understand concepts such as friction through their own footwear: In one lab, students grab two shoes—one with grip, one smooth—and measure the coefficient of friction between the shoe and a slanted surface, perhaps from a clipboard placed at an angle.

Another popular experiment, Steele adds, is measuring the acceleration of gravity by dropping sandbags. While these experiments seem easy in theory, they’ve presented new challenges not covered in the textbook.

“I was just out in my backyard, dropping things from five feet, when I realized I was getting horrible measurements because my reaction time was not good,” Steele says. “So even I learned that there are ways to adjust how you take measurements. You need a second pair of hands, in many cases, and a higher place to drop objects from.”

These types of variables, combined with the considerable amount of math involved in early physics curricula, can be demoralizing for students, Mehta admits. At least at first.

“But we got through that, because they suffered the first week.

Morale is climbing, and I get the sense that students appreciate any aspect of a course that just lets them go outside for a little bit and take their own data,” he says.

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Using unique software, Trinity physics students are capturing data from home and running labs with household objects.

And Steele has seen her students make adjustments to their experiments. For example, small groups of students have been meeting to find higher places to drop sandbags.

“Every time you’re asking, 'Do you want to drop something from a higher balcony or a lower balcony?’ they’ll all say, ‘Higher!’” Steele says. “So we went to drop sandbags off a balcony in the Center for the Sciences and Innovation and measured the height by running string toward the ground.”

Mehta says this is called experimental design, and it’s a skill students shouldn’t take for granted.

“That’s not something that we’ve typically covered extensively in previous, ‘normal’ labs,” Steele adds. “Because now that our students aren’t just thinking about how the real world affects experiments, they’re also considering how they can perform better experiments.”

Mehta says, “Our new labs are not ‘cookbook.’ You have skin in the game. We give you the equipment, but you have to come up with your own ideas and measurements.”

And that interactive component has prompted a more engaged class. Ties between professors and students remain stable, Steele and Mehta say. Their office hours are full, with students constantly popping in and out of their Zoom meetings.

“Students are definitely not feeling shy,” Mehta says.

Steele says her greatest hope is that students are not feeling shy about getting their families involved in experiments, either.

“You need two sets of hands, after all,” she says.

It’s a nostalgic throwback, in many ways, to the days of elementary school science fairs, where students had their parents and siblings helping with new projects, and science doesn’t get messier than that.

Because even without top-line facilities or cookbook labs, students can still grow into incredible scientists, Mehta says.

“There really is physics all around you. We use fancy equipment, but in the end, you don’t need it.”

by Nicolette Good ’07

Four recent MAT graduates reflect on the “new normal” in their classrooms Four teachers had just earned their Master of Arts in Teaching

(MAT) from Trinity University when COVID-19 disrupted their very first year in the classroom. Every day since has been about adaptability.

“COVID-19 has upended the classroom environment for everyone,” says Angela Breidenstein ’91, M’92, who is the interim chair of Trinity’s education department. “Regardless of how many years you have in the classroom, this situation is challenging and is definitely pushing all teachers to be creative, resourceful, and resilient.

“But imagine how it is for teachers who are in their first year,” she continues. “They are definitely being challenged while also using what they know to be adaptable, nimble, and hopefully oriented to collaboration. They are asking for help and partnering with students and families to face something we have never seen before.”

This cohort has leaned on each other for support and tips around virtual and hybrid classrooms. Before the pandemic, the 2019 MAT graduates (10 total) were already accustomed to gathering routinely to trade classroom management hacks, share mutual support, and learn from one another. Now their meetings have

just moved virtually. They pop in on Zoom with their peers as well as their mentors, including Breidenstein and other faculty in the Department of Education and its professional development schools.

Besides being 2019 MAT graduates, the teachers also have another thing in common—they all teach ninth grade.

“The ninth grade is a significant transition year for school-age kids,” Breidenstein says. So, not only are these teachers guiding students through a completely new classroom experience—one where they too are learning as they go—but they are also helping the students navigate entering high school, a time fraught with opportunities and anxieties around social, emotional, and physical changes.

Priority No. 1? Maintaining community—among students and their peers, among students and teachers, among teachers and parents, among colleagues. With just a summer to think and regroup, these grads retooled their curriculums for their second year of teaching entirely around creating community in a socially distanced classroom.

“Everyone in education, at every level, we're all learning from one another,” Breidenstein says. “That’s an energizing feeling.

That's part of evolving and adapting.”

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Reilly Brown ’18, M’19 English, 9th Grade International School of the Americas North East ISD, San Antonio

Yvette Peña ’18, M’19 World Geography, 9th Grade International School of the Americas North East ISD, San Antonio

Kristin Krenz M’19 English, 9th Grade Advanced Learning Academy San Antonio ISD, San Antonio

Brittney Ivanov M’19 Biology, 9th Grade East Central High School East Central ISD, San Antonio

Reilly Brown ’18, M’19 Yvette Peña ’18, M’19 Forever in the back of Yvette Peña’s mind is something she learned during her full-year internship in a classroom.

“You must have a plan,” Peña ’18, M’19 says, “and you must be ready to adapt that plan.”

Reilly Brown ’18, M’19 and Peña co-teach 125 students at a magnet school that attracts students from all over San Antonio. In their shared classroom, Brown and Peña bridge world geography and English.

“We teach truly interdisciplinary lessons,” Brown explains.

“If they're learning about something like migration, they'll read books about that, have discussions, and write poetry or prose assignments.”

Brown and Peña have taken their combined classroom online, co-piloting their Zoom room together. “When the kids don't feel comfortable yet, Reilly and I will banter, and it feels more full, like more people are there,” Peña says. It’s a lesson they learned from the spring.

“The biggest piece missing last semester was community,” she adds.

In fact, the first two weeks of Brown and Peña’s semester were dedicated solely to building bonds: They held discussions on topics like friendship building, empathy, and talking about comfort zones or boundaries.

“We can always catch up on content later. But if students aren't super comfortable with each other, it's going to end up slowing it down anyway,” Brown says.

To enhance the comfort levels in the classroom, Brown and Peña preserved beloved traditions, such as fun and spirited weekly recognition awards. “We realize how important those moments are,” Peña says.

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But they also kept the more subdued, familiar rituals, such as weekly journaling prompts. And in the spring, they say, the students really used the journals as their outlets during the uncertainty.

“That was some of the best writing I had seen from kids,” Peña says. “They had so much to say about what they were going through.”

It’s these reflective moments, she explains, that will stick with the students. “Our classroom is so much more than grading and giving out work.”

Kristin Krenz M’19 “The No. 1 concern of our new students is, ‘How am I going to make friends?’” Kristin Krenz M’19 says.

So to help these students ease into high school, Krenz and her team of teachers created a special, virtual ninth grade orientation spanning two days. The event was filled with games, group design challenges, and a Q&A with rising 10th graders.

She says that her school year is off to a good start. Kids are connecting with one another, and they're finding common interests— “including Minecraft and K-pop!” Krenz says. Krenz is teaching a hybrid class with seven students in her classroom and more on Zoom.

“Every kid's challenge is different,” says Krenz, who reports being on the phone with students regularly to troubleshoot online classroom experiences. “I'm really proud of them when they figure things out.”

She cites parent teacher conferences as particularly beneficial.

Even as the teacher, Krenz is not immune to technical difficulties, such as mixing up her Zoom breakout rooms and watching endlessly spinning loading symbols. “We’re constantly telling the kids, ‘Thank you so much for your patience,’” Krenz says.

And the hybrid teaching? “It’s a juggling act. I'm running down the hall to be in a class with a pod of seven kids and then running back to be on Zoom remotely,” she says. “It's an exercise in resilience.”

Brittney Ivanov M’19 For teachers who also are parents to school-age children, such as Brittney Ivanov M’19, the return to school was uniquely complex.

Ivanov juggled prepping for her return to the classroom with coordinating childcare for her 7-year-old daughter. With both Ivanov and her husband working full time, options were limited. Ivanov would bring her child to work, where staff would watch the children in the school cafeteria or gym as a babysitting service for the teachers.

Once class resumed at Ivanov's school, though, she sent her daughter to stay with her mother.

So, Ivanov was thankful when her daughter was offered an open spot in a physical classroom at the Advanced Learning Academy.

“I want her to be in the classroom, and really the biggest reason is because I need somebody to watch her,” Ivanov says. “That’s the sad reality of our public education system—it’s not meant to be a babysitting service, but for a lot of parents, we have nowhere to send our children during the day.”

Ivanov teaches biology, including a “last chance” intervention track for juniors or seniors hoping to graduate. Her teaching takes place online using Google Meet, as well as in the classroom with a modest handful of teenagers.

Ivanov says that when schools first went online in the spring, she saw abruptly dwindling class numbers. At her old school in the San Antonio Independent School District, what began as a classroom of 20 dropped quickly to five in attendance after the first day of class.

Soon, she was teaching the same two students every day; the others were MIA. Ivanov is facing similar struggles at her new school. She says only a small subset of students really interact with her. The rest “fade into the background—they don't talk, comment, or participate in group activities.

“None of them turn their videos on—it's like talking to a wall,” Ivanov says. “It's so hard.”

But, she recognizes that the struggles extend on the other side of the screen. “Some of the kids don't really know how to use a computer or navigate the internet very well,” Ivanov says. “It's hard for them.”

The learning curve applies to everyone who shows up to class, including herself. “I once lost my whole class for a good minute trying to find their browser tab,” Ivanov says. “I had a small freak out on the inside."

She took a deep breath and began searching through the tabs until, relieved, she finally found them.

“I tell them, ‘This is new for us, and it's new for you. We're all learning together.’”

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It’s entirely possible to spend four years at Trinity and still be a stranger to the vibrant Hispanic and Latinx world surrounding campus.

by Jeremy Gerlach

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Wondering what you’re missing out on?

Think “MAS.” Trinity’s Mexico, the Americas, and Spain program (MAS), founded 15 years ago, connects the University to the cultures, experiences, academics, and growth opportunities within this dynamic field.

“This program opens students up to new majors and interests, to perspectives and opportunities they wouldn’t have considered before,” says Spanish professor and MAS director Dania Abreu-Torres.

Being part of MAS is best explained not by what you study or where you go, but rather by what you do. Students discover new worlds thanks to 30 interdisciplinary MAS faculty who teach subjects ranging from film studies to international business. Students connect with business opportunities in Madrid, Spain, and ecology field work in Costa Rica, thanks to MAS's groundbreaking series of international study programs. Students intern with nonprofits and NGOs that work to advocate for issues affecting Latinx peoples. Students attend the Álvarez seminar, which brings artists, activists, and visionaries to campus for a dynamic lecture collection.

“Trinity is a natural place for a program like MAS to happen,” Abreu-Torres says. “We work directly with students on their personal and professional interests, so when they go out into this world, it’s not just about building skills or looking for a job—it’s about finding a meaning, a purpose.”

What i say is what i mean When MAS first led Thomás Peña ’22 out into the world, he had trouble finding the right words.

In his second year at Trinity, Peña—a Roma, Texas, native who is majoring in finance as well as business analytics and technology— began a MAS-funded internship for the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, one of the many community nonprofits and NGOs that partner with MAS students. The Esperanza Center, a local nonprofit and hub for social justice activism, assigned Peña as a canvasser on San Antonio’s largely Spanish-speaking West Side.

Peña worked as part of The Esperanza Center’s anti-gentrification coalition, “Mi Barrio no se Vende” (“My neighborhood is not for sale”). He went door to door, informing citizens about how they could address rising rent prices in their area.

“The first time I went to someone’s door, it was nerve-wracking,” Peña says. “I’m stuttering, I can’t even roll my r’s. But after the fourth or fifth time, it became natural. It became a privilege for me to be able to be part of these conversations.”

Peña came to Trinity from a town that sits just adjacent to the Mexico-U.S. border. In San Antonio, just minutes from Trinity’s campus, he found an array of sights that reminded him of these colliding cultures.

“Through a few months, you can learn so much about San Antonio. On the West Side, there’s this richness of Mexican culture I had no idea existed. I go there and I get this sense of... being; of being in Mexico, of being in the [Rio Grande] Valley,” Peña says. “There’s this environment where it’s okay to be Mexican-American. There are these historias, these stores where they sell herbs and magic spices; there are influences of Catholicism; you see the street art, the landmarks. It’s not a sense of division but a sense of difference, almost directly when you cross neighborhood lines.”

Peña connected with these various communities and has brought these ties back to campus with him. Now, when Peña talks, campus takes note.

“I’m not nervous anymore,” Peña says. “I can just go up to people and have a conversation. My professors, my friends, they’ve told me I’ve become more confident—but I think a better way of describing that is, now, what I say is what I mean.”

A MAS internship led Thomás Peña ’22 (center) to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.

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The MAS program offers scholarships that connect students with international ventures around the world.

I fell in love with myself Maria Arteaga ’22 had never seen anyone visibly excited to learn she is Mexican—that is, until she spent a semester with the people in Madrid, Spain.

