IMPACT No. 4, 2018-2019

SCHOLARSHIP, CREATIVITY, & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TRINITY UNIVERSITY 2018-2019

A MU SICAL CE LEBRATI ON OF 150 YEA RS Trinity professors compose and premiere original symphony + Chemistry professor uses light to detect disease + Trinity partners with SAMA for postdoctoral fellowship + Education course dispels disability stigma through inclusion

What are the liberal arts, if not a blueprint for developing thoughtful, meaningful solutions for some of the world’s greatest challenges?

– President Danny J. Anderson 2019 founders’ day message

Contents / NO. 4, 2018-2019

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MOMENTOUS MUSIC Trinity produces original symphony for 150th Anniversary

BRIGHT SPOT Chemistry professor is perfecting a method for using light to detect disease

A CITY AS A CANVAS Trinity partners with San Antonio Museum of Art for postdoctoral fellowship

AN EXCEPTIONAL TAKE ON LEARNING Course dispels disability stigma through inclusion

by jeremy gerlach

by jeremy gerlach

by robin j. johnson

by robin j. johnson

o.

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Departments 2 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 3 RESEARCH AND ACHIEVEMENT 16 ARTS AND HUMANITIES 28 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS 40 BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 52 STAFF 57 DIALOGUE WITH DR. DEE

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SCHOLARSHIP, CREATIVITY, & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

2018-2019 EDITORIAL BOARD Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 /Editor Molly Mohr Bruni /Managing Editor Jeremy Gerlach /Writer Laura Kaples /Graphic Designer Margaret Miller /Writer David Ribble ’82 /Associate Vice President for

Academic Affairs & Professor of Biology

Peggy Sundermeyer /Director of Sponsored

Research

ADVISORY COMMITTEE Victoria Aarons /English Angela Breidenstein ’91, M’92 /Education Katie Carpenter /Director of Foundation Relations Jane Costanza /Library Jason Johnson /History Lisa Jasinski /Academic Affairs Carl Leafstedt /Music Maria Paganelli /Economics Patrick Shay ’03, M’05 /Heath Care Administration Heather Sullivan /Modern Languages and Literatures Adam Urbach /Chemistry Harry Wallace /Psychology RESEARCH INTERNS Allison Carr ’21 /Communication Abby DeNike ’20 /Neuroscience PRESIDENT Danny J. Anderson

IMPACT is published annually by the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing and is sent to faculty, staff, and friends of the University.

EDITORIAL OFFICES Trinity University Strategic Communications and Marketing One Trinity Place San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 Email: impact@trinity.edu Phone: 210-999-8406 Fax: 210-999-8449

READ IMPACT ONLINE: MAGAZINE.TRINITY.EDU/IMPACT

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IMPACT 2018-2019

Danny J. Anderson and his wife, Kimberly, welcome Ron Nirenberg ’99, mayor of the City of San Antonio, to campus for the 150th Anniversary kickoff in February 2019.

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ith each passing academic year, I am increasingly motivated by the intellectual curiosity of our faculty and staff. This unceasing commitment to know more, do more, perceive more is the lifeblood of Trinity University. Their collective energy propels Trinity as an institution and inspires our students in and out of the classroom. In a world where physical boundaries have been dashed by technology, the work of our faculty and staff cannot be bound by red brick walls. Their work has meaning across space—and lifetimes.

We detail these contributions in each issue of IMPACT, but this magazine is more than a snapshot of research and publishing; it is an ode to our value of enduring excellence, and a celebration of momentum.

Trinity’s faculty and staff reject complacency. We will never believe that we know all there is to know. In this spirit, I encourage us to also consider our value of intentional inclusion. The purpose of research and publishing is not only to discover, but also to share. When we find ways to improve access to research and internship opportunities, we strengthen not only the Academy, but the world beyond the red brick campus.

The title of this magazine is no accident. In one word, it summarizes our purpose and our potential. I invite you to consider the importance of making an impact as you read more about our enterprising faculty and staff. Together, we have the power to accelerate what’s next for Trinity, our students, and our world.

Best regards,

Danny J. Anderson President, Trinity University

Research / GRANTS AND AWARDS

GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH External grants and awards are a prestigious and valuable acknowledgement of a faculty member’s intellectual achievements and promise. Faculty members from all disciplines apply for funding from institutions, foundations, consortia, and government agencies.

Faculty or Academic Staff with Grant Awards, 2014-19

Rolling Average of Expenditures from All Externally Sponsored Sources, 2014-18 $18 mil $16 mil $14 mil

$13,793,906 $12,689,429

$12,940,077

$4,597,969

$4,229,810

$4,313,359

2014-16

2015-17

2016-18

$12 mil $10 mil $8 mil $6 mil

Between 2014-19, 92 members of the faculty or academic staff held at least one grant award.

$4 mil $2 mil $0

Total Expenditures (3-year rolling average) Source: Office of Sponsored Research, July 2019

Average per-year expenditures

Source: Office of Sponsored Research, July 2019 Given the cyclical nature of grant awards, expenditures are calculated using a rolling average that includes the current year and previous two fiscal years. Externally sponsored sources include grants, contracts, and agreements from federal and state agencies, businesses, nonprofit organizations, other universities, etc. It does not include restricted or unrestricted gifts.

Active Grants and Contracts Managed by the Office of Sponsored Research, 2016-19

Number of Proposals Submitted by the Office of Sponsored Research, 2018-19

80 75 70

72

74

73 70

65

Fiscal Year 2018

Fiscal Year 2019

proposals

proposals

60 55 50

48

48

45 0

2016

2017

Number of active grants and contracts managed

45

45

2018

2019

Number of faculty with at least one managed award

Source: Office of Sponsored Research, July 2019

Source: Office of Sponsored Research, July 2019

The number of active grants and contracts is measured at the end of the fiscal year.

The number of submitted proposals is measured at the end of the fiscal year.

