The Trinity Perspective | Spring 2021 by Trinity University

SPRING 2021

Close to Normal Students find community in unconventional classrooms

Close to Normal

Despite the pandemic, 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 de-densified campus, spreading students 6 feet apart—and beyond, as parts of campus operate remotely—and pushing classrooms into new digital spaces. 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. 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.

The Trinity Perspective magazine is produced quarterly. Through these pages, explore the many facets of life at Trinity University and get to know the students, faculty, and staff who call Trinity home. With the vibrant city of San Antonio as a backdrop, discover the many benefits and opportunities our community has to offer. We invite you to read these pages to explore some of the many ways we make a great education possible, then take a virtual tour to get a sense of our 125-acre skyline campus.

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Unexpected Seeds Through plant biology class, students find that life flourishes in tiny spaces by Jeremy Gerlach

Students in professor Kelly Lyons’ plant biology course have always taken home homework—but in Fall 2020, they also took home radishes. The nine students in BIOL-3427 met for a lecture and lab each week, examining plants as food and energy resources. Lyons says the class was fortunate enough to be able to meet in person, even if meeting required spacing 6 feet apart and involved talking for hours through masks. Lyons’ students eagerly invested their energy into a class project where they took home radishes to grow, examining how their plants compete given limited space. For many students, cooped up in their rooms for months, it was nice to see life thriving in cramped spaces.

Gage Adams ’21 studies a plant with professor Kelly Lyons.

“I had never seen students this excited about growing their own radishes,” Lyons says. The plants are an easy conversation starter, Grace Hanshaw ’22 adds. “It was fun to bring the class home, and even more so because our class got along really well,” Hanshaw says. “We kept sending each other pictures of our radishes, which we thought was funny. But there was a sense of community we had to find in each other because that was the only normalcy we could get.” The group frequently ventured outside to the San Antonio botanical gardens and other vibrant nature spots. There, they studied Monarch butterflies with tagging kits, examined plant specimens, and soaked in the fresh air. “[Lyons] gave us clippers and would say, ‘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!’” Whether through torture or gentler methods, Hanshaw says Lyons took an active approach to strengthening the community in her classroom this past semester. “She would 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 would go around the room, person to person, and take the time to just talk to us about what we each have going on.” To Taylor Condron ’22, Lyons’ active approach to community building turned even the unexpected aspects of class into treasured experiences.

Grace Hanshaw ’22 (kneeling) and Madison Semro ’21 examine plants at Confluence Park for a plant biology course.

“There’s a lot of anxieties and uncertainties with everything that’s going on. So just having a class where we’re in person, that was a surprise, and it helped a lot.” “You have your syllabus and the material, but it’s the things you don’t expect that ‘make’ the class,” Condron says. “Dr. Lyons gave us radishes, and we planted them. She brought moss in and asked us to grow it in petri dishes. Now every single one of us has moss by the windowsill. One student was growing peas, and I asked if I could bring my potatoes to school and plant them. Things that weren’t part of the class but just ended up happening—those were 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 helped a lot.” And it was also a surprise to realize classmates you might never have talked to before were sharing your experiences. “People I haven’t ever known before were genuinely asking me how I’m doing,” Hanshaw says. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Breathing Room Students find their voice in a world of masks and mute buttons

Despite masks and social distancing, harmonies ring out in a vacant parking lot on Trinity’s campus.

by Jeremy Gerlach

We’ve all spent months avoiding the air from other people’s lungs. Fortunately for students in Trinity’s choir program, 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. These ensembles rehearse in a parking lot and sing while masked up, each positioned 15 feet apart. They spread out over an area

that choir director Gary 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.

have had this type of kinship. They’ve all had this same experience of loss—losing opportunities, concerts, missing friends. I sensed it even during auditions; there was this energy they had. Drawing from that, we’ll create something beautiful.”

“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 much. “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 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

First-year students practice solfege and read music during rehearsal.