“I’d be walking down the street, or eating in a restaurant, or just talking to people, and they’d stop me like, ‘You’re Mexican, aren’t you? That’s so amazing! Teach me this phrase,’ and then they would try to learn or mimic the way I said things,” Arteaga says. "It was so interesting to see this whole love they had for my culture.

For Arteaga, a human communication and Spanish double major from McAllen, Texas, it’s a love her Mexican American parents had told her she would discover in Spain. “You start to think,” Arteaga says, “‘Hey, if someone else loves my culture this much, I can love it, too.’”

Before visiting Madrid, Arteaga had already started feeling the love from MAS. After completing the First-Year Experience Summer Bridge, “A Successful Life,” she was invited to join the MAS Latinx leadership academy, where she connected with a community of Trinity students who shared many of her same experiences, goals, and struggles. “MAS is definitely one of the pushers that got me where I am,” Arteaga explains. “I wouldn’t have been able to stay at Trinity if it wasn’t for the support they provided.”

Through MAS, Arteaga got a scholarship that let her spend a semester studying in Madrid, in classes led by MAS faculty. She explored Spanish culture in Madrid and surrounding sites, lived with a host family, and interned at public elementary school Colegio El Olivo.

Returning to Trinity, Arteaga’s greatest shift in perspective hasn’t even been about the MAS world: It’s been the way she sees herself.

“You never know what you’ll fall in love with,” she says. “I fell in love with the city of Madrid, but I also fell in love with my culture. I fell in love with myself.”

Maria Arteaga ’22 poses by a Roman aqueduct near Madrid.

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Camila Acosta '20 (left) and Spanish professor Rita Urquijo-Ruiz (right) helped pave the way for a new major in global Latinx studies.

a study of us Camila Acosta ’20 helped redefine what makes a “classic” during her time at Trinity.

A San Antonio native who studied Spanish and international studies, Acosta was the first Trinity student to major in Trinity’s new global LatinX studies major.

“Trinity has long since had opportunities to study the ‘classics,’” Acosta says. “But to Latinx peoples, our world is classical. Our countries have history, our countries have culture and language and people who are valid and wonderful. And that’s what this global Latinx studies major is—a validation, a recognition, a love for these people, for these cultures.”

Global Latinx studies encompasses interdisciplinary course topics such as history, diversity, social justice, and arts and culture, all through the lens of the Latinx experience. The creation of this new major, built on the foundations of MAS, represents a breakthrough for students like Acosta, according to Spanish professor Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, one of Acosta’s most treasured mentors.

“The global Latinx studies major was important for Camila because it brought together all her passions, and we’re hoping that’s exactly what this major does for other students as well,” Urquijo-Ruiz says. “Students do not necessarily need to be bilingual; they can do this major in English. What matters is that they’re interested in opening doors into this world.”

Urquijo-Ruiz knows a few things about opening doors. Now in her 16th year at Trinity, Urquijo-Ruiz arrived in 2004 as an assistant professor. “I am,” she explains, “actually the very first one in the 151 years of this institution as a Latina to rise through the ranks and become a full professor at Trinity.”

Urquijo-Ruiz sees that same enterprising spirit in students like Acosta.

“Camila is the representation of that 2020 graduate who is going to continue to put the name of Trinity University up high on the international marquee,” UrquijoRuiz says. “Trinity is hoping to become a Hispanic-serving

institution or a Latinx-serving institution at some point. And the idea is that we must include all of these other stories. An institution that is thriving is an institution that is transforming itself to incorporate as many people as possible into its communities.”

Acosta has already felt some early effects of this transformation at Trinity. “I think the community at Trinity has been changed by the creation of this major because suddenly there is a validation for everything that we love and we appreciate. When I talk about it with my friends, they get excited, too.

“It’s a study of our people, our culture, our history,” Acosta adds.

“It’s a study of us.”

Learn more about Camila Acosta ’20 and her global Latinx studies major at gotu.us/CamilaAcosta.

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Breaking Bread Trinity students create lasting bonds at dining hall throughout the decades

by Madison Semro ’21

W

hen I moved into my residence hall in the fall of my first year at Trinity, one of the first things my roommates and I did together was eat lunch at Mabee Dining Hall. We got to know each over stir fry while celebrating our entrance into the college world. As I continued at Trinity, my friends and I would frequently convene at Mabee to dine and socialize.

More than the food, it was the conversations and laughs with my friends that make my memories of Mabee so special.

My experience is a common one among Trinity students. Whether stopping by for a warm cookie or enjoying a three-course feast, students have flocked to Mabee to spend quality time with their friends over a hot meal since the 1960s.

In 1952, Trinity relocated to its current home on the Skyline campus.

Students were initially shuttled off campus to eat at Damon’s Restaurant on Austin Highway until construction on the Student Union Building (SUB) was complete, after which they began eating at the SUB. A little over a decade later, the dining hall that students still enjoy today—then known as the refectory—opened in 1965. It was later renamed to its current moniker, Mabee Dining Hall, in 1985 after Trinity received a grant from the Mabee Foundation.

“Sunlight floods a crowded refectory at noontime.”

—Mirage, 1981

top The Mirage dubs Mabee “the social spot on campus” in 1987. bottom Students feast on bacon and pancakes at the 2018 Midnight Breakfast.

Throughout the years, Mabee has gone through many renovations and changes. Still, it has always been a place where students find community on campus, both through casual meals and University wide traditions.

During the 1990s, students started meeting in the residence halls for a “Midnight Breakfast” to decompress before finals week officially began. The event has grown substantially since its early days. It is now hosted by Residential Life and held in Mabee to accommodate many hungry and stressed students. The breakfast occurs at 11:59 p.m. on the eve of finals week, and faculty and staff serve students pancakes, bacon, eggs, and more to celebrate the end of reading days. As students flood the dining hall for the late-night breakfast, the sounds of laughter and conversation fill the air.

Mabee also hosts cultural events throughout the year, when chefs design special menus with tasty offerings to match. For instance, students can munch on soft pretzels for Oktoberfest and indulge in beignets for Mardi Gras.

Mabee has even been a site for positive

social change on campus. In 2007, students built a wall of styrofoam containers to advocate for more environmentally friendly practices in the dining hall. The influence of these students remains today, as Mabee recently began offering reusable to-go containers for students to take food back to their residence halls.

Despite the many changes it has undergone since the 1960s, Mabee continues to be a staple in the experience of Trinity students, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dining hall has been divided into two sections that can each accommodate 50 diners at a time to preserve health and safety and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Though the experience of eating in Mabee has certainly changed this fall, you can still see students laughing with friends over a meal like they did when the dining hall first opened its doors nearly 70 years ago. The sense of community fostered at the dining hall remains the same—as does students’ love for Mabee’s warm chocolate chip cookies.

Despite plexiglass and face masks, Yolanda’s smiling face still greets students at Mabee this semester.

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“Roberto was a true artist.

Literally the best PBJs anywhere.” –Brian Jones ’96

The Faces of Mabee The Aramark employees who work at Mabee are a large part of what makes the Trinity dining experience so special. We asked Tiger alumni about the people who kept them fed and happy during their time at Trinity.

“Yolanda!!!”

–Desie Baker ’12

“Always smiling, a group of Refectory workers ham it up.”

—Mirage, 1984

“At lunch one day, I mentioned to Lois that my friends and I were under the weather.

She told me to visit her at dinner. When I did, she gave me a Tupperware container full of chicken soup. She’d gone home between serving meals to make it and bring it back for us.”

–Melissa Cox ’98, M’99

“Lois always greeted me with love, and it wasn’t long before she knew what I wanted to eat! It was a rare day that I didn’t stop by to see her beautiful face!”

– Erin Kieley Roberts ’98 28

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“Dewey was always cheerful and happy.

He knew everyone’s name and worked his way up from the grill to manager of Mabee!

Great guy!”

–Scott Williams ’89

“Curtis was always so happy! You knew you were going to walk away smiling when he was working. And he always put extra cheese on the cheese fries!”

–Ann Gallagher Diemer ’89

“Lana made the best omelettes!”

– Daniel Dahlinger ’19

Tigers form friendships through common interests compiled by the editorial staff

C Mirage, 1954

“I was part of the move to Trinity’s new campus. The community really didn’t change after the move—it just got better. We just loved the new campus. The environment that we were living in was, and still is, beautiful. Those of us in the dormitories became very close, but we also had friends who were town students—those who lived at home. Freshmen wore beanies, and it was sort of like hazing, but really it was a way for us to get to know one another.

We did get into some trouble.

One school we were playing in football had a stuffed bobcat they brought to the games (and we had a tiger that was actually kept in the zoo!). We went over there to see if we could steal the bobcat—and we did. I was gone all night, and I came back and had a chemistry exam in the morning. It was very, very foolish on my part, but then again, I was younger. College days are some of the best days of your life.”

–Larry Adamson ’54

ollege is often described as the best four years of your life. But there isn’t a single, unequivocal formula for creating the best college experience possible—it’s built from the camaraderie of the in-between. It’s the early morning athletic practices or the late night Trinitonian work sessions. It’s shrieking with glee with your sisters on Bid Day or knocking on the door of your neighbor in the residence halls.

For generations, Trinity students have found that the heart of their college experience lies not in the things they did or the grades they earned, but in the people they knew and the friendships they formed.

Drennan (third from left) with fellow RAs in 1991.

Warren and his wife, Barbara, in 1977.

“Winn First Floor was the equivalent of traveling the world without leaving your dorm. Flag football in the halls, parasailing at the quarry, midnight runs to the bakery for fresh bread, jumping off the third floor into mattresses—life in a freshman dorm was a great start! It even helped me find my future wife!”

“Twenty-seven years later and I am still close to my tribe of resident assistants. From retreats to trips to the River Walk with eight of us crammed in a Buick to late night runs to Taco Cabana to collaborating on how to handle the shaving creamed streakers, we were such a diverse group who came together for a common cause. I love my fellow RAs!” –D’Ann Nichols Drennan ’93

–Chris Warren ’78 magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

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“Those super late nights down in the newsroom certainly lent themselves to community building for the Trinitonian staff!”

–Kenneth Caruthers ’15

Caruthers (sitting, far right) with Trinitonian staff in 2014

Toland (left) recreates American Gothic with a friend in the early ‘90s.

“I worked and lived in the theatre department for four years. It was magical even though I wasn’t a major. Thirty years later, I am still talking to those theatre friends almost every day!”

–Dina K. Toland ’92

Phillips (in red dress) at the Gamma Chi Delta spring semiformal in 1992

“I never intended on joining a sorority, but the most confident, intelligent, outgoing woman in my political science class invited me to a rush event. The rest, as they say, is history!”

–Karla Hagen Phillips ’92

The Counter Guerillas in the 1968 Mirage

“Trinity had a robust Army ROTC program.

I found a particularly dedicated group in Perishing Rifles, a military fraternity. We formed a common bond and still feel a kinship that grew from our camaraderie and commitment to service.”

–Gerald Reamey ’70

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“Swim team. I had two teammates in our wedding and still talk to and visit them on a regular basis 14 years later!”

–Jessica Unruh ’06

(left to right) Jessica Isenberg McPherson ‘05, Lauren Clements ‘07, and Unruh celebrate taking the top 3 spots in the 100 metre butterfly race at the 2005 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Tahseen (center) at the Muslim Student Association’s Hijab Fashion Show.

Being involved in Trinity’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) defined much of my undergraduate journey.

When I first arrived at Trinity, I have to admit how surprised I had been at the lack of a Muslim community at the University. I wasn’t sure whether I was unique or just defining “community” based on a limiting identity.

This isolation really hit me my first year at Trinity during Ramadan, given that I spent the first 18 years of my life in Pakistan, where entire families and even neighborhoods would come together at sunset to break their fast, share food, and celebrate each other’s company. My first Ramadan at Trinity, though? Having no Muslim friends or family here, I waited for the Ramadan app on my iPhone to tell me when it was time to eat. I spent my first Ramadan microwaving Hot Pockets in my residence hall rather than celebrating it with people who understood.

After an experience with discrimination, I was inspired to revive the MSA, which marked a big turning point for me. I flipped the way I processed my negative experiences. I shed my guilt and ceased complaining how no one gets me, and I used those as opportunities to pinpoint what misconceptions people hold about my “niche” community. I held conversations with classmates about their perceptions of Muslim people, revived cultural events like our successful Henna Night, and spoke on panels about my experiences.

The tail end of my undergraduate journey saw many promising changes thanks to the establishment of the Diversity and Inclusion Office (DIO). Due to my role as president of MSA, I was invited to be a member of the DIO advisory board and sat down for monthly meetings alongside the leaders of every other cultural, racial, and identityoriented organization on campus. To my left sat the president of PRIDE. To my right sat the president of the Black Student Union. Being around incredibly talented people from various walks of life who had grown

stronger from pain helped enrich my own perspective as an advocate. I was different, but I wasn’t alone.