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Achievement / FACULTY RECOGNITION

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT Trinity faculty members are gifted teachers and advisers who have dedicated themselves to working closely with students in and out of the classroom. This year, numerous outstanding members of the Trinity faculty were honored for distinguished achievement in service, teaching, advising, mentorship, and research.

Z.T. SCOTT AWARD Jennifer P. Mathews

Sociology and Anthropology Jennifer P. Mathews, professor and chair of Trinity’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, has been named the 2019 recipient of the Dr. and Mrs. Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding abilities as a teacher and mentor.

from left to right: Terrell, Urquijo-Ruiz, Delgado, Urbach, Bynum, Aloisi, and Johnson

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS In May 2019, five members of Trinity University’s faculty were honored with distinguished achievement awards for work in teaching, advising, or research.

MURCHISON TERM PROFESSOR Carolyn B. Becker Psychology

Carolyn B. Becker has been named to a three-year appointment as a Murchison Term Professor. Murchison professorships are awarded to full professors who have been at Trinity University for 10 years or longer; they are accompanied by a stipend to support research activities.

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Rosa Aloisi / Political Science was honored for distinguished teaching and research.

Jason Johnson / History was honored for distinguished teaching and research.

Adam Urbach / Chemistry was recognized for distinguished scholarship, research, or creative work.

Rita Urquijo-Ruiz / Modern Languages and Literatures was lauded for distinguished university, community, and professional service.

Rocío Delgado / Education was praised for distinguishment in advising.

The President’s Award for Excellence in Student Advocacy, recognizing Trinity employees who have tirelessly supported student success, was presented to James Bynum, operations manager in the Department of Communication, and to Wilson Terrell Jr., engineering science professor.

Achievement / FACULTY RECOGNITION

A FUL-BRIGHT FUTURE

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arlos X. Ardavín-Trabanco / 1 C Modern Languages and Literatures

6 Gary Seighman / Music

2 John H. Huston / Economics

7 David Spener / Sociology and Anthropology

3 Michele Johnson / Biology

8 Claudia Stokes / English

4 Julie Persellin / Accounting

9 Kathleen Surpless / Geosciences

5 Kimberley Phillips / Psychology

10 Dennis Ugolini / Physics and Astronomy

TRINITY FACULTY RECOGNIZED FOR EXCEPTIONAL MERIT Ten Trinity University faculty members w ere recognized for their exceptional achievements during the 2018-19 academic year.

This cohort of scholars was selected on the basis of having a “banner year” in teaching, research, creative activity, and service, exemplifying the University’s commitment to education and the values of perpetual discovery and enduring excellence.

The recognition comes with a one-time salary supplement of $10,000 for each selected faculty member, made possible by a generous gift from an anonymous donor.

As part of this campaign, the University will recognize 20 additional

scholars over the next two years (10 per year). To be eligible for consideration, faculty members must hold the rank of associate or full professor. Individuals may not receive a distinguished achievement award and a one-time salary supplement in the same year.

“This achievement honors many of our colleagues who vastly exceed the already high expectations of this University,” says Deneese L. Jones, vice president for Academic Affairs.

“Their contributions to their students, departments, and their fields of research distinguish them as exemplars in the Trinity community.”

Two Trinity University faculty are championing “a world with a little more knowledge, and a little less conflict” through the Fulbright Program.

Religion professor Randall Nadeau was named the executive director for the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange in Taiwan. In this prestigious post—a first for a Trinity faculty member—Nadeau oversees 30 colleagues who coordinate sponsorships, lectures, cultural events, an online journal, and outreach to Fulbright partners. Nadeau has dedicated himself to embracing cultural learning and strengthening Trinity’s network of international scholarship.

English professor Jenny Browne was the 2018 Poet Laureate for the State of Texas and was named the Distinguished Fulbright Scholar in Creative Writing at Queens University in Belfast Northern Ireland for spring 2020.

Browne will write, lecture, and deliver public readings of her poetic work at the university’s prestigious Seamus Heaney Centre, as well as work on her fifth poetry collection, Until the Sea Once More Closes Over Us.

Achievement / FACULTY RECOGNITION

ADVOCATING FOR ACCESSIBILITY

FOSTERING DIALOGUE ON CAMPUS

New endowment will help meet increased demand for Student Accessibility Services

University invited to Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute

by Margaret Miller

In June 2019, Trinity was honored t o be one of 25 colleges and universities among 700 member organizations of The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) selected to participate in the four-day Diversity, Civility, and the Liberal Arts Institute in Atlanta, Ga. The cohort of four representatives from Trinity included Deneese Jones, Ph.D., vice president for Academic Affairs; Alli Roman, director for Diversity and Inclusion; Thomas E. Jenkins, Ph.D., director for the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching; and Duane Coltharp, Ph.D., associate vice president for Academic Affairs.

Faculty and administrators from CIC member institutions gathered with Institute participants and a group of scholars distinguished in their fields to explore demographic trends that are reshaping the 21st-century campus.

Trinity’s student diversity reflects this national shift, with 44 percent of this year’s undergraduates identifying as a race other than White, marking a seven percent growth in students of color over the last decade. Sessions at the Institute addressed the implications of changing demographics, such as the need to evolve classroom pedagogy and to preserve free speech around divisive issues.

“It was a real honor for Trinity to participate in the CIC Institute, and we have already used much of what we learned to inform our programming and goals for the year,” Jones says. “Like so many liberal arts colleges, we are wading through uncharted waters when we consider new ways to promote free speech while enhancing inclusivity.”

Trinity applied what it learned from the Institute to start dialogue on campus. A symposium on inclusion helped faculty and staff identify new approaches in teaching students of all backgrounds, while workshops held by the Collaborative for Teaching and Learning equipped faculty and staff with resources to support transgendered and first-generation students. Additionally, the Diversity and Inclusion Office is developing a series of resources to guide faculty in diversifying their syllabi to include a greater number of scholars of color. And in preparation for the 2020 presidential election, the University is taking early steps to develop approaches and formats to promote civil political dialogue in an age of national partisan division.