Zooming Across Borders International finance students bridge classrooms in Texas and Mexico by Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08

Collaborative Online International Learning, or COIL, brings together students and faculty from classes in universities around the world to work on a common project. And for the Fall 2020 semester, finance and international business professor Dante Suarez took the perceived downsides of the pandemic—the asynchronous online classes, the lack of personal face-time with students, the limited scope of hands-on internships—and dug

into the positives, opting to develop a creative COIL experience: bridging two classrooms, one in Texas and one in Mexico. During the first six weeks of the semester, Suarez’s classes focused on a partnership project with the North American Development Bank (NADB), a public, border-focused institution created through NAFTA by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

An international team of students from Trinity University and Tecnológico de Monterrey give a final presentation for International Finance in Fall 2020.

Students from Trinity and Tecnológico de Monterrey collaborate on business plans in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2017.

The problem at the NADB? Working to determine ESG impact—the environmental, social, and governance factors—of a company in order to assess risk. Students participated in “miniinternships” where they helped NADB executives with complex tasks. Working with NADB helped finance students see the big picture of how the field does not exist in a vacuum, and that they can expect careers in which monetary, environmental, and social issues are permanently intertwined. One group calculated ESG impact on potential borrowers. Others considered the effects of securitizing companies’ assets via green bonds, and a third set analyzed the sustainable energy sector in the border region. These projects, Suarez says, show that there are no silos in the real world. “The real world is interdisciplinary, often transdisciplinary, where artificial barriers between disciplines are blurred. This means we must take a holistic approach to all problems, informed by our backgrounds.”

“We must take a holistic approach to all problems, informed by our backgrounds.” After the NADB project, Tigers partnered with international business students from Trinity’s sister institution in Monterrey, Mexico—Tecnológico de

Monterrey (Tec)—to develop international business plans for an import/export company or expansion into a Latin American market, and they presented these plans at the end of the semester. “A lot of our students want to eat the world. They are eager not only to learn, but to learn more,” Suarez says of both Trinity and Tec. “The entrepreneurial spirit permeates at Monterrey Tec, and our students benefit from seeing students eager to apply their knowledge in a real business setting. In turn, the Tec students benefit from our theoretical understanding of financial markets, rooted in our liberal arts mindset.” The students in Suarez’s class bring their own interdisciplinary perspectives to these real-world projects. “There’s a very rich array of different students who are crossing paths in these courses,” Suarez says, noting that he often sees students from economics, mathematical finance, international studies, and modern languages enrolled in International Finance. “And liberal arts students with a strong business background or Arts, Letters, and Enterprise certification make their degrees that much more valuable. For School of Business students, a broad background in the liberal arts makes them highly competitive candidates in their careers.” Bob Scherer, dean of the Trinity University School of Business, echoes Suarez’s sentiment. “The liberal arts education informs our way of doing business,” Scherer says. “We take the personalized approach: preparing students to communicate well, be critical thinkers, and be good team players as well as individual leaders.” As shown countless times with Monterrey Tec— and now, for the first time with the North American

Learn more about how the Trinity University School of Business opens doors at bit.ly/3am965y. Development Bank—international partnerships in the School of Business are here to stay, whether via Zoom or via trips across the border. “When you think about the effects that COVID-19 is going to have on the world—I think that these effects will be permanent,” Suarez says. “We will see work environments that are extremely different from what we had even a year ago.” “Students have imagined working for a company where one person in their department is in Miami, another one in Malaysia, another one in Shanghai, and another one in Paris. The opportunity to work with each other in class in this way is helping them develop a new component of oral-visual communication, a now-permanent staple of how communication happens.”

International Finance professor Dante Suarez leads a class on the steps of the Cerro del Obispado, a famous landmark in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2017.