As I prepared to graduate, my very last days at Trinity fell during the holy month of Ramadan. During my senior year, MSA received invitations from the chaplain and professors Sajida Jalalzai, Tahir Naqvi, and Habiba Noor to their homes for collective dinners. A group of us got together right before the break of dawn to share a last bite in preparation for a full day of fasting. I now had a semblance of the community I enjoyed in Pakistan, while also celebrating differences within community. Thinking back to the first year version of myself eating microwaved food alone in my room after 14 hours of fasting, I finally rediscovered the childish joy of sharing a well-deserved Hot Pocket… with Medjool dates that smelt of home.

–Danyal Tahseen ’19 Read Danyal’s essay in full at gotu.us/DanyalTahseen.

Tahseen (third from left) sharing a meal with friends and professors during Ramadan.

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Seeking Intentional Inclusion Though 151 years young, Trinity still has much to learn. As a community, we have begun important work to examine our history. And as we assess our past, we create steps to build a more inclusive future for Trinity.

We continue to learn and grow. magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

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Faculty include: • Sarah Beth Kaufman, Sociology and Anthropology (co-chair) • Lauren Turek, History (co-chair) • Alfred Montoya, Sociology and Anthropology • Jennifer Mathews, Sociology and Anthropology • Carey Latimore, History (former co-chair) • Claudia Stokes, English (former co-chair) • Erin Kramer, History • Angela Tarango, Religion

examining

Our Roots

Undergraduates help Roots Commission faculty uncover Trinity’s ties to slavery and injustice

by Jeremy Gerlach

T

here’s a common misconception about Trinity’s ties to slavery and injustice, according to Camille Johnson ’21.

Namely, that there aren’t any, since the University was founded in 1869 after the Civil War. But through the Trinity University Roots Commission (TURC), a faculty-led effort to uncover and understand racism and injustice in the University’s history, student researchers like Johnson are getting a chance to correct this narrative.

“The Roots Commission is a chance to uncover connections between Trinity’s history and the legacy of slavery that go beyond common knowledge,” says Johnson, an anthropology major and African American studies minor from Portland, Oregon.

Johnson, along with anthropology major Rohan Walawalkar ’21 and sociology majors Rachel Kaufman ’22 and Cecelia Turkewitz ’21, spent this past summer as researchers for the TURC. The commission was launched in 2018 with the support of Trinity’s Office of Academic Affairs and President Danny Anderson. The initiative, led by a team of Trinity faculty, is looking at the lasting effects of chattel slavery and the origins of the wealth of Trinity’s founders.

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• Michael Soto, Academic Affairs • Colleen Hoelscher, Special Collections • Douglas Brackenridge, retired (adviser) • Linda Salvucci, retired (adviser)

Uncovering Clues to the Past For Turkewitz, conducting research on a restorative justice project like the TURC unfolds almost like a cold case.

“I feel a bit like a detective, looking for things,” says Turkewitz, who’s interested in criminal justice and law.

“I’m learning to research correctly, tie different sources together.”

Turkewitz and the rest of the group combed through newspapers, federal data, and historical websites, homing in on information about wealth connecting Trinity’s founders to unjust practices, such as slavery or sharecropping.

TURC faculty members have also compiled a staggering mix of historical sources and records, including: existing university records; publicly accessible historical documents from the Freedmen’s Bureau and U.S. Census; and probate records and wills, land records, and the archives of the Cumberland Presbyterians connected with Tehuacana Historical Association, the Limestone County genealogist, and current owners of “Texas Hall” (the first Trinity).

Reconstructing Reconstruction As other universities like Georgetown, Brown, and Harvard continue similar investigations into their links to slavery, Trinity’s research has a chance to contribute in a unique way.

These other projects are examining schools’ antebellum (pre-Civil War) ties to slavery, but much of the TURC’s work is shedding light on the legacy slavery imposed on the Reconstruction (post-Civil War) era.

According to the TURC, the many ways Trinity’s history has been shaped by the racial violence of Reconstruction include: Wealth accrued during the antebellum period through the labor of enslaved people enabled Trinity founders to acquire land, erect the first buildings, and hire teachers and staff in Tehuacana.

Reconstruction-era Texas. The book will encompass everything from the University‘s relationship with indigenous groups, to the legacy of slavery, to how Trinity remembers its history in the present. The group is also developing a website to serve as an interactive exhibit and database of its archival and historical finds.

“We want to use this research to position Trinity as a leader for other universities founded during Reconstruction who are embarking on Roots projects,” Kaufman and Turek write. “Engaging undergraduates in multidisciplinary Roots research, creating public scholarship, and developing digital exhibits are ways that we are models.”

While the white descendants of Trinity founding members have enjoyed positions of privilege, such as “legacy” admission to the University and positions on the Board of Trustees, Black descendants—those people whose birth resulted from relationships between Trinity founders and the people they enslaved—are written out of this history and denied those resulting privileges.

Some University records perished in two separate courthouse fires as part of multiple campaigns of terror waged against Black freedpeople in East Texas.

Thus, some of Trinity’s early history was literally made invisible by racial terror.

Building a Better Future TURC co-chairs Sarah Beth Kaufman and Lauren Turek say the TURC’s ongoing work has major implications for the future of Trinity’s community. The commission intends to continue connecting with other universities and scholars engaged in similar work and aims to hold a conference as soon as is feasible. The TURC also plans to expand its scope to include a focus on indigenous history in Limestone County, where massacres of tribes took place in the 19th century.

Turek says the TURC is dedicating this year to writing an interdisciplinary book about its findings, situating Trinity’s story within a larger history about

Administration building on Trinity’s campus in Tehuacana, Texas. Photo taken in 1897.

Meeting hall on Trinity’s campus in Tehuacana, Texas.

Photo taken in 1898.

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assessing campus climate Trinity takes temperature check around diversity and equity As Trinity pursues its aspirational value of intentional inclusion, the University must be open to learning about the realities of its current campus climate.

In 2019, the Office of Institutional Research partnered with the Diversity and Inclusion Office to survey the current campus climate around diversity and equity. Trinity polled faculty, staff, and students on issues surrounding discrimination, harassment, feelings of belonging, and more.

32.4

%

Compared to other small institutions, Trinity has: response rate out of almost 3,500 community members

49.9% of faculty | 26.8% of students 45.7% of staff/administration

Of the respondents:

78 69 44 66 36

%

were overall satisfied with campus climate.

%

felt a sense of belonging or community on campus.

%

%

felt that all community members experienced a sense of belonging or community on campus.

perceived tension on campus related to differences between individuals and groups of people.

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slightly higher levels of satisfaction with the campus climate for diversity and equity. slightly higher rates of disparaging remarks between people.

Political affiliation is the most-heard topic of insensitive or disparaging remarks on campus.

Being ignored is the #1 form of harassment or discrimination on campus.

Followed by being the subject of insensitive remarks, and being stared at

Top locations students experienced discrimination or harassment: 1) on-campus housing 2) classrooms 3) dining halls, recreational spaces, or athletic facilities

reaching a point

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd

South Asian Lesbian African American/Black are the top 3 groups* of individuals who have experienced discrimination and/or harassment on campus. *in all of these groups, women especially reported discrimination and/or harassment

Most common sources of disparaging or insensitive remarks: Student to student Faculty to faculty

by a police officer, Trinity, like many other institutions of higher learning, reached a tipping point.

President Danny Anderson created a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force with the charge to produce a report by the end of August that would provide actionable recommendations to generate fundamental, sustained change in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The role of this task force was to go beyond what was “comfortable,” such as simply planning events and developing tactics. This core group of individuals— representative of faculty and staff—were selected specifically because they carry with them a variety of lenses and perspectives.

Alongside the task force, an advisory group composed of students (the Brain Trust) and faculty and staff (the Subject Matter Experts) provided insight and feedback to the task force as they developed recommendations.

Committed to individual growth as well as institutional growth, the task force underwent exercises to stretch its members’ abilities to think globally, including a vision-planning exercise asking how they envision Trinity’s culture in the next 5 to 15 years. The task force then formulated its recommendations, referencing insights from the advisory group and the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness as well as expertise from the consulting firm Stand by Systems II.

task force recommendations The task force’s final report serves as a guidepost for creating a more intentionally inclusive community The Diversity and Inclusion Task Force report identified ways Trinity can respond to the call for racial justice in our country, guide us in looking inward as a predominantly white university, and make use of our institutional privilege to better serve our community through diversity, equity, and inclusion. The resulting report offers 29 recommendations to examine current systems, keep what is working, and make changes where improvement is needed.

Some of the immediate steps Trinity has taken include: 1. Conducting an external review of Student Life and Academic Affairs. The holistic student experience depends on the full integration of these two administrative units and cannot be achieved in silos.

2. Conducting an audit of Trinity’s administrative structure to examine the number of direct reports to the president, evaluate the portfolios of vice presidents and chief administrative officers, and benchmark the staffing of a chief diversity officer against peer institutions of similar size and operating budgets. This step creates the opportunity to establish a chief diversity officer who would report to the president.

+

Read the task force’s report in full at gotu.us/IntentionalInclusion. magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

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Diversity and Inclusion Task Force Co-Chairs

Advisory Group Deneese Jones Academic Affairs

Wilson Terrell Jr. Engineering Science

Composed of students, faculty, and staff, members of the advisory group provided responses and insights to any drafted recommendations from the task force.

Brain Trust Consultants

Subject Matter Experts

Taylor Black ’23 and Corbin Amos ’23, Black Student Union

Marisela Barrientos-Caro, Human Resources

Isabel Chavez ’21 and Guadalupe Rivera ’22, Trinity University Latin Association Isaiah Tesfaye ’22 and Victory Ogubuike ’22, African Students Association Steven Drake ’22 and Tam Mack ’22, PRIDE

Members Michelle Bartonico ’08, Strategic Communications and Marketing Duane Coltharp, Academic Affairs James T. “Tom” Hill ’68, Trinity University Trustee Lisa Jasinski, Academic Affairs Zhaoxi “Josie” Liu, Communication Dominic Morais, Business Administration Arturo de los Santos, Information Technology Services Chad Spigel, Religion Shawne Stewart-Zakaria, Alumni Relations and Development Claudia Stokes, English Jamie Thompson ’05, Student Involvement Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, Modern Languages and Literatures

Jaelen Harris ’21 and Nasim Salehitezangi ’22, Student Government Association Trinity Diversity Connection representatives

Jeremy Boyce ’03, Admissions Becca Burt ’16, Student Success Marqiece Cunningham, Residential Life Rubén Dupertuis, Religion Kyle Gillette, Human Communication and Theatre Andrew Hansen, Human Communication and Theatre Jennifer Henderson, Communication Cameron Hill ’99, Athletics Nicolle Hirschfeld, Classical Studies Sajida Jalalzai, Religion Michele Johnson, Biology Sarah Beth Kaufman, Sociology and Anthropology Carey Latimore, History Rhonda Lewinson, Registrar Robert Scherer, School of Business Shannon Twumasi, Student Involvement Yu Zhang, Computer Science

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As a community, we are facing both familiar and unprecedented challenges.

In Trinity’s case, a century and a half of history will not be changed overnight with simplistic silver bullets. The University must reflect and acknowledge its past while owning its responsibility of marching toward an inclusive future.

True to its roots, Trinity will act with resilience, humility, and community as we become stewards of this future we envision.

+

Follow progress and be part of this inclusive future by visiting Trinity’s intentional inclusion website at gotu.us/IntentionalInclusion.

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In the

Eyes of a Child A Conversation with Nava Kavelin ’06 and Simran Jeet Singh ’06

by Miriam Sitz Grebey ’10

Although 2006 Trinity University graduates Nava Kavelin and Simran Jeet Singh differ in many of their religious and cultural traditions, such differences were essential to cementing their friendship. “When Nava and I met our first year, I was really intrigued by some of our shared experiences around life on the margins,” says Singh, who grew up in San Antonio and is a Sikh. “When you feel like you’re the only person whom no one understands, it’s a powerful experience when you meet someone else who is also often left out.”

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During their time on campus, Kavelin and Singh formed a club dedicated to interfaith exchange with three of their friends, including a Muslim, a Protestant, and a Catholic. “We came together because of our personal relationships and our curiosity,” explains Kavelin, who was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is a member of the Baháˇí faith. “It was a space to build consensus—and it was just really fun.”

More than a dozen years later, bridge-building remains an important theme of both their careers.

Kavelin, who also earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Trinity in 2007, has been an educator, researcher, and writer in varied contexts across the globe, from Israel to China and back to the U.S. In 2017, she joined the Baháˇí International Community’s office at the United Nations in New York, which laid the groundwork for her current role as CEO of Ninth Mode Media, a production company she co-founded with actor Penn Badgley to create meaningful content through a hopeful lens.