“Using what we learned at the Institute,” Jones adds, “will allow Trinity to be a model of inclusive excellence by having hard conversations and learning from one another.”

Trinity takes pride in recognizing that each student brings diverse strengths and abilities to the Trinity community. With a $5 million contribution from an anonymous donor, the University is one step closer to ensuring that all students receive equitable access to success.

The gift will establish a $4.5 million Student Accessibility Services Endowment, allowing Trinity to increase staff, implement more programs, and provide students with the latest assistive technology. Faculty and staff will be professionally trained to best support Trinity’s diverse student body.

The balance of $500,000 is available immediately to fund the program’s new initiatives while the endowment matures. These funds will significantly expand Student Accessibility Services, a central component of the Trinity Tomorrow strategic plan.

With this grant, Trinity will equip students to be their own advocates and create University-wide understanding and support to meet the challenges students face, while providing the equipment and training to support this deeply purposeful work.

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by Margaret Miller

Achievement / FACULTY RECOGNITION

Rubén Dupertuis, chair of the Department of Religion, talks through research with students.

Jorge Colazo, chair of the Department of Finance and Decision Sciences, reviews an assignment in class.

EMPOWERING DEPARTMENT CHAIRS TO LEAD AND IMPLEMENT CHANGE Grant supports institutional improvement projects at Trinity

by Margaret Miller

Across the country, a cademic department chairs often feel underprepared for their roles, which include work such as mentoring new faculty, establishing a healthy work environment, overseeing personnel and budgets, and promoting student learning. With a $275,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations that extends through May 2022, Trinity seeks to empower department chairs to develop their leadership capacity while addressing institutional needs.

The Trinity Tomorrow strategic plan calls for the University to “develop a new generation of faculty, staff, student, and alumni leaders,” and this grant will help move Trinity in that direction while implementing instructional best practices in experiential learning and guided mentorship.

The funds will support 10 department chairs who will direct a project that will affect institutional change, each with a measurable outcome. Examples might include: • fostering student-faculty research collaborations and create opportunities for faculty to make their scholarship more visible on campus; • adopting inclusive pedagogical strategies to more effectively teach students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds; and • undergoing an external review that results in the revision of major requirements in line with the Pathways curriculum.

Throughout the duration of their projects, chairs will attend professional development workshops about project management, discuss their progress with their peers, and receive support and guidance from an external executive coach.

“In consulting with several department chairs in the proposal development process, the only constant was variation,” says Lisa Jasinski, special assistant to the vice president for Academic Affairs. “Each saw a unique, worthy challenge within their department. We framed this project to give chairs the resources and support they need to address the most pressing local concerns.”

This initiative addresses a longstanding gap in American colleges. A 2016 study by the University Council for Educational Administration found that 67 percent of newly appointed department chairs received limited training; 40 percent received less than four hours of training. By giving chairs an opportunity to address significant needs at Trinity while developing their capacities to lead, the University will pilot an innovative approach to academic leadership development.

In February 2020, the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs will solicit proposals from the first cohort of department chairs. The participating chairs will achieve their projects over a 12 to 18 month period, engaging their colleagues in working toward a solution and building leadership skills of delegation, communication, and mutual ownership. They may also partner with one another or with interdisciplinary program directors to work on collaborative ventures. In addition to the gains of the projects themselves, chairs also create deliverables and concept papers that other universities can use to replicate these efforts.

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Communication professors Jennifer Henderson and Aaron Delwiche walk with Trinity University students, faculty, staff, and alumni in San Antonio’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. March. The 2019 march was the largest in the nation with more than 300,000 people in attendance.

MOMENTOUS

music Trinity produces original symphony for 150th Anniversary

B

words by Jeremy Gerlach photos by Vanessa Velazquez

efore the start of the 2019 spring semester, m usic composition professor Brian Bondari, D.M.A., made a mysterious disappearance.

Stepping away from his popular electronic music classes and normal faculty duties for a semester of academic leave, Bondari made a sudden re-emergence in June 2019, holding an original creation: a new symphony, simply titled Trinity.

“Brian was working on this all spring, and he just came out of his cave one day and said, ‘It is done,’” says fellow music professor Joseph Kneer, D.M.A., who directed the Trinity Symphony Orchestra for the piece’s premiere on Oct. 19.

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Music professor Joseph Kneer conducts the Trinity Symphony Orchestra.

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“What’s cool about conducting a new piece is that nobody has done the stuff you’re trying to do before.”

Bondari originally hatched the idea with President Danny Anderson at a 2017 convocation ceremony and finally found time to create the piece this past spring.

True to its namesake, Trinity is split into three movements: “Ethos,” “Pathos,” and “Logos.” Named after philosopher Aristotle’s three artistic proofs or three modes of persuasion, the movements roughly correspond to concepts of past, present, and future: ethos, meaning fundamental values; pathos, meaning experience and emotional investment; and logos, meaning potential.

“The piece moves from slower and lyrical, to somber and serious, then ends with more of a fanfare,” Bondari says.

“This was originally just a small, eight-minute piece. But as I grew more ambitious as to what I wanted to accomplish, my level of anxiety also rose. Could I really do this? When I started my leave in January, I honestly gave myself a 25 percent chance that I was going to get this done.”

Constant Collaboration

Musicians in the Trinity Symphony Orchestra perform the world premiere of music professor Brian Bondari’s second symphony, Trinity.

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Beating these odds was no small feat for Bondari, who had to finish the piece with enough time to hand the baton to Kneer for the fall semester.

“I remember telling Joe, ‘My hard work is done, but yours is just beginning,’” Bondari says.

Kneer was charged with placing the new symphony in the hands of Trinity’s student musicians, who typically have an entire semester to prepare to play works of this size.