From Dust to Data Geosciences students bridge continent-sized rifts

by Jeremy Gerlach

The 41 students in Earth’s Environmental Systems, a geosciences course taught by Brady Ziegler, spent Fall 2020 adjusting to a classroom that had been partially scattered to the winds. About two-thirds of the students attended class in person, while a smaller group of remote learners were spread across Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and even Italy. “I wanted everyone, even those who had to hop on through Zoom, to feel like they were invested,” Ziegler says. “It was important for me to get people who felt like they were stuck at home integrated into the class.” To create this inclusive environment, the students learned using the “jigsaw method,” where they split into groups to study new material and then taught each other by assembling the material piece by piece. “I’d have one student looking at plate tectonic boundaries, another looking at earthquakes, another at volcanoes or sea floor age. Then we came together as a group to combine our data and see what’s going on,” Ziegler says. The class also worked on a unique research project together, examining the elemental content of street dust in San Antonio. The fact that some students weren’t in the city might have been a challenge for some classes. But for Ziegler, a creative mindset turned this obstacle into an opportunity. He mailed sampling materials out to his remote students, who took data from their own areas to use as comparative data for the research. “For any good scientific study, we need a control,” Ziegler says. “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 home, now they’re invaluable to the work we’re doing.” Once the dust settled, so to speak, the entire class would have a large data set to work with to find any patterns they could. “It’s fun,” Ziegler says, “because this is real research with real questions that haven’t been answered yet.”

In the Earth’s Environmental Systems class, students learn about “geology with an environmental flair,” according to professor Brady Ziegler.

“So those people who might be ‘stuck’ at home, now they’re invaluable to the work we’re doing.”

Geosciences professor Brady Ziegler balances in-person students with online learners during his hybrid class.

ADMITTED STUDENTS Admitted students are invited to Admitted Tiger Days throughout the spring. Options include on-campus and virtual events.

TIGER FRIDAYS

Experience Trinity University

Admitted students and one guest can attend a weekly Tiger Friday preview day on campus, designed exclusively for future Tigers. You’ll learn about academic, co-curricular, and social opportunities directly from current students and faculty. Trinity is following strict safety protocols for campus visitors, including mandatory masks and social distancing.

It’s important to take time to explore the college campuses you’re interested in—there’s no better way to get a true sense of what it’s like to be a student there. Trinity offers both in-person and virtual visit experiences for prospective and admitted students.

IN-PERSON CAMPUS VISITS • Explore campus and talk with current Trinity students in a primarily outdoor campus tour, held in small groups. • Trinity is following strict safety protocols. Anyone on campus must wear a mask and practice social distancing. • Tours are offered Monday through Thursday in the morning and afternoon, as well as Friday and Saturday mornings.

VIRTUAL EVENTS

VIRTUAL CAMPUS VISITS

through April 23 On campus

• Take a virtual campus tour any time. • Join us live for virtual information sessions and campus tours on most Monday and Thursday afternoons. • Register this spring for Trinity In Focus, a virtual open house event taking place on May 15.

Admitted students have exclusive access to some virtual events, such as Tigers as Scholars and Life of a Tiger, where you will learn more in depth about student life and academics.

UPCOMING EVENTS SPACE IS LIMITED

Tiger Fridays Most Fridays

Tigers as Scholars Saturday, March 27 Virtual

Life of a tiger Saturday, April 10 Virtual

Explore all visit options at gotu.us/visit.

9:1 student-to-

QUICK FACTS

faculty ratio 97% of faculty hold doctoral or terminal degrees

Private, residential, co-educational, undergraduate-focused Founded in 1869 6 minutes from San Antonio International Airport Located in America’s 7th largest city

2,512

undergraduates from 48 states and 57 countries 6% international students

125 acre campus

located in a residential neighborhood

minutes from downtown San Antonio

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A D M I T T E D S T U DE N T P ROF IL E

3.68

Fall 2020 Entry Term

average GPA

3.6–4.0 grade average

30.5

1344

29–33 mid 50%

1310–1470 mid 50%

average ACT

average SAT