Since graduating from Trinity, Singh has largely remained in the world of academia and racial justice—first at Harvard Divinity School and then at Columbia University, where he completed his doctorate in religion. Today, Singh lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children and teaches at Union Seminary. His first children’s book,

Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, was just published by Kokila/Penguin Random House; his next focuses on Sikh wisdom for today’s world.

Kavelin and Singh joined Trinity in virtual conversation about their work in promoting exchange, inclusion, and understanding—a mission that, today, feels more vital and urgent than ever.

Simran Jeet Singh '06 (bottom) and Nava Kavelin '06, M'07 (second from right) founded an interfaith club together in college. magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

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This interview is lightly edited for length and clarity.

How did your undergraduate years set you on the path you’re on now?

Nava Kavelin (NK): As an English major, I took as many creative writing courses as possible, and professor Andrew Porter helped nurture that interest, which is definitely relevant to the path I’m on now.

In education, professor Angela Breidenstein was an incredible human and an incredible female role model. And though I’m not strictly in an educational field, the idea of helping young people and taking every opportunity to promote education is something that will never leave me.

Simran Jeet Singh (SJS): Similarly, education is the primary lens of everything that I do. I went to Trinity interested in teaching and ended up majoring in English and religion.

Academically, professors Mackenzie Brown and Randy Nadeau were important guides, and everyone in the religion department—that’s what started me down the path to academia.

Dean David Tuttle and Reverend Stephen Nickle were also big influences. Part of the reason I felt like I belonged at Trinity was because every time I went to them with an idea—around justice or activism or something like the interfaith club—they figured out a way to make space for it.

NK: I echo those same feelings—Reverend Nickle even helped me get a scholarship to attend a Baháˇí conference on the arts! And being a resident mentor was also a really meaningful experience. I met Katie Storey through residential life, and I could just feel her sincere

“It's a shame that some students don't begin learning about and appreciating different cultures and communities until adulthood.”

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love for the students. She wanted them to progress academically and also feel at home at the University, and to know that it was a fun and adventurous and inclusive place.

It sounds like promoting respectful, mutual exchange has always been important to you both. Nava, how did you transition from education and research to media?

NK: It’s a winding path, but while I worked at the United Nations, one of the areas that I researched was the way that media influences public discourse and identity—and specifically how it shapes behavior and relationships between women and men. There was something about the way that media negatively impacts girls, especially, that really broke my heart. I began to feel like I didn’t just want to study this challenge, I wanted to build solutions. So, I started developing relationships with producers and actors, and after co-writing and co-directing a film about women’s rights, I left to start my own production company with Penn.

“It’s really important to give children, from a young age, the sense that they have agency to make the world a better place.”

Simran, you recently published your first children’s book about Fauja Singh, the British Sikh runner who became the first 100-year-old to complete a marathon. What was the impetus for writing that?

SJS: Since childhood, I’ve sought out books with characters that look like my family, and I was always disappointed. I even asked a librarian once if there were any, and she said, “No, it’s not relatable.” The message that sent to me was that our stories didn’t matter.

Thirty years later, nothing has changed. And a big problem I’ve seen while teaching is that 18-year-old students arrive at college with very little understanding of the world around them. It's a shame that some students don't begin learning about and appreciating different cultures and communities until adulthood.

In April 2016, a few months after my first child was born, I took her to meet Fajua Singh, who was in New York for a celebrity race. He held her in his arms while we sat in the living room talking. He was 105 then, and I remember thinking how I wished she could just absorb all the wisdom he was sharing. I realized that if I wrote it out as a book, she could! It’s the first children’s book from a major publisher to center on a Sikh story—which is

sad because I can’t believe it’s taken so long, but it's also really exciting to open this gate for stories from our community and others that are so underrepresented.

Likewise, Nava, a major focus for your company is creating thoughtful children’s entertainment. Why did you and Penn decide to go in that direction?

NK: We currently have a family comedy in development with Warner, and we pitched that along with a concept for an educational kids’ show. Penn and I felt, like Sim said, that it’s really important to give children, from a young age, the sense that they have agency to make the world a better place.

In our meetings with executives, we found that there was sincere interest in creating this type of content, but that there was also fear and hesitation because it’s not really being done. The show didn’t sell back then, but people were impressed. A major children’s network exec said, “Everyone is coming in and selling us the apocalypse, but you came in today and brought us hope.” They liked the different premise that we brought to the table. So now our mission is to prove that premise. We aim to tackle some of the heaviest issues that humanity is facing, but to do it in a way that doesn’t feel too heavy and is entertaining.

“A major children’s network executive said, Everyone is coming in and selling us the apocalypse, but you came in today and brought us hope.”

Purchase Singh’s book, Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, wherever books are sold.

What is the key to making underrepresented stories mainstream successes?

SJS: You just tell a good story. Human connection happens through storytelling, when we can really see one another in a deeper way.

NK: Absolutely. And I think there’s an appetite for stories from people that you haven’t heard of, from communities you don’t know about.

Questions of diversity, inclusion, and representation have risen to the top of our national consciousness in recent months as many people begin to grapple with the ways that historically entrenched systems of racism and privilege have shaped our country. How does it feel to see these topics come to the fore of public conversation just as your own work in this realm is taking off?

SJS: It’s exciting, but increased representation won’t solve all of our problems; representation is not equity, and representation is not liberation. That said, representation is powerful, especially for those who have been marginalized and unseen for so long. It helps kids reimagine who their heroes can be and helps us connect with people’s humanity.

NK: I agree that it’s exciting. I think that there is a lot of work to be done and also that change comes over generations. It can be easy to feel impatient, like things aren’t happening quickly enough, so you have to steel yourself for a long-term journey. All of humanity is on this path of learning about—and moving toward—a social reality that is inclusive and allows everyone to prosper. It’s also inevitable that some individuals like things the way they are and will fight progress.

But it’s beautiful to see more and more people realize that things need to change. That gives me a lot of hope.

Watch the trailer for Kavelin’s upcoming documentary, Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality, by visiting bit.ly/3jcb9uW.

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Terris Tiller ’00

by Carlos Anchondo ’14

The Olympic and Paralympic Games happen every two years, when athletes from around the world come together to compete.

Yet the work of supporting U.S. athletes is something that happens every day and isn’t limited to training sessions or conditioning.

As an athlete career coach for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), Terris Tiller ’00 develops the programs and resources athletes rely on for personal and professional development. Tiller works with Team USA athletes to create opportunities during their time as competitors, as well as for life after their Olympic careers.

A key part of his job, Tiller says, is understanding how to best help athletes who are focused on immediate concerns like training and competition.

For example, rather than helping an athlete craft a resume for a job in the distant future, Tiller might instead help them make a resume that best articulates their value to sponsors. When the time comes to find a full-time job, Tiller says, that person will be wellpracticed in speaking about who they are and their skills.

Tiller, who graduated from Trinity with a bachelor’s degree in communication and history, ran cross country and track as a Tiger—a talent he parlayed into a professional career as a modern pentathlete before he joined the USOPC full time. He has been with the organization going on 16 years.

Tiller has introduced several Trinity students to the Olympics and Paralympics through a program called Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere, or FLAME. The program brings college students to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center to get an up-close look at careers within the movement.

“I look at the FLAME program, and that was my way of being able to say, ‘How can I help students of color, particularly students of color at Trinity... get exposed to jobs in sport through the work I do?’” Tiller says.

Tiller has been at the heart of conversations within the USOPC about systemic racism, athletes using their voice to protest, and increasing mental health support for athletes—particularly athletes of color. To continue the conversation beyond the summer, Tiller is leading a group of more than 40 athletes and staff nationwide as they discuss ways to create change and how they should advocate for themselves and within their own communities. One of the goals, Tiller says, is making sure athletes are able to train in an environment they feel is free of discrimination and racism.

“How can I help students of color... get exposed to jobs in sports through the work I do?”

Terris Tiller ‘00 (far left) with volunteers at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

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Monica VargasMahar M’98

by Madison Semro ’21

There has never been a better time to help others.

Monica Vargas-Mahar M’98 (second from right) and her team visit one of El Paso’s fire stations to recognize their speedy response to the crisis, which led to better patient outcomes.

Monica Vargas-Mahar M’98, FACHE, chose to pursue a career in health care for that reason. She is the CEO at The Hospitals of Providence East Campus, a 182-bed acute care hospital in El Paso, Texas. “While I’m not a clinician, I still feel I can have an impact on those who need us most,” she says.

Since March, Vargas-Mahar has been managing the effects of COVID-19—not just on her hospital’s patients, but also on her team keeping the hospital running. She has helped her hospital adjust to the pandemic by limiting visitors and implementing additional safety protocols. But, she says, “My biggest role has been building and maintaining trust. I want our team members to know we are listening and making ourselves accessible so that their concerns can be quickly addressed.”

In addition to reaching out to fellow hospital CEOs in The Hospitals of Providence’s network, Vargas-Mahar has sought guidance from other Trinity health care administration alumni who have experienced similar issues throughout the pandemic.

“It’s been a great advantage to reach out to such an extensive network and talk about how they’re facing the challenge,” she says.

Currently, East Campus is managing the situation rather well. “We’re stable now because we had team members who were willing to work together and who were flexible and adapted as needed,” Vargas-Mahar says. “Our greatest resource in combating this pandemic is by each person in our community being vigilant and taking all safety measures possible.”

Despite the challenges East Campus has faced these past few months, Vargas-Mahar has also seen some heartwarming moments. In a particularly uplifting gesture, a nurse’s daughters decorated the sidewalk leading to the employees’ entrance with colorful and inspirational chalk art messages. They also painted rocks with notes of encouragement to show their appreciation for everything the hospital’s staff has done for their community throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Vargas-Mahar and her team collected these rocks and displayed them in the hospital’s employee cafeteria. “For generations, people will be able to enjoy these beautiful, handpainted rocks, the story behind them, and their motivation for creating them,” Vargas-Mahar says. “And it’s been lovely to see that folks are really here for us, and our community is helping to support our team.”

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ALUMNI PROFILES

Jan Naylor Cope ’78

By Ted Gartner ’91

The stately Washington National Cathedral has been home to some of our nation’s most significant events.

But what happens when a pandemic prevents the country from gathering for religious services? If you’re Reverend Canon Jan Naylor Cope ’78, you improvise. Over the years, it’s been a strategy that has served her well.

Cope began her professional career in financial development and politics. But in 2007, after a breast cancer scare, she switched careers and became an ordained Episcopal priest. By 2015, she was appointed provost of National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The church’s doors have been shut since the early days of the pandemic, but Cope and her team have been busier than ever.

“Before COVID-19, we would have maybe 800 people physically in the building for a Sunday service and a few hundred live streaming. Today, we have anywhere from 10,000-15,000 people streaming live, and another 30,000-40,000 will tune in after the fact,” she explains.

The response to the streaming has been so strong that they’ve added a daily morning prayer service that is viewed globally—a couple from New Zealand are regulars.

“It tells me that people are yearning for a connection, particularly in these incredibly difficult times,” Cope says. “They want some sense of rootedness and some sense of hope that it’s not always going to be like this.”

An important and poignant new tradition at the National Cathedral is reading the names of COVID-19 victims that have been submitted by friends and family. Each individual is prayed for, and a card bearing their name is placed upon the walls of the Chapel of St. Joseph.

Cope says her time at Trinity helped her hone two of the main traits she has called on during this time: adaption and compassion.

“It was at Trinity that I was encouraged to look outside of myself at the social context that might not be my own, to better understand what was going on in the world around me,” she explains. “I think that part of the challenge is, people get so overwhelmed by the enormity of the issues and the challenges that we forget it starts with one person just reaching out to another.”

Jan Naylor Cope ‘78 live streams a religious service. Photo by Danielle Thomas, Washington National Cathedral

“It was at Trinity that I was encouraged to look outside of myself at the social context that might not be my own, to better understand what was going on in the world around me.”

Photo by Danielle Thomas, Washington National Cathedral

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Tim Jo ’06

by Miriam Sitz Grebey ’10

Tim Jo has worked as an actor in Los Angeles for just over 10 years.

“I don’t need a stream of auditions to remind myself that I’m an actor.”

It’s a great place to be—but not where the 2006 Trinity University graduate initially expected to end up. “I thought I was going to be a computer science major,” says the Dallas native. “But then I found myself in a C++ class, and I just could not understand it, nor could I focus, nor could I stop playing solitaire.” He enrolled in an introductory drama class with professor Stacey Connelly, hoping for an easy A; instead, he discovered he was challenged, focused, and falling in love with theater.

Jo, who had done some child modeling, started acting in commercials during college, giving him the required experience to audition for—and be cast in—his first feature film: Bandslam (2009). Jo took more acting classes and began to land gigs on television shows. In 2018, he got a call about a four-episode arc on the NBC hit drama This Is Us; now, he’s set to enter his third season as a recurring character on the show.

Jo, who is Korean American, says that his views on representation in media have evolved over the course of his career. While he’s mindful of the roles he pursues—avoiding stereotypical characters and always striving to bring greater depth to every person he plays—Jo has a nuanced view of his duty as both an actor and a person of color.