“What’s cool about conducting a new piece is that nobody has done the stuff you’re trying to do before,” Kneer adds. “No one has dissected the best way to realize what Brian has written. These dots and lines on the page are a blueprint, and at best, they’re an approximation of what Brian wants. But what are the sounds, the colors, the moods that need to come to life to make this work?”

Answering these questions can be challenging when premiering an original piece. The collaboration between a composer, who dreams and creates the music, and a conductor, who helps turn it into a real sound, becomes essential. And while many universities commission the creation of new pieces to outside composers, Trinity has the luxury of having both composer and conductor work in-house. And not just in-house, but literally sharing a wall: both professors are hall neighbors in the Dicke Art and Smith Music building.

“We explored the idea of just drilling a hole in our wall,” Bondari says, while Kneer jokes that he had a couch put in his office so he could “play psychologist while Brian was stressed from composing.”

Thanks to this collaboration, Kneer didn’t receive a strange, difficult new piece of music. Rather, Bondari and Kneer worked together throughout the composition to make sure the piece would translate well for the students performing it. The pair worked together to shift instrumen-

“Brian writes very lyrically, and the students really grabbed onto that and loved it.”

tation, even minute details such as the bowing patterns in the strings. They also shifted the key of the music here and there to make things smoother for the performers.

“Often times, in collaboration, composers can be bullheaded when receiving this type of feedback or questions about their work,” Kneer says. “It’s their creation, and it’s as close as Brian’s music can come to being his own child. But Brian has never been like that: he’s been open minded and willing to consider all sorts of options, which has made the process of bringing this piece to life all the more easy.”

“And Joe has been very gracious and flexible about the development of this project, especially as it grew in size and creative scope,” Bondari adds.

Performing with Pride

Once the piece took its final form, this hard work made life more fun for Trinity’s undergraduate performers. “Brian writes very lyrically, and the students really grabbed onto that and loved it,” Kneer says.

One of Bondari’s biggest fans is psychology major Macee Obermeyer ’22, a double bassist. She’s performed with at least two ensembles every semester since she got to Trinity.

“I play double bass because the bag is big enough to drag people around in,” Obermeyer deadpans. “I’m passionate enough about this instrument that when the bass accidentally runs into something, you’ll hear me say ‘ow’ subconsciously.”

Obermeyer has also developed a personal connection to the Trinity symphony.

“I love the piece,” Obermeyer says. “It’s very dramatic, I love flair for the dramatics, and so I’m a big fan. It’s rhythmically challenging; it will change tempos and time signatures without you realizing it, but it’s not so hard that a newer player couldn’t do it.”

That mix of challenging and accessible material is crucial for the Trinity Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble that draws from the entire student body and includes both music majors and non-majors.

“We’re a symphony of different levels,” Obermeyer says.

“You have people who’ve been playing for a long, long time, and you have other people who used to do this as kids and wanted to pick playing up again in college.”

Obermeyer says she’s thrilled that Trinity has given her the opportunity to break new musical ground with an original piece.

“It’s a pride for our symphony to have this entire production done within the Trinity community,” Obermeyer says. “It’s nice because everybody is able to come together, to premiere this piece for our own composer using our own students and our own space. Full circle, it starts and finishes with Trinity. That’s why we take pride in the fact that we’re able to premiere it ourselves.”

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All About the Journey

Kneer saw that pride pay dividends during rehearsals and the premiere.

“We got to one moment that surprised me,” Kneer says. “The first time reading through the first movement, it was lyrical and it was beautiful, immediately. It really was gorgeous. It was this classic, Bondarian slow build. Our students had been reading and working away, as with any first reading, but they got to that moment, and there was suddenly this sense of, ‘Oh, I understand this. I think I know what to do with this,” Kneer says. “And at that moment, that’s made this entire experience of creating and performing a new piece worth it.”

And when Bondari finally heard his work premiere before a packed house of students, fellow faculty, and community members at the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall for the October performance, all the pain, hard work, long nights, and stressful deadlines of creating an entire symphony blissfully faded away.

“President Anderson talks about the Trinity journey,” Bondari says. “And writing a symphony, like any creative process, is a journey. You start with a blank page, but you have to know which notes you want to put down. The moment where you can go from just a glimpse to a full vision— that process, that journey, is worth it.”

Bondari says this creativity can take many forms beyond music. Ultimately, that’s how he wants to honor Trinity, a University that’s been creating and innovating across countless disciplines for 150 years.

“All it takes is one spark of vision to displace the chaos and create order, whether it’s in writing a symphony, planting a garden, founding a university, or purposefully taking one small step to improve our lives,” Bondari writes in his symphony notes. “We all have within us the potential to create, to envision a better future for ourselves and others, and then make it so. Here’s to the next 150 years.”

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Music professors Joseph Kneer (left) and Brian Bonadri (right) discuss performance notes before the symphony.

“It’s nice because everybody is able to come together, to premiere this piece for our own composer, using our own students and our own space. Full circle, it starts and finishes with Trinity.”

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Alumni and students at the Trinity University Choir Alumni Festival performed in Parker Chapel in February 2019.

The festival included more than 150 alumni across seven decades from 21 different states.

Works / ARTS AND HUMANITIES

ARTS and HUMANITIES Through research and scholarship in the arts and humanities at Trinity University, faculty explore human imagination, creativity, and expression. Faculty direct plays and uncover their historic meanings, compose music and analyze its meter and rhyme, and create art and delve into its cultural impact.

At Trinity, arts and humanities departments include Art and Art History, Classical Studies, English, History, Human Communication and Theatre, the Library, Modern Languages and Literatures, Music, Philosophy, and Religion.

ARTS, LETTERS, AND ENTERPRISE received a $25,000 grant from USAA, which supports students interning in the nonprofit, arts, government, and environmental sectors during the academic year.

VICTORIA AARONS / English published The New Jewish American Literary Studies with Cambridge University Press in 2019; “Reading Roth/Reading Ourselves: Looking Back,” in Philip Roth Studies, 2019, Vol. 15, Issue 1; and “American Jewish Writing in the Twenty-First Century: New Global Directions” in Literature & Belief, 2018, Vol. 38, Issue 1. She co-published New Directions in Jewish American and Holocaust Literatures: Reading and Teaching with State University of New York Press in 2019.

ALAN ASTRO / Modern Languages and Literatures co-edited Splendor, Decline, and Rediscovery of Yiddish in Latin America with Brill in 2018.

SCOTT BAIRD / English received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who in 2019.

PETER H. BALBERT / English published “Compensatory Reversal and the Voluptuous Suffocation: Nightmare and Sexual Revenge in D. H. Lawrence’s The Border-Line” in The Norman Mailer Review, 2019, Vol. 11, Issue 1.

DOUGLAS BRINE / Art and Art History was appointed field editor (14th-15th centuries) for the Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews in March 2019. He published “Reflection and Remembrance in Jan van Eyck’s Van der Paele Virgin” in Art History, 2018, Vol. 41, Issue 4, and “Pugin’s ‘Dürers’” in Source: Notes in the History of Art, 2018, Vol. 38, Issue 1. He also contributed “Les reliefs votifs, un ensemble exceptionnel” to La sculpture gothique à Tournai: Splendeur, ruine, vestiges with Fonds Mercator in 2018. Brine received the Samuel H. Kress MidCareer Research Fellowship from the Renaissance Society of America for his work in art history.

presented “Commentary of Homer’s Iliad” at 5000 Years of Comments hosted by the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. Cook was elected a lifetime member of the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla.

JENNY BROWNE / English published “Grey Wolf, Grizzly Bear, White Tailed Deer” in The Nation in 2018. She was awarded the Fulbright Queen’s University Belfast Award in Creative Writing in 2018.

NINA EKSTEIN / Modern Languages and Literatures published “Populating the Dramatic Universe Through Names” in Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature in 2019.

NORMA E. CANTÚ / Modern Languages and Literatures published Cabañuelas: A Novel with the University of New Mexico Press in 2019. She was elected president-elect of the American Folklore Society in January 2019.

ROBERT FLYNN / English received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who in 2019.

ERWIN COOK / Classical Studies published “Homeric Time Travel” in Literary Imagination, 2018, Vol. 20, Issue 2. In September of that year, he

bolded Trinity faculty, staff, students, or alumni *Trinity undergraduate researchers

RUBÉN R. DUPERTUIS / Religion facilitated a faculty development session at the Creative Inquiry in the Arts and Humanities Institute, a workshop sponsored by the Council of Undergraduate Research, in 2018.

He also co-presented “The Thomas Alternative: A Different Christianity with the Gospel of Thomas” at the Jesus Seminar on the Road with Westar Institute in Tupelo, Miss., in September 2018.

KYLE GILLETTE / Human Communication and Theatre attended the Festival Laboratorio Pratiche di Teatrali in Fara in Sabina, Italy, in June 2019, where he presented the workshop “Cities of Memory” that culminated in a MAGAZINE.TRINITY.EDU/IMPACT IMPACT

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Works / ARTS AND HUMANITIES

site-specific performance developed by participants from 16 countries; he collaborated as a writer and performer on the development of the Invisible Cities project; and he directed the international premiere of Antigone in the City.

LANETTE GARZA / Library published “A Review of the Acquisitions Budget: Examining and Modifying the Fund Structure to Advocate for Open Access” in the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 2018, Vol. 30, Issue 3.

DAVID HELLER / Music presented solo recitals at the First Presbyterian Church in Naples, Fla., in November 2018 and at Parker Chapel in San Antonio in January 2019. He also performed solo recitals in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Appleton, Wis., and Fond du Lac, Wis., as part of the Holbrook Recital Series in 2019. Heller published “Notre Dame Cathedral: Some Thoughts” in The Tracker in April 2019. In August 2018, he served on the performing faculty of the Classical Music Festival— Eisenstadt Summer Academy.

COLLEEN HOELSCHER / Library presented with a panel on “Transparent Design: Renovating and Moving Archives and Special Collections” at Archives*Records in Washington, D.C., in August 2018. In that same month, she also presented “No More Blank Canvases: Using Canva to Customize Collection Landing Pages” at CONTENTdm User Group Meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

MICHAEL J. HUGHES / Library co-published a report on “Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Asian Studies Scholars” for Ithaka S+R Research Support Services Program in June 2018. He presented “Paper Please: Lessons from Three Decades

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of Video Game Fanzines” at MAGFest in Fort Washington, Md., in January 2019. He also presented “METAFAQ: What Motivates the Authors of Video Game Walkthroughs?” at the Virtual Symposium on Information & Technology in the Arts and Humanities—Video Games and Information Science in April 2019.

SAJIDA JALAZAI / Religion was selected for the 2019 cohort for the Sacred Writes Public Scholarship Training, a group that provides resources, support, and networks for scholars committed to translating the significance of their research to a broader audience.

THOMAS E. JENKINS / Classical Studies was selected to host a weeklong seminar titled “The Uses of Antiquity: The Classical World in Contemporary Thought” at NYU’s Faculty Resource Network in June 2018. He presented “Augustan Poetry and the Age of Rust: Music and Metaphor in Mitchell’s Hadestown” at a Conference in Honor of Richard Tarrant at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., in September 2018.

JASON JOHNSON / History was named the distinguished scholarin-residence at the San Antonio Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018.

He was invited to present “The Cold War in the German Borderlands” at Texas Tech University in April 2019.

Johnson also presented lectures about German resistance to Nazism at branches of the San Antonio Public Library in January and February 2019.