“Representation comes with the territory,” he says. “The number of Asian-American faces on television is dismal, so it’s hard to not deeply consider what these roles mean—not only to me, but to the community of people watching.” However, that can be an unfairly heavy burden, he says. “I think that as artists, our only responsibility is to bring life to a character—to get down to the core of who he is and how he can best serve the story.”

Like so many other industries, the world of television and film has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, but Jo finds himself uniquely prepared for the professional challenges facing actors. “I’ve heard other actors say, ‘I’m going crazy over here; I haven’t auditioned in months!’ But as an Asian-American actor, that’s my norm,” he says. “I don’t feel that same desperation of needing the work to help define me. I don’t need a stream of auditions to remind myself that I’m an actor. I don’t need to be on set to remind myself that I have value.”

Tim Jo ’06 plays Jae-Won on the NBC drama This Is Us.

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The Big Picture Students, faculty, and staff worked tirelessly behind the scenes this year to ensure a safe, yet spirited, move-in experience.

Students were assigned single rooms, visitors were limited, and families carried their own belongings into the residence halls.

Traditions like New Student Orientation, convocation, and the Tower Climb were all done virtually.

Photo by Joshua Moczygemba ’05

TRINITY TODAY Zooming Past the Competition Nearly 150 students research, intern, and build their own companies in Summer 2020 This summer, despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, Trinity

students still innovatively took on internships, launched businesses, and conducted undergraduate research. Almost 150 students engaged in summer experiential learning, mentored by 67 faculty members across 27 academic departments.

See how Trinity used experiential learning this summer—even though most of it was remote—to cultivate a community of lifelong learners.

1 Ethan Jones ’21, Rylie Snell ’21, and Natalia Salas ’21 worked with Alamo 1

City Studios through Students+Startups as associate producers on an upcoming documentary about Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi.

2

2 Grace Hanshaw ’22 transformed her backyard in The Woodlands, Texas,

into a research hub with the help of biology professor Jim Shinkle. The duo studied ultraviolet B radiation effects on native Texas grasses using Hanshaw’s homemade greenhouse.

3 Josefina Hajek-Herrera ’22 participated in the New Student Venture

Program to determine the feasibility of patenting and selling an electrodynamic balance, a device she is working on with the chemistry department to study aerosolized particles, such as ones found in COVID-19.

4 Kailey Lopez ’21, Katie Maloan ’22, Rachel Poovathoor ’22, and Bradley Sykes ’22 studied how COVID-19 has affected human rights around the

world. Alongside political science professor Rosa Aloisi, communication professor Robert Huesca, and human communication and theatre professor Roberto Prestigiacomo, the students examined how various governments have used the pandemic to oppress marginalized populations.

3

5 Peyton Tvrdy ’20 and librarian Elizabeth Poff created a digital database

of the 800+ images found in the Coates Library mural. View the database at mural.coateslibrary.com.

6 Mai Vo ‘22 and David Lonergan ‘21 helped build, preserve, and

rediscover community as Arts, Letters, and Enterprise interns at the Carver Center, a hub for black culture and the arts on San Antonio’s East Side. Vo composed music for the center’s storytelling series, while Lonergan restored archives of famous artists and musicians who have performed there over the years.

4

At the end of the summer, students participated in a virtual experiential learning symposium. View their recorded presentations and posters at tusymposium2020.squarespace.com.

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6

Trinity Debuts New Website Trinity launched a redesigned website in September. Focused on telling the Trinity story, the website was built using extensive research, thorough testing, and current best practices.

Visit trinity.edu and start exploring!

Legal Professional Joins Board of Trustees Thomas Evans ’84 is new addition

Virtual Conferral of Degrees Class of 2020 recognized through live ceremonies Though the Tiger community could not gather in person to celebrate the Class of 2020, Trinity conferred degrees upon 514 graduates on May 16. Capping off their Trinity journey in a meaningful and memorable way, graduates were individually recognized through live commencement ceremonies broadcast by Tiger Network.

Legal professional Thomas Evans ’84 joined the Trinity University Board of Trustees, beginning his service in summer 2020.

Evans is senior vice president and counsel for the North American transportation business unit of XPO Logistics, and previously he has served as vice president and general counsel for a division of Walmart Stores. Evans’ appointment reflects a commitment by the Board of Trustees to recruit members who reflect the diversity of the University. Since the appointment of President Danny Anderson five years ago, the Board has recruited 12 new Trustees, including two African Americans and eight women.

Mathews Named Piper Professor Sociology and anthropology professor selected as top 10 teacher in Texas Sociology and anthropology professor Jennifer P. Mathews was selected as one of

only 10 Piper Professors in Texas this year.

Piper Professors are chosen for their superior teaching at the college level in addition to their research, publication, and related activities. Mathews was the 2019 recipient of the Z.T. Scott Award, given annually to the top professor at Trinity.

Dupertuis Awarded for Humanities Research Mentorship One of only two professors in nation to win 2020 award Religion professor Rubén Dupertuis was honored by the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) as a 2020 Arts and Humanities Faculty Mentor Awardee. He is one of only two professors in the country to win the award this year. Dupertuis helped create the Trinity University Mellon Initiative for Undergraduate Research in the Arts and Humanities, and in 2016, he cofounded the Roman World Lab. Dupertuis has also supported undergraduate research as a CUR Councilor for the Arts and Humanities and as a facilitator for the CUR Humanities Institute.

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TRINITY TODAY

Corina Maeder Awarded $450,000 Grant Biochemistry professor wins Voelcker Fund Young Investigator Award

2020-21 National and Regional Rankings Trinity takes home wins in engineering, job placement, and more

National Recognition #98 University in the Nation #33 in the Nation for Best College Consensus

Top 13% in the Nation for Undergraduate Academics Princeton Review

Biochemistry professor Corina Maeder ’99 has earned a three-year, $450,000 grant from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund as the winner of the Voelcker Fund Young Investigator Award. Maeder’s research will focus on how mutations in two specific genes contribute to retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease.

Undergraduate Engineering Program U.S. News & World Report

#11 in the Nation for CPA* Performance *Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination

Small but Mighty Best Small College in the Nation

#27 College Consensus #35 Niche #46 Money Regional Rankings In the West...

#1 University #2 Best Value #3 Undergraduate Teaching #8 Most Innovative School U.S. News and World Report

#1 Best College in Texas for Getting a Job Zippia

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Thi Bui

Lectures Held Virtually Trinity welcomes three fall speakers Trinity University regularly hosts a variety of lectures, plays, concerts, games, and other events on campus for the San Antonio community to enjoy. This fall, most of the events usually held on Trinity’s campus were shifted to a virtual space because of the ongoing pandemic. The University welcomed the following lecturers: Reading TUgether Lecture

Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do Policy Maker Lecture Series

John Whyte, chief medical officer of WebMD Humanities Collective Lecture

Koritha Mitchell, English professor at The Ohio State University

new position, she will focus on creating an integrated and holistic student experience that promotes retention.

This forward-looking approach involves collaborative partnerships with Academic Affairs, Alumni Relations, and others.

ProtecTU Debuts This Fall Public health campaign protects campus community

Student Earns Goldwater Scholarship Prestigious award supports careers in STEM research Biology major Lauren Johnson ’21 was awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The award, given to fewer than 400 students across the nation every year, encourages recipients to pursue research careers in STEM. Johnson has conducted research through Trinity labs as well as through a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates.

In 2019, Johnson won the Marine Biological Laboratory Associates Prize for Excellence in Independent Research for her microalgae research. Johnson is the 24th Trinity student to join the Goldwater ranks since 1994.

Thompson Named Assistant Dean Of Students Alumna spends more than a decade working with Trinity students Jamie Thompson ’05 was named assistant dean of students in addition to her current role as director of Student Involvement.

Since joining Student Involvement in 2009, Thompson has focused on the student experience at Trinity. With this

This fall, Trinity’s Health and Wellness Working Group launched ProtecTU, a public health campaign to help stop the spread of COVID-19 on campus. With the help of two health care administration students, Gabriella Lopez M’21 and Sabrina Arizaga ’18, M’21, the team promoted a community wide health pledge stipulating that the health of the individual is dependent on the actions of everyone. The campaign emphasizes five pillars: hand washing, staying home when showing COVID-19 symptoms, wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and sanitizing spaces and surfaces.

The ProtecTU campaign was especially important with the return of students from all around the country and world, each area having their own public health standards and protocols surrounding COVID-19. The ProtecTU campaign aligns students, faculty, and staff so that everyone is doing their part to help prevent the spread of the disease, both on and off campus.

Meet the Class of 2024 First-year class one of most academically strong and diverse in Trinity’s history

by Madison Semro ’21

Despite an ongoing pandemic that is hurting enrollment for colleges around the nation, Trinity filled its first-year class this fall—and attracted one of the most academically strong and diverse classes in its history, too.

Trinity’s Office of Admissions worked hard this past spring to make sure Trinity’s enrollment numbers did not suffer this fall, even though campus shut down during one of the most important seasons for Admissions. “For us, March and April is our yield season,” explains Dean of Admissions Justin Doty.

“We had to pivot everything to do virtual recruitment, which was challenging to say the least. The mantra for our whole staff was flexibility.”

634

first-year students

34% acceptance rate 44% underrepresented • 23.8% Latinx • 10.1% Asian • 4.6% Black • 5.4% Multiracial

20%

Pell Grant eligible* *highest in University history

1344

30.5

3.68

77%

Average SAT

Average GPA

Average ACT

in top 20% of their high school class

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TRINITY TODAY

Taking a Look at What We Have Student-written play showcases human connection over Zoom

by Sydney Rhodes ’23

Wren Ramos ’22 was one of the few students who remained on campus after the University closed in Spring 2020. As he adjusted to living alone and searched for ways to connect with people online, the communication and theatre double major heard about a student playwriting competition Trinity President Danny Anderson was sponsoring. He got to work.

The Trinity University Players produced the play, and Ramos took a hands-on role with the script he wrote, stepping up to direct the production. Ramos also brought on his friend, biology major Taylor Condron ’22, to stage manage the play. Ramos and Condron coordinated virtual auditions and, together with their actors, recorded the play entirely through Zoom, splicing together scenes in post-production.

What We Have premiered at Trinity’s New Student Orientation, with an encore presentation on Tiger Network in late September. The duo turned the showings into a fundraiser to help local and national communities with the pandemic.

“It was a conglomeration of trying to get used to living alone, connect with other people—and the only way to see anyone was through Zoom.”

The inspiration for Ramos’ play came from his journaling, which he used as a mental health outlet during all of the uncertainty. “I was like, ‘At least I’m still at Trinity,’ but Trinity wasn’t the same without the people,” he says.

“It was a conglomeration of trying to get used to living alone, connect with other people—and the only way to see anyone was through Zoom.”

Ramos’ play, What We Have, not only won the playwriting competition, but was then produced by Trinity’s Department of Human Communication and Theatre.

“I wasn’t really prepared for that,” he says. “That’s very nerve-wracking. It’s kind of like if your diary had been published and then was going to be put on by multiple actors and directed for six weeks.”

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“There was something so wholehearted about putting yourself in something when you’re stuck inside and giving yourself something active to do,” Ramos says. “Writing your feelings, acting them out in a greater cause that impacts more than just you. It wasn’t just theater for theater’s sake; it was theater for everyone trying to get through this.”

+ Watch What We Have on Tiger Network at live.trinity.edu.

TRINITY UNIVERSITY PRESS

Terroir: Love, Out of Place Natasha Sajé The word “terroir” refers to the climate and soil in which something is grown. Natasha Sajé applies this idea to the environments that nurture and challenge us, exploring in particular how the immigrant experience has shaped her identity. In this memoirin-essays, Sajé combines poetic lyricism with incisive commentary on nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and class.

Thirty-Three Ways of Looking at an Elephant edited by Dale Peterson Elephants have captivated the human imagination for as long as they have roamed the earth, appearing in writings and cultures from thousands of years ago and still much discussed today. Veteran scientific writer Dale Peterson has collected 33 essential writings about elephants from across history, with geographical perspectives ranging from Africa and Southeast Asia to Europe and the United States.

Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico: Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives edited by Ellen Riojas Clark, Kathy Sosa, and Jennifer Speed This book celebrates the women of early Texas and Mexico who refused to walk a traditional path. It features the soldaderas who cared for troops while shadowing the Mexican armies, iconic godmothers like the Virgin of Guadalupe and La Malinche, artists Frida Kahlo and Nahui Olin, and activists Emma Tenayuca and Genoveva Morales; biographies are written by Sandra Cisneros, Laura Esquivel, Carmen Tafolla, and others.

In the Loop: A Political and Economic History of San Antonio David R. Johnson This highly accessible history of San Antonio’s economic and political development is the culmination of urban historian David Johnson’s extensive research. Beginning with San Antonio’s formation more than 300 years ago, Johnson lays out the factors that drove the largely uneven infrastructure and unplanned distribution of resources. He then analyzes the demographics that transformed the city from a frontier settlement into a diverse and complex modern metropolis.