RACHEL JOSEPH / Human Communication and Theatre attended the Festival Laboratorio Pratiche di Teatrali in Fara in Sabina, Italy, in June 2019, where she collaborated as a writer and performer on the

development of the Invisible Cities project and premiered her play, Antigone in the City. She published Stripped in Post Road Magazine, 2019, Issue 35, and Woe of the World in Heavy Feather Review’s special issue, The Future. Joseph also published “Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums: Writing and Forgiveness” in Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 2018, Vol. 60, Issue 2.

ANDREW KRAEBEL / English presented “The Origins of the English Bible” at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston in October 2018.

CARL LEAFSTEDT / Music wrote a commissioned program book on Bartók’s stage works for Théâtre royal de la Monnaie, Bien trop sombre: La vision théâtrale de Béla Bartók / Veel te duister: De Theatervisie van Béla Bartók, in Brussels, Belgium, in summer 2018. He published “The Source Materials for Bartók’s Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 4b (1941)” in the Contemporary Music Review, 2019, Vol. 38, Issue 3-4 and “Five + Two = Six. The Wartime Creation of Béla Bartók’s Six (Seven) Songs for Treble Voices and Orchestra (1941)” in Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung, 2019, Vol. 32. He presented “Bartók, Columbia University, and the Politics of a Wartime Honorary Doctorate Degree in 1940” for the symposium A “Musical League of Nations?”: Music Institutions and the Politics of Internationalism at the Institute of Musical Research at the University of London in London, England, in summer 2018.

He was awarded a research stipend by the Paul Sacher Foundation to support a month-long musicology residency at the Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, in summer 2018. He also completed a six-year term in July 2018 on the Board of

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Roberto Prestigiacomo reviews notes to a script for a performance in Trinity’s Attic Theater.

A WORLD OF CHANGE

Trinity supports more than 60 faculty research projects for the 2019-20 academic year

by Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08

Imagine yourself in a small village in Sicily, one of a dozen people in a room with Trinity theatre professor Roberto Prestigiacomo, MFA. You’ve been armed with the tools to go out into your community to interview your neighbors and friends about the effects of African immigration on your village. Your goal is to collect stories that will help create a 20-minute play on the topic. Admittedly, you’re nervous; this is a topic you’ve avoided thus far at the supermarket or at church.

What will they say? What will they think of the play?

What will they think of me?

Lucky for you, Prestigiacomo is armed with the tools of forum theater, an innovative and relatively new form of theater in which audience members engage with a performance as both spectators and actors with the power to stop and change its storyline. He plans to do just that with a forum theater project in Sicily in spring 2020, when he will be on a semester-long academic leave. Prestigiacomo has brought forum theater to Trinity before as well, most notably with a Mellon-initiative partnership project on ending the stigma around HIV and AIDS.

“Theater provides tools to establish communication and dialogue and find solutions to issues that people are often uncomfortable addressing in the first place,” Prestigiacomo says. “The nature of forum theater—and in this case, theater for social change—is creating a constructive environment that leads to problem solving.”

While it has long been a hallmark of Trinity University that faculty support their students, it can’t be overlooked how Trinity supports its faculty, too. Annually, Trinity faculty members are awarded academic leaves— a semester or a year spent on an in-depth study—and summer stipends—monetary awards that allow faculty to devote the summer to a scholarly or creative project. For the 2019-20 academic year, Trinity funded 32 academic leave proposals and 30 summer stipends. In sum, this amounts to Academic Affairs providing more than $1.25 million in support of more than 60 faculty research projects. This means Prestigiacomo is just one of dozens of others who will be using research to impact the world around him.

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Trinity debaters, Nathan Glancy ’21, Sam Grimsley ’22, Sam Lair ’22, and Ian Dill ’20, prepare for an upcoming tournament.

MAKING A STATEMENT Dedicated faculty lead student debaters onto national scene

by Jeremy Gerlach

Take a look at the performance of Trinity’s debate team over the past year, and you’ll see the type of record befitting an established, national powerhouse.

Trinity debaters have beaten heavyweights such as Harvard and Michigan and placed near the top of several national tournaments. How is this happening?

Well, you can’t ignore the factor of personal attention from dedicated faculty coaches, a staple of Trinity’s approach to faculty mentorship.

Ian Dill ’20 says the unique composition of the debate team drew him to Trinity. The program favors research over rhetoric, a focus shaped by human communication professor William Mosley-Jensen,

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Ph.D., director of debate, and human communication professor Collin Roark, assistant director of debate.

“We get individual focus from the coaches,” Dill says. “Our professors actually teach classes, but not so many that they don’t have time for us. We meet on the weekends, have team dinners, hang out even outside of debate, and that makes us more cohesive.” “[Our professors] give up a lot of their personal time to make sure we succeed in tournaments,” Ansh Khullar ’20 adds. “They’re also just really enthusiastic and passionate about this activity—a lot of other coaches burn out, but I think ours are more passionate than anyone else in the community.”

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Directors for the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, during the last two years of which he served as board president. In March 2019, he joined the development committee for the Society of American Music and served on the program committee for the 45th annual conference.

DAVID W. LESCH / History published Syria: A Modern History with Polity Press in 2019 and the second edition of The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History with Oxford University Press in November 2018.

STEVEN LUPER / Philosophy published “The moral standing of the dead” in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2018, Vol. 373, Issue 1754. In January 2019, he gave the keynote address “Existence and Death” and also contributed with a panel on “What is a Good Death in the 21st Century?” for the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at a conference in Cambridge, England.

KATHRYN O’ROURKE / Art and Art History published and edited O’Neil Ford on Architecture with The University of Texas Press in April 2019 and was awarded the best essay prize from the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians for her essay, “The Language of O’Neil Ford.” She served as vice-chair of the State Board of Review of the Texas Historical Commission and secretary of the Society of Architectural Historians.

TIM O’SULLIVAN / Classical Studies contributed “Human and Animal Touch in Apuleius’ Golden Ass” to Re-Wiring the Ancient Novel.

Vol. 2: Roman Novels and Other Important Texts with Barkhuis Publishing in 2018.

CORINNE ONDINE PACHE / Classical Studies presented “Searching for Penelope in the 21st Century” at “ΤΟ ΠΑΡΕΛΘΟΝ ΣΤΟ ΠΑΡΟΝ / The Past in the Present” Conference at Argostoli Library in Kefalonia, Greece, in May 2019.

DIANE PERSELLIN / Music co-published A Concise Guide to Teaching with Desirable Difficulties with Stylus Press in 2018. She served as lead adjudicator of small music ensembles at the Singapore Youth Festival of Arts in Singapore in April 2019.

SARAH K. PINNOCK / Religion published “Dorothee Soelle as Radical Theologian” in The Radical Theology Handbook with Palgrave Macmillan in 2018 and “The Gendered Evils of Witchcraft” in Evil: A History with Oxford University Press in 2019.

ANDREW PORTER / English published “Vines” in the Southern Review, 2018, Vol. 54, Issue 3.

J’LEEN SAEGER / Modern Languages and Literatures won the Brightest Bulb competition hosted

by Alpha Phi Omega, a competition that pits professors against each other to raise money for their charities. She and Claudia Stokes / English raised almost $8,000 for Girls on the Run of Bexar County.

LINDA K. SALVUCCI / History presented “Reimagining the Alamo: A Work Very Much in Progress” at the Annual Conference of the Western History Association in San Antonio in October 2018.

KATHRYN VOMERO SANTOS / English received a three-month residential fellowship from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., to work on her

current book project about the role of interpreters and live translation in early modern British theater.

MICHAEL SCHREYACH / Art and Art History co-published “Never Mind the Pollocks” in NonSite Issues, 2018, Issue 25.

GARY SEIGHMAN / Music presented “Uber Them to Rehearsal: Ensemble Recruiting in Liberal Arts Institutions” at the Missouri Music Educators Association State Conference in January 2019. He and Trinity’s Chamber Singers performed “We Lift Our Eyes” in Austin in March 2019. The piece was based upon a chant transcribed and researched by K. Kummerer ’18. Seighman also presented “The Science of Ensemble” for the Missouri Music Educators Association State Conference in Nashville, Tenn., in April 2019. In 2018, he served as chorusmaster for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt and Vienna, Austria, in which the Trinity University Chamber Singers served as the ensemble-in-residence for the festival. Along with Chia-Wei Lee / Music, Seighman traveled with 11 students to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Zhuhai, China, to give vocal performances at area schools and performance halls. He also helped organize the Trinity Choir Alumni Festival in February 2019, which included more than 150 alumni from 21 different states and representing seven decades.

HEATHER I. SULLIVAN / Modern Languages and Literatures published “Petro-texts, plants, and people in the Anthropocene: the dark green” in Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, 2019, Vol. 23, Issue 2.

She and James Shinkle / Biology published “The Dark Green Ecology in the Early Anthropocene: Goethe’s MAGAZINE.TRINITY.EDU/IMPACT IMPACT

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Writing Center tutors help Trinity students wordsmith essays and other assignments.

TIGER TUTORS STRIVE TO BE THEIR BEST Writing Center tutors receive CRLA certification

by Abby DeNike ’20

This fall, Trinity University Writing Center tutors reached Level One Certification by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). The CRLA helps ensure that university tutoring programs adhere to best practices, as established by the profession, by providing an internationally recognized set of criteria for tutor training.

Breaking this down, CRLA training emphasizes collaborative and active learning, encouraging tutors to not simply tell students the information, but involve their peers in critical thinking. To achieve the Level One Certification, Writing Center tutors completed 10 hours of training, passed multiple observations and evaluations, and tutored for a minimum of 25 hours. Jennifer Rowe, director for Tutoring Programs at Trinity, explains that “by participating in this program, we hope to better equip our tutors to help students master class concepts as well as increase the likelihood that these students will engage in help-seeking behaviors.”

The CRLA certification represents completion of the first major stage of peer-tutor training at Trinity. The Writing Center is now pursuing Level Two Advanced Certification, 22

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and Quantitative Reasoning and Skills tutors and course-embedded tutors are now applying for Level One Certification. Rowe is excited by the progress tutors across campus are making, explaining “this is the first time that Trinity has undergone such an effort to improve and standardize tutoring practices on a campus-wide level.”

Rowe adds that the certification not only benefits students seeking help in their classes, but tutors as well: “These students are doing demanding, para-professional work; the certification recognizes the quality of that work and gives them a powerful resume item to take with them after they’ve graduated.”

One Writing Center tutor, Ariana Fletcher-Bai ’20, feels that this certification is a “huge acknowledgement of the work we’ve done and the work we’re doing.” It also makes it known that “Tiger tutors are intentional about providing a truly helpful and well-informed resource for students.”

Congratulations to Fletcher-Bai, Robin Bissett ’20, Hannah Friedrich ’19, Tiffany Nguyen ’20, and Ariel del Vecchio ’20 for receiving CRLA certification.

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Plants in Die Metamorphose and Triumph der Empfindsamkeit” in the Goethe Yearbook, 2019, Vol. 26. In 2018, Sullivan was invited to contribute “Goethes Metamorphose der Pflanzen: Die Materie des Grünen” for Materie des Geistes with Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg. In June 2018, she gave the invited lectures “The Dark Green” and “Material Ecocriticism” for the German Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. Additionally, Sullivan presented the conference paper “Ecofeminism and the Dark Green: Plants and Ecological Kinship in the Anthropocene” at the Women in German Conference in October 2018. She was also invited as an adviser for a symposium on creating German environmental humanities programs at Smith College. Sullivan contributed her essay “Petro-Texts, Plants, and People in the Anthropocene: The Dark Green” for Green Letters, 2019, Volume 24, Issue 2. In 2018, she was elected vice president of the North Amercian Goethe Society. She is the chair of the Translation Grant Committee and professional liaison coordinator for the Association for the Study of Literature and

the Environment and serves as a member of the expert panel for a $2,800,000 interdisciplinary grant project, “Relics of Nature: Natural Heritage in a Shifting World,” at the Arctic University of Norway.