With the onset of COVID-19, Trinity University Press’ on-campus events have moved online, making it easier than ever to access their programming from anywhere in the world. View and register for upcoming events at tupress.org.

Trinity University Press is committed to civic engagement with ideas. Published books, public programs, and related

media focus on helping 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 studies. For more information, visit tupress.org.

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LIT PICKS

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coleen Grissom’s Reading List

I’ve served this institution since 1958, so I’m beyond pleased to learn that this fall issue is focusing on building communities, especially a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus. From my perspective, it’s been a long, generally slow emphasis for Trinity to reach.

When I first worked here, there were only 144 resident women students and about as many men, but we called them “girls and boys.” Resident women observed (or got in trouble for not observing) early curfews during the week but gamboled about until 10:30 p.m. on weekends. They endured room cleanliness inspections and never heard of having a student of the other gender in their rooms.

Those were not “the good old days” for women.

I remember vividly our first woman resident of color and the fact that the only restaurant we could go into together was Earl Abel’s, and, when we shopped at Joske’s, a saleslady followed us. When an Olmos Park trustee planned a tea for outstanding women students, she chose not to invite our one Black student. (I sought help from the magnificent Trinity president, Jim Laurie, so the invitation was ultimately extended.)

As an instructor, I also was expected to limit my reading and that of my students to novels by “dead, white men.” (This didn’t include dead Jews, by the way.) Sneakily and, again, slowly, and carefully, I introduced diversity, equity, and inclusion into the reading assignments. (I got away for years with

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including George Eliot. Only Trinity graduates seemed to realize her name really was Mary Ann Evans.)

All this is by way of preparing you for my contemporary reading suggestions. These novels will stretch, enrich, amuse, inform, and challenge you. And surely you know by now, you can trust me. (Okay, a couple suggestions may offend.)

In no particular order, please read for enrichment: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo: Winner of the Booker Prize and best meets the theme of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Race, sexuality, gender, history, and even economic status all get examined as influences on the lives of several women.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai: Examines in detail the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s with vivid characterization and understanding.

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: Alas, is based on a real story of the Dozier School, a reformatory institution for boys in Florida, set during the Jim Crow era.

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore: About lower class women without education or money in a world of masculine brutality. (West Texas oil fields…)

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich: Another Erdrich look at our country’s dispossession of Native Americans from their homes and culture.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips: I seem to be following a trend here without realizing it—another about women who are fragmented personally, culturally, and emotionally. The women in this novel seem never to have heard of diversity, inclusion, or equity.

By the way, during this pandemic and the seemingly eternal quarantine, I’ve also read many distracting, “forget as soon as your nightmares end” murder mysteries and detective novels. I dare you to escape into recent works by some of these writers: John Sandford, Robert Crais, James Patterson, Scott Turow, and Chris Culver.

Again, I’m honored to be asked to share a few reading suggestions, recalling that many of you ignored my assignments in the good old days, and surely you feel guilty and will consider these!

Coleen Grissom Professor Emerita of English Trinity University

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57

TIGER PRIDE

Baseball During the shortened 2020 campaign, the Tigers ended with an impressive 11-2 record and were ranked fourth nationally. Head Coach Tim Scannell picked up his 700th career victory early in the season, extending his program record for both wins and winning percentage. Senior designated hitter Michael Goodrich was elected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for his efforts in the classroom. The baseball team also received recognition for the performances of some Tiger legends, as Kyle Felix ’11 and Jeremy Wolf ’16 were selected to the D3baseball.com All-Decade Team.

Nunez

Krimbill

Mary Kaffen Kass

Men’s and Women’s Tennis

Men’s and Women’s Golf Despite the premature end to the spring golf season, the Tiger men’s team competed in two tournaments in early March. First-year Daniel Nunez won the individual title at the SCAC Preview and earned four top-5 individual finishes during the school year.

Nunez was named to the Golf Coaches Association of America All-West Region Team and NCAA Division III PING AllAmerica Third Team. Senior Tucker Norris and junior Bryce Pidgeon were recognized for their achievements in the classroom, as they were both named Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American Scholars.

The Tiger women’s team was only able to compete in one tournament before the beginning of the pandemic, but they made the most of the opportunity by winning the SCAC Preview. After the end of the spring semester, first-year Joanna Kass was named a 2019-20 Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar.

58

Zoe Kaffen

TRINITY Fall 2020

Goodrich

Martin

Softball The 2019-20 season was the first under Head Coach Abby Martin, who was hired in June 2019. The team amassed a 7-12 record during the shortened season, which included a series sweep over the University of Texas at Dallas and a conference victory against Southwestern (TX) University. The softball team was the last of Trinity’s spring sports to compete, as they chose to play two of their regularly scheduled games against Texas Lutheran University to honor their seniors.

The men’s tennis team began its 2020 spring season early with a trip to Hawaii to compete against some of the country’s top teams. They wrapped up the shortened campaign with a 12-6 record, which included a 10-match win streak. Junior Cameron Krimbill earned a spot on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) NCAA Division III Singles All-America Team after capturing the ITA Southwest Region Championships in the fall and finishing the season ranked 12th nationally. The team was also named to the ITA All-Academic list, while eight studentathletes were named ITA Scholar-Athletes.

During the abbreviated season, the women’s tennis team earned a 6-5 overall record and a 6-2 record against Division III opponents. Seniors Zoe and Mary Kaffen earned NCAA Division III All-America Doubles honors for the second straight year after winning the ITA Southwest Regional Doubles title in the fall, and the duo finished the year ranked fourth in the West Region.

The women’s team also earned All-Academic Team honors from the ITA, and nine out of 10 players earned Scholar-Athlete recognition.

New Faces in 2020 Trinity Athletics added six new members over the spring and summer, headlined by a pair of head coaches.

Jimmy Smith Head Coach, Men’s Basketball

Sarman Hill

Smith comes to Trinity after three seasons as the head coach of Millsaps (Miss.) College, preceded by stints with fellow SCAC schools Schreiner (Texas) University and Texas Lutheran University for two seasons each. He won two SCAC Championships and made the NCAA Division III Playoffs twice at Texas Lutheran.

Andrew “Drew” Cohn Head Coach, Women’s Tennis

North

Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving The Trinity men’s and women’s teams swept the SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships, SCAC Swimmer and Diver of the Meet accolades, and SCAC Coaching Staff of the Year awards. At the conference meet, Daniel Sarman and Caroline North were honored with the SCAC Elite 19 award, which recognizes the student-athlete with the highest academic and athletic achievements in each conference sport. Juniors Beau Tipton and Anthony Liva swept SCAC Male Swimmer and Diver of the Meet and of the Year awards, respectively, while junior Mabel Fowler and sophomore Maren Merwarth did the same on the women’s side.

With the cancellation of the NCAA Division III Championships, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) recognized the nine Tiger swimmers and divers with All-America honors who were set to compete at the event: Tipton, senior Elizabeth Nelson, senior Star Rosales, Fowler, and sophomores Meghan Magill, Morgen Reyna, and Libby Goode. Merwarth and sophomore diver Katarina Partalas also received All-America recognition.

Nelson, Rosales, Fowler, Goode, Merwarth, Reyna, and first-year Mya Tio received Scholar AllAmerican kudos from the CSCAA.

Cohn comes to the Trinity coaching staff from Haverford (Pa.) College, where he spent the last three seasons leading the Fords to the first ITA national ranking in the history of its women’s tennis program. He previously held assistant positions at the University of La Verne (Ca.) and Pomona-Pitzer (Ca.) Colleges, earning national acclaim for both programs along with two ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year awards.

Sterling Holmes Assistant Coach, Men’s Basketball Marcus Coleman Defensive Backs Coach, Football Burt Stuart Strength and Conditioning Coach, Football Harrison LaLone Assistant Sports Information Director

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59

TIGER PRIDE

What’s Next?

Trinity and many other schools across the nation have cancelled all sports for the fall semester. Despite this setback, Trinity is working on proposals for the fall and winter teams to play abbreviated seasons in the spring. This would mean that all 18 Tiger sports teams would be in action during the spring semester!

Check trinitytigers.com for upcoming announcements about spring schedules.

(NABC) for their academic success during the 2019-20 school year. Juniors Stephen Molina and Lucas Oldham were named to the NABC Honors Court, while the team earned its seventh annual Team Academic Excellence Award. Longtime Head Coach Pat Cunningham announced his retirement at the end of the campaign.

Williams

Men’s Basketball The Tiger men’s basketball team wrapped up the 2019-20 season with a 10-16 overall record and went 8-10 in conference action. The team earned a ticket to the SCAC Tournament and was edged in the quarterfinals by Schreiner University. Sophomore Jack Williams was named a Strength and Conditioning All-American by the National Strength and Conditioning Association for his efforts in the weight room. The program received both individual and team recognition from the National Association of Basketball Coaches

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TRINITY Fall 2020

Holland

Women’s Basketball The Trinity women’s basketball team completed the 2019-20 campaign as SCAC Regular Season Champions with a 23-5 overall record. The Tigers also emerged as the 2019-20 national

statistical champion in NCAA Division III Assists-Turnover Ratio category.

Trinity was edged in the finals of the SCAC Tournament but received an atlarge bid to their fifth NCAA Tournament in eight years. Senior Abby Holland was named the SCAC Women’s Player of the Year, while Head Coach Cameron Hill was named the SCAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.

Defteraiou (left)

Majors

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Both the Tiger men’s and women’s track and field teams were recognized as AllAcademic Teams by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for achieving a minimum cumulative team GPA of 3.1.

Sophomore Sean Majors was also honored by the USTFCCCA and was named an AllAcademic Athlete for the second time in as many seasons. Junior Keaton Holt was elected to the College Sports Information Directors of America 2019-20 Academic AllAmerica Division III Track & Field/Cross Country Team. Senior Androniki Defteraiou was named a Strength and Conditioning All-American by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Bell Center Wins Awards Trinity University and the William H. Bell Athletic Center received high honors for the Bell Center’s recent $14.2 million renovation.

Best Education Project Building SA Awards San Antonio Business Journal

Outstanding Sports Facilities Award

National Intramural Recreational Sports Association

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TIGER PRIDE

Cross country senior Brianna Ratliff was awarded an NCAA Ethnic Minority Graduate Scholarship in the spring and received a $10,000 award to be used during the 2020-21 academic year.

The psychology major is pursuing graduate studies in kinesiology at Texas A&M University at San Antonio, with the goal of becoming a collegiate cross country coach. She joined Head Coach Emily Daum ’09 on the Trinity coaching staff this school year.

SCAC Honors 9TH CONSECUTIVE

SCAC President’s Trophy

20th overall for Trinity (SCAC record)

SCAC Champions

Men’s and women’s soccer; volleyball (tied); men’s and women’s swimming and diving; women’s basketball

SCAC Runner-Ups

Men’s and women’s cross country

Academic Honor Roll

205 winter and spring student-athletes named to Academic Honor Roll

Abby Holland ’20, Tiger women’s basketball All-American, wrapped up her outstanding career with a slew of postseason awards, cementing her status as one of the most decorated basketball players in Trinity University history.

After earning recognition as the SCAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, Holland earned All-Region and All-America honors from D3hoops.com and Honorable Mention All-America status from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

The communication major and sport management minor was awarded a pair of postgraduate scholarships—the Jim McKay Scholarship and the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship—in the amount of $10,000 each.

Holland was named the SCAC Woman of the Year this summer, which led to her also being nominated for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Abby Holland ‘20 was named SCAC Woman of the Year.

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IN MEMORIAM

ALLAN O. KOWNSLAR ’57, M’59 June 24, 2020 Former history professor 45 years of service to Trinity (1971-2015)

Wendt

Colvin

REBEKAH WENDT ’23 AND TYLER COLVIN ’23 GEORGE GRIFFIN July 16, 2020 Former postal supervisor 25 years of service to Trinity (1978-2003)

RAUL GONZALES August 12, 2020 Former maintenance specialist 42 years of service to Trinity (1972-2014)

Students Rebekah Wendt ’23 and Tyler Colvin ’23 died on July 10 in

a car accident outside Mineral Wells, Texas. The pair had spent the day volunteering for a political campaign and were returning home. Wendt and Colvin were both active members of the Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at Trinity and deeply committed to the organization’s mission and activities.

Wendt was also a member of Swing Bums and participated in the Plunge. Her friends remember her as outgoing, lighting up every conversation and bringing joy wherever she went, leaving them with indelible, positive memories of their time together.

Colvin joined the Alpha Kappa Psi coed business fraternity in fall 2019 and planned to serve as the risk management chair in 2020-21. He joined Phi Sigma Pi in spring 2020 and was slated to serve the organization as the service chair this fall. He was also active in the Catholic Student Group and had recently joined the polo club as a novice rider who showed enthusiasm and interest in the sport. Colvin’s friends describe him as a warm, caring, intelligent individual who dedicated his time and energy freely to the people and causes he cared about.

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ALUMNI NEWS

Board of Visitors Adds Six to Roster New appointees reflect alumni diversity

by Ted Gartner ’91 Over the summer, Trinity Alumni Relations and Development updated and analyzed

data regarding the demographics of the current Board of Visitors (BOV). The goal was to ensure the BOV reflected the cultural and socioeconomic diversity found among the University’s students, alumni, and stakeholders.

The BOV is an appointed group of volunteers who serve as ambassadors, promote career assistance for students and

graduates, assist with fundraising, work on projects endorsed by the University, and offer strategic advice to the president.

Recent BOV projects have included assisting students in developing a sustainability plan for the Mock Trial Club, helping fund internships and student leadership awards, and sponsoring a breakfast honoring all of Trinity’s classified employees.

After reviewing alumni diversity, geographic areas, areas of study, and graduating class clusters, the Membership Committee recommended the addition of six new members to the Board of Visitors, all of whom are Trinity graduates.

Lisa Jasper ’95 CEO, Thought Ensemble (Colorado)

Adriana Mendez-Rugh ’97 CFP and regional director, Truist Financial, formerly BB&T (North Carolina)

Vanessa Hammler Kenon ’88 Associate vice president for Information Management & Technology, University of Texas at San Antonio (Texas)

Danielle Oliver ’05 RN, formerly with Pediatric Associates of Dallas (Texas)

John Lozano ’93 CPA and senior vice president and relationship manager, U.S. Bank Corporate Banking Division (Colorado)

Tiffany Williams ’93 District Manager, Sodexo Campus Services (New York)

Two recent graduates have also been appointed as associate members:

Amulya Deva ’19 Pega consultant, Capgemini North America (California)

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TRINITY Fall 2020

Janet Muñoz ’18 Senior business analyst, University Health System (Texas)

Reading TUgether Alumni Book Club Join hundreds of other alumni in reading the next novel in the Alumni Book Club: Range by David Epstein. Alumni will be reading Range from December 2020 through February 2021.

To join the Alumni Book Club, add yourself to the Facebook group named “Reading TUgether Alumni Book Club.”

Record-Breaking Giving Alumni and friends support students during COVID-19 pandemic

2019-20 Fiscal Year

16.7

alumni

% participation rate

10-year high 1.2% increase from 2018-19

27.7 million

$

giving total highest amount in more than 3 decades

2020 1869 Challenge

667,441

$

raised through 4,456 gifts

Trinity made the tough decision to postpone Alumni Weekend 2020 for the health and safety of its Tiger alumni.

Save the date for Alumni Weekend 2021: October 21–24! magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

65

CLASS NOTES

Show your #TigerPride 1970 Johnny Gutierrez retired after a

successful life in the workforce.

Submit your updates online at gotu.us/ alumniupdates

Austin King was selected as an

ex-officio member of the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees to represent alumni.

In October 2019, he helped organize and present at an international meeting on voice in Krakow, Poland.

1971 Mike Lawrence retired from

Trinity in summer 2019. His first retirement was from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (now named UT Health San Antonio). Lawrence is enjoying exercising and reading more and editing online essays for an international spiritual website.

1974 Howard and Diane (Harris)

Berger retired and are living

in Chania, Crete. They remain active in traveling, hiking in the Cretan mountains, and enjoying raki.

Ian “Toby” French, after

1951 Mary Alice Bone Adamson kept a scrapbook from her four

years on the Woodlawn campus and found some interesting photos.

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TRINITY Fall 2020

graduating from Trinity, spent six years of active duty in the U.S. Army, which included a tour in Germany.

He transitioned into the Reserves and worked at Science Applications International Corporation as program manager, moving up to assistant vice president and division manager after 12 years. French later worked for four additional Defense/Intel firms and then was mobilized after Sept. 11, 2001, and served in Army Intel

for his last two and a half years.

Following his retirement from the Army, French worked in Federal Intelligence at the National Security Agency, and after 12 years he retired again.

French received numerous awards for Army service, such as the Meritorious Service Medal and Legion of Merit as well as the Killian Award from the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board for duty in Bosnia in 1996-97.

French resides in Delaware and is a volunteer leader of Team Rubicon (disaster response) and the chair of Delaware’s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster. He was married twice (the second time for 35 years) and has three daughters, one a professional geologist near San Diego, and another an Army captain in Military Intelligence serving at the U.S. Embassy Ukraine, following in her father’s footsteps. French has returned to San Antonio several times for Fiesta and enjoys seeing the changes on campus.

Helen (McCaffrey) Morrison

retired in 2012 as an associate professor at Texas Christian University. The book she co-authored, Auditory-Verbal Therapy: Science, Research, and Practice, was published in June 2020 by Plural Publishing.

husband, Brad, reside in Paragould, Arkansas.

Amy (Stephenson) Patterson,

Phillip Philbin, looking

to leverage his success in representing inventors and innovators, joined the law firm Thompson & Knight so their combined teams can do more patent enforcement work.

Houston alumni participated in Memorial Hermann’s Step Healthy Day, volunteering to support the Houston Food Bank at Castillo Park on Feb. 15.

1977

1981

George Hernandez was named

James Gerhard retired in

CEO of the Year by Inside Memphis Business. He is former CFO and current CEO of Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics in Germantown, Tennessee.

1980 Cary (Lamb) Ownby is a retired

elementary school teacher and enjoys spending time with her 2-year-old and 10-month-old grandchildren.

March 2019.

1987 Melissa (Benjamin) McCracken

became assistant vice president for donor relations and communication in 2019 at the Inova Health Foundation, Northern Virginia’s leading nonprofit health care system.

1986 1988 Mary (Lile) Broadaway was

elected in March 2020 to serve as circuit court judge for Arkansas’ Second Judicial District, which covers six counties in Northeast Arkansas. Prior to her election, she served for four years as state representative in the Arkansas General Assembly. She and her

Jonathan Freeman moved back

to Europe after two years in the Washington, D.C., area. He almost retired after nearly 30 years as an Army officer, but he could not turn down an assignment to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Freeman is the director of plans and strategy for the Marshall Center, a German/American effort addressing transnational and regional security challenges and policy development.

professor of politics at the University of the South, completed a Fulbright Scholar program in 2019-20 in Tanzania, where she conducted research on mental health as a policy priority. She has written on Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in The Washington Post, and her book, Africa and Global Health Governance, examines African state reactions to various health issues. Patterson’s daughter, Sophia Patterson ’23, matriculated to Trinity in fall 2019.

Doug Saegesser M’91 has been

appointed the chief financial officer for the University of Chicago Medicine Community Health and Hospital Division.

He and Jodi are looking forward to a new adventure in Chicago.

1990 Monica W. Latin was named

managing partner at Dallas-based business law firm Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal. She was named managing partner-elect in May 2019, is a member of the firm’s executive committee, and has served for many years as chair of the firm’s Business Litigation Practice Group.

1989 Benita Blessing is the opera-

San Antonio alumni gathered at Lilly’s Greenville on Feb. 25 for a happy hour presentation by Centro San Antonio to learn more about the organization’s mission and how Trinity alumni can help create a more beautiful,

David Meyer took early retirement

tions director of the German Studies Association, the professional organization in her field.

She also teaches at Oregon State University and writes about East Germany. Blessing finished a book (her second) on East German children’s films and has begun a new one about children and play under socialism.

from the Federal Trade Commission in February 2019 and started working for Compass Lexecon.

His new position allows him to work remotely for part of the year so that he and his wife, Susie, can split their time between Belfast, U.K., and Washington, D.C.

playful, welcoming, and prosperous downtown.

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CLASS NOTES

1991

1994

Marcella (Auld) Glass has been

Beth (Williams) Cusack is

MARRIAGES called to serve as the head of staff at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. She is looking forward to connecting with classmates in the Bay Area.

Lee Koch earned a doctorate in

health and nursing education from the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, after seven years of hard work.

Heidi (Lorch) Odenius resides David Meyer ‘90 and Susie Millar

Heidi Lorch-Silva ‘91 and

July 23, 2019

Eric Odenius October 5, 2019

NEW ADDITIONS

in Burnsville, Minnesota. Her youngest sons, twins Abraham Silva and Noah Silva, graduated from Chanhassen High School in Chanhassen, Minnesota, in June 2019.

1992

Abraham Arnold to

Charlotte Quinn to

Matthew Boerger ‘00

Kate (Skelley) ‘06

and Allison Boerger

and Tyler ‘07 Wilson

May 6, 2020

December 12, 2019

1995 Sarah Humfeld began a new Jonah Goodrich to Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 and E. Cabral Balreira August 26, 2020

Nicolás André to

Elspeth Lynn to

Pamela Neumann ‘00

Erika (Friedmeyer)

and Carlos Bolivar

Forrest ‘12

July 13, 2019

July 17, 2020

Welcome to the newest little member of our Trinity magazine team!

Emily B. Cohen earned her

master’s degree in clinical laboratory science from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in May 2019. She relocated back to Texas and is a medical technologist for St. David’s Medical Center in Round Rock, Texas.

James Holmes published “Su-

perseding Money Judgments in Texas: Four Proposed Reforms to Help the Business Litigant and to Further Improve the Texas Civil Justice System” in the St. Mary’s Law Journal.

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TRINITY Fall 2020

reconnecting families in the kitchen with her first children’s book, Making Monster Soup, self-published in 2020 through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. The book, both written and illustrated by Cusack, is a lighthearted introduction to the kitchen for children. Cusack donates the royalties of her previous townsfolk’s collection of memoirs to the Friends of Knoxville County Public Library, which includes Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Both books are available on Amazon. Cusack plans for her next children’s book to be about 21st century STEM people from around the world. In addition to her writing, Cusack and her husband have successfully “reverse-nested” out of their starter home of 20 years to let their sons use it as a dorm to commute to college locally.

position at the University of Missouri as the assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Research.

1998 Barnabas Sprinkle is the

lead pastor of Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church in Liberty Corner, New Jersey.

1999

2001

in Shreveport. Keel has been named to the Becker’s Hospital Review annual list of female hospital and health system leaders to know for five years in a row. She is also a William G. Follmer Bronze Award recipient in Healthcare Financial Management Association.

2007 Jessica Estorga-Johnson

formed Estorga Johnson Law Firm, PLLC, a family-owned law practice focused on business matters, mediation, and civil/family law litigation.

2008 +Read more about Keel’s new role Emmanuel Alvarez was

at gotu.us/PatKeel.

Josh Loden, executive vice

president and San Antonio commercial and commercial real estate leader at Broadway Bank, received the Emerging Leader Award from the Texas Bankers Association. Loden has more than 15 years of commercial lending experience and has risen through the ranks at Broadway Bank since joining the company in 2013.

2000 In August 2019, Pamela Neumann began a new tenure-track position as assistant professor of sociology at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas.

Pat Keel has been promoted

to the expanded role of executive vice president and chief administrative and financial officer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital after having served as chief financial officer there since 2016. In the new role, she oversees numerous departments vital to campus operations. Prior to joining St. Jude, Keel served as chief financial officer and senior vice president for University Health in Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana. In addition, she held leadership roles with Good Shepherd Health System in Longview, Texas, and CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System

2004 Angela Peake M’05 was named

a finalist for the Oklahoma City Public Schools district teacher of the year.

2005 Bianca (Abate) Richman, a

senior program manager at Amazon, was the catalyst for a star-studded concert that raised money to address COVID-19 hardships by providing food donations, housing assistance for youth and families, support for small businesses, and health services for essential workers.

The June 2020 event, All In WA: A Concert for COVID-19 Relief Sponsored by Amazon, featured Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Brandi Carlile, Macklemore, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and more. A recording of the concert is available on Amazon Prime Video.

accepted as a licensed professional engineer by the Texas State Board.

Geoff Rosen is a financial adviser,

Certified Employee Benefits Specialist, and Accredited Investment Fiduciary designee.

He holds FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 licenses and an Arkansas Life and Health Insurance license. A member of the Landmark Financial team since 2011, Rosen was promoted to partner in February 2020.

2009 Daniel H. Galindo started

his own law practice: danielhgalindo.com.

Raymond Skunda is the parent

of three children and an orthopaedic surgeon at the Center for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine in San Antonio.

2012 2006 Kate (Skelley) Wilson and Tyler Wilson ‘07 relocated to Austin,

Texas, in March 2020.

New York alumni enjoyed a special behind-the-scenes look at the making

Eric Elliott is a program director

for Cowboy Compost in Fort Worth, Texas, and is leading the citywide initiative to bring composting to residents and businesses in North Texas.

of the “Worlds Beyond Earth” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium courtesy of Trinity computer science professor Mark Lewis ’96. On Feb. 29, Lewis provided simulation data for part of the show and shared his experience in being part of the exhibit.

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CLASS NOTES

2014 Shane Manning was

named deputy chief privacy officer of Texas Health and Human Services.

Kelley McGill graduated

with honors from Harvard Law School.

A Sunday social included a side of service for the Metro Phoenix Chapter!

Alumni gathered at the home of Chapter Board member Abby Raddatz ’99 in March for a relaxing afternoon catching up with fellow Tigers and helping their community by collecting food donations for a local food bank.

Sarah Mullens graduated with

a master’s degree in business analytics from Southern Methodist University and accepted a position as a marketing analytics partner at Whole Foods in Austin.

Kate Windsor works at the

2016

University of Texas at Austin as a research assistant in an embryonic development lab.

Caileen Tallant-Adams opened

2020

her own music studio featuring one-on-one music instruction in piano, voice, guitar, strings, and composition. Tallant Music Studio is located in Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

2018 Jennifer Noriega started a new

position at USAA as a credit risk analyst.

Ciara McDaniel began a master’s

program in deaf education at UT Health San Antonio, just two days after her graduation from Trinity. In addition, she was offered a position as an associate teacher at the Sunshine Cottage for Deaf Children. + Read more about McDaniel at gotu.us/CiaraMcDaniel.

2019 David Herman created a YouTube

channel called “Social Psychology Explained,” where he breaks down and comments on recent journal articles in social psychology.

On Feb. 15, the Saddle Light Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship

CLASS NOTES SUBMISSIONS

hosted San Antonio alumni for a volunteering shift. Tigers painted

Send your class notes to alumniupdate@trinity.edu,

fencing and cleaned and polished tack and equipment for the nonprofit,

or fill out the form at gotu.us/alumniupdates.

whose mission is to provide professional equestrian therapy for children, teenagers, and adults with neurological, orthopedic, learning, emotional, or other disabilities.

Photo Submissions: Bigger is better!

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.

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IN MEMORIAM

Dorothy (Leigh)

Lloyd “L.K.” Croft ‘57

Jerry Engeman ‘61

Gloria

Randall Whitten ‘73

Denny Smith ‘85

Eppright ‘36

April 20, 2020

August 3, 2020

Duke-Richter ‘67

April 6, 2020

March 22, 2020

March 19, 2020 William Proctor ‘42

May 22, 2020 Wesley Davis ‘57

Arthur Mahavier ‘61

April 10, 2020

June 20, 2020

July 31, 2020 Allan O.

Opal Maxey ‘61

Glenna (Graham)

Kownslar ‘57, M’59

March 15, 2020

McCord ‘47

June 24, 2020 Oscar Roberts ‘57

April 24. 2020

July 3, 2020

Littleton ‘49 April 11, 2020

Marion Sehlke ‘61 Bessie (Brook) August 4, 2020

Pritchett ‘50 March 24, 2020 Travis Hausler ‘52

Leslie (Miller) Morse ‘69

March 24, 2020

June 18, 2020

July 14, 2020

January 24, 2020 Marrs Bowman ‘01 February 21, 2020

Camilla (Haugarth) Hardee ‘76 June 10, 2020

Harold Palmer ‘71

Rose Carroll ‘77

February 9, 2020

July 6, 2020

Charlotte Marsh ‘72

Dane Offutt ‘78

June 10, 2020

February 10, 2020

Gregory Muffitt ‘72

Amelia (McMillan)

March 21, 2020

Toles ‘78

April 13, 2020 May 15, 2020

Pearl Kalver ‘64 July 31, 2020

Dan McCarty ‘58 Wilson McKinney ‘64 Jeanette (Batot) April 6, 2020

July 10, 2020 Anne (Randall)

June 4, 2020

Mancini ‘65

Linda Rhodes ‘72

April 13, 2020

June 9, 2020

Alan Guerin ‘66

Sara Jane

May 15, 2020

Westbrook White ‘72

Alfred Rodriguez ‘79

July 12, 2020

July 10, 2020

Charles

Diana (Sims)

Whitehead ‘72

Lewis ‘80

May 11, 2020

May 26, 2020

Elizabeth (Garroutte)

Cynthia Latham ‘81

Hankins ‘73

July 20, 2020

April 5, 2020 Elizabeth (Bradford) April 18, 2020

April 12, 2020

William Harty ‘66 April 12, 2020

April 15, 2020

Arnecke ‘56

Douglas Young ‘78 May 12, 2020

Raymond Bufler ‘60 Patricia (Schackel) Hicks ‘66 Rose (Parsons)

July 14, 2020

Collins ‘60 July 4, 2020

Dorothy (Hathaway)

March 26, 2020

Littlepage ‘66

July 17, 2020 Carolyn (Wease) Dorothy (Laas)

Brown ‘61

Christ ‘57

July 4, 2020

July 7, 2020

August 2, 2020 Maria Espinoza ‘97

March 20, 2020

Susan Eklund ‘62

Brown ‘59

Martin Froebel ‘56

August 3, 2020

July 17, 2020

Harren ‘53

April 13, 2020

Muncaster ‘68

April 3, 2020 Kristen Adams ‘94

Louis Lubbering ‘70

Joe Booth ‘59

Cordia (Adkins)

Robert Sifuentes ‘74

Waddill ‘63

August 15, 2020

J.C. Chapman ‘55

Robin (Newkirk)

Williams ‘75

Miyasato ‘58

May 23, 2020

April 7, 2020

W. Douglas

Frank Williams ‘52

Margaret (Motley)

June 4, 2020

Charles Gillespie ‘90

March 18, 2020

April 1, 2020

David Bell ‘53

Tim Green ‘74

Woods ‘57

Pope ‘52

February 18, 2020

Jack Houghton ‘68

Linda (Sager)

Glen Gordon ‘58

May 21, 2020

June 23, 2020

Shirley (Soward)

April 10, 2020 Patricia (Crozier)

May 27, 2020

April 8, 2020

June 1, 2020

Sallee ‘57 Mary (Verner)

Lester Hood ‘86

Boyd ‘74

Charles Monaco ‘61

June 9, 2020 Helene (Scrivener)

Wilma (Jaggars) David Smallwood ‘67

August 10, 2020

Robert McAndrew ‘84 Tommie Lee ‘73

May 19, 2020

March 20, 2020 Michael Wilkens ‘66

Gregory Mulligan ‘85

May 18, 2020

April 18, 2020

magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

71

My New American Experience

by Victor H. Rodriguez ’14

“Ni de aquí, ni de allá” is a Spanish phrase

meaning "neither from here nor there."

Growing up as a first-generation MexicanAmerican, I feel like there is no better way to describe the outsider feeling I experienced while growing up. I was born in a supportive Californian community, where most people shared my background.

However, I faced an identity crisis when my family moved to Texas to be closer to Mexico and take care of my grandmother’s worsening diabetes. Unbeknownst to me, this change was the start of my firstgeneration American narrative that would guide my passion for bridging gaps in health care among underserved populations.

When I started third grade in Texas, my school quickly categorized me as an English as a Second Language (ESL) student, despite my English proficiency. At the time, I did not know the difference because my classmates looked and spoke like me.

However, my environment was completely different outside of the classroom. I recall automatically speaking Spanish to anyone who had Hispanic features, something frowned upon in my new Texan home.

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COMMENTARY

"In coming to the U.S., my parents had sacrificed so much. I did not want their efforts to be in vain."

Rodriguez with his family at his graduation from Trinity in 2014

Anytime I spoke Spanish outside my class, the non-ESL teachers would get frustrated and quickly inform me that it was rude to speak Spanish around others. That was when I first experienced discrimination, but I was too young to realize it. After third grade, the views I had about my heritage changed, and I began denying my Mexican background.

As I began middle school, things began changing again, and I became more confused about my feelings toward my heritage. I also noticed that I was set back educationally: Before starting sixth grade, I asked to join pre-AP courses, but my school placed me into the regular classroom setting. This was perplexing, as I was an A student.

Fortunately, my Hispanic math teacher, Ms. Gonzalez, vouched for me to be placed in advanced courses after I excelled in her class.

As I navigated my cultural and educational disorientation in middle and high school, it was soon time to think about college. Most of my peers in the advanced classes came from affluent homes and had parents or siblings who held degrees. My classmates had the resources to go to college. I had the opposite experience, with an unsupportive father who believed I could get into college but feared how he would afford it, and thus would sometimes discourage me.

But my situation made me determined to succeed. In coming to the U.S., my parents had sacrificed so much. My father grew up in a humble home—made of clay, sticks, and straw—in rural Mexico, where he repeated third grade because it was the

best education his village had to offer. My mother faced sexism throughout her life, being denied education or a career by her father, who gladly gave resources to his sons.

I did not want their efforts to be in vain.

Most of my teachers were supportive of my endeavors. I recall receiving the best advice from my first-generation Mexican-American junior-year English teacher. He told me about his struggles growing up along the Texas-Mexico border and his journey to college. With his letter of recommendation, Trinity University accepted me with a substantial scholarship that alleviated my parents’ economic burden.

Trinity welcomed me to Summer Bridge, a supportive program for first-generation and underrepresented students. My class was the first cohort, and I was relieved knowing I had local support from other staff who understood the struggles of being a first-generation college student. I was also later inducted into the McNair Scholars Program, a national program dedicated to helping first-generation college students pursue graduate degrees.

I did not realize how important these support groups were until I noticed the lack of diversity on campus and the economic differences between other students and my family. My peers would often comment on how busy my schedule was, but they did not know I had two or three part-time jobs each semester to support myself, while they had hours of free time during the day. However, through hard work and dedication, I

graduated with two degrees and three majors in four years—aiming to pursue a career path where I could help first-generation and underrepresented Americans in health care.

I decided to attend Texas A&M University School of Public Health in McAllen, Texas, located along the Texas-Mexico border. The master’s program allowed me to see the vast disparities in Latinx health care. I worked on a diabetes intervention project, where I met many individuals who had a hard time accessing care because of language barriers, socioeconomic status, and immigration status. I was disheartened seeing people with uncontrolled diabetes because of their limited access to quality health care. Still, I knew my small part offered them hope and a service they would otherwise not have.

Rodriguez with his sister in 1995

magazine.trinity.edu TRINITY

73

COMMENTARY

(above) Rodriguez practices clinical exam skills at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine.

Without all these experiences, I would not be where I am today. I was accepted into medical school at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine, where Latinx students are underrepresented. In 2015, only about 4.6% of medical graduates in the nation identified as Hispanic or Latinx, disproportionate to the country’s population (estimated today at 18.3%). Medical graduates are significantly underrepresented in states like Texas and California, where the populations are almost 40% Hispanic.

Getting into medical school was a difficult journey, but I quickly realized I was not alone. I met several students on the interview trail and in medical school who talked about a similar burden of being underrepresented in medicine, coming from a lower socioeconomic status, or being the first to become a doctor in their family. We were connected by our backgrounds to push for change, whether it be to broaden the diversity in our field or work in the community to help the village that raised us.

I sought opportunities to make a change where I could. First, through

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the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and later as a member of the medical school admissions committee.

I have met many premedical students who share my story, struggling through unknown paths to reach their dreams.

With my knowledge of admissions and a great network of colleagues in LMSA, I have been able to work as a mentor to help create the next generation of a diverse workforce. I, along with my friend Munir Buhaya, helped create a phenomenal high school event for the 2019 LMSA national conference in Lubbock, Texas, where we had almost 200 participants. Because my colleagues saw my passion for mentorship, I was voted to serve as the southwest regional co-director-elect and national vice president of LMSA. During my time in medical school, I have also tried to be involved in health policy and advocacy. Inspired by my Trinity best friend, Helene Nepomuceno ’14, I also became involved with the American Medical Association. Helene, now Dr. Nepomuceno, served as chair of the Medical Student Section. There, she was a

strong leader in health care advocacy, pushing for policy to address health issues in our nation. With my background in public health and knowledge of health disparities at the border, I work with other students on creating and reviewing policy that affects minority populations in our country.

After feeling like an outsider throughout my upbringing, I was grateful to encounter so many people who shared similar struggles and successes in being a first-generation American.

They inspire me to continue finding ways of bridging gaps in health care to reach equity. Through this journey, I try to make small contributions where I can, paying it forward to those who have helped me previously—as I hope future generations will do. As I continue on through my medical education, I aspire to become a physician, where I can work with individuals burdened with disease but also work to prevent illnesses in areas with people who cannot afford the cost of health care.

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One Trinity Place San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Parting Shot “Trinity is moved. After those long years of planning, then those long years of waiting, Trinity has at last found itself on the new campus. James Laurie, Trinity president, said there was a touch of nostalgia as we move away from the old campus, but we look to the new with eagerness.”

—Trinitonian, 1952 Students take a well-earned break to sip punch on May 13, 1952, moving day for the third—and final—time in Trinity’s history. In less than five hours, 500 students, faculty, and staff pitched in to haul desks, books, lab beakers, and more from the Woodlawn campus to Trinity’s new, permanent home.

Once the dust settled, students built a community from, quite literally, the ground up on the Skyline campus.