CLAUDIA STOKES / English co-published “The Last Cleric: Ann Douglas, Intellectual Authority, and the Legacy of Feminization” in J19: The Journal of NineteenthCentury Americanists, 2019, Vol. 7, Issue 1. She co-edited a new edition of The Gates Ajar with Penguin Classics in 2019. In 2018, her essay, “Novel Commonplaces: Quotation, Epigraphs, and Literary Authority,” was awarded the 1921 Prize for best essay in American literature (tenured category) by the American Literature Society.

CARLOS X. ARDAVÍNTRABANCO / Modern Languages and Literatures published “Travesías de otredad: la imaginación literaria hispano-estadounidense” in Mediaisla in February 2019. He was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the School of Philosophy of the Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia in Spain in 2018.

CAROLYN TRUE / Music was honored with the Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fellow national award in March 2019.

LAUREN TUREK / History presented “Evangelical Empire: Christian Nationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Post-Colonial World” for the international colloquium Global Faith and Worldly Power: Evangelical Encounters with American Empire at the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany in October 2018.

She was also elected to serve on the council of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

RITA E. URQUIJO-RUIZ / Modern Languages and Literatures served as a judge for the Ramirez Family Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book, awarded by the Texas Institute of Letters, in 2018.

JIE ZHANG / Modern Languages and Literatures contributed “Female Celebrities in Contemporary Society” to Chai Jing: The Power of Vulnerability with Palgrave Macmillan in 2019.

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BRIGHT SPOT Christina Cooley is perfecting a method for using light to detect disease—and having fun doing it words by Jeremy Gerlach photos by Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08 and Jordan Bruce ’21

A

t the far reaches of the earth, light could be the key to a new type of medical miracle.

Imagine: without any advanced, complicated, expensive diagnostic equipment, a field worker uses a simple, user-friendly piece of technology that can detect the presence of disease through fluorescence.

At least, that’s the dream for Trinity chemistry professor Christina Cooley, who is closing in on turning this fantasy into reality.

“This is fluorogenic polymerization—we’re working on detecting diseased molecules through a specific polymer that exhibits fluorescence, or

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light,” Cooley says. “The whole point of this is that we could do it, out in a tent anywhere in the world, with no fancy equipment. You’ll be able to detect disease simply by seeing your reaction glow.”

Cooley’s research, conducted in Trinity’s Center for the Sciences and Innovation, will revolutionize developing nations with limited resources for advanced medical technology that can diagnose infectious diseases out in the field.

“The theme of my whole career is that I’ve always been personally motivated by thinking, ‘How could the work that I’m doing make a meaningful impact? How can I change the world?’ Even if it’s

in some small way,” Cooley says. “So, this research is about helping people detect diseases earlier, so they could intervene earlier.”

Catalyst for Change

But to change the world, Cooley first had to change the way she approached polymerization itself. This type of science isn’t new: People have been using chemical reactions along long chains of monomers (polymers) as indicators for the presence of disease for more than a decade.

But the innovation doesn’t stop there. Cooley has also paired the concept of fluorogenic polymerization—using light as the end result of a reaction—with a specialized technique that uses light to start the reaction, too.

This technique is called Reversible AdditionFragmentation Chain-Transfer Polymerization (or, thank goodness for acronyms, RAFT). With some help from her undergraduate team of researchers (Cooley ran a lab partly dedicated to this facet of the project during Trinity’s

“One thing I love to do in our lab is really celebrate when good things happen. I’m known around the department for jumping up and down, screaming, hugging everyone I can find when something works.”

“But when you detect something, you really need to amplify it,” Cooley says. “There may be only a few diseased molecules floating around in your body. So while we’re already pretty good at detecting disease, we need to get better at translating that detection into the type of readout you can observe at a macro level.”

So, Cooley came up with the idea of using light as the end result of the polymerization process— something visible to the naked eye without the use of advanced technology.

“The idea I had when I came to Trinity was that we’d use polymerization chemistry and fluorescence. It’s kind of like a runaway freight train— there’s an initiator that kickstarts the process, a monomer reacts with that, then another one and another one and so on,” Cooley says. “I’m not the first person to use polymerization reactions, but I’m the first to use fluorescence in real time.”

That’s the next aspect that sets Cooley’s method apart from other polymerization reactions: Cooley has already succeeded in decreasing the reaction time from an entire day down to just 60 minutes.

What’s truly brilliant about Cooley’s method is the fact that this type of light can also be used to quantify the presence of disease: The brighter the fluorescence, the higher count of diseased molecules.

“Everyone else has been thinking about this as an ‘on-off ’ switch, just giving us a negative-positive answer,” Cooley says. “But with our method, not only can you qualitatively look with your eyes and see the glow, but you can also quantify the fluorescence and calculate backwards to tell how much disease is there.”

summer research period), she now even has a rough-but-functioning prototype for a “lightbox” device that can jumpstart the RAFT polymerization process.

All told, Cooley’s method aims to use light to start the reaction process, detect and quantify the presence of disease, and will accomplish all this in a fraction of the time this process used to take.

User Friendly

Just because the science behind this process works, doesn’t mean it’s usable in the field. For that to happen, Cooley needs the process to be as close to perfect as it can be.

So, Cooley has been focusing her energy on making this type of chemistry “user friendly.” That

The Cooley Lab light box exposes polymer precursors to light.

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“Hopefully, we can one day take most of the special equipment out of detecting diseases.”

Undergraduate researchers Jose Ricardo dos Remedios ’22 (left) and Joseph Anderson ’20 (right) worked in Cooley’s lab over the summer.

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means solving several fundamental chemistry issues to try to produce the brightest possible signal combined with the lowest possible reaction time.

Why do this? Because this science will eventually have a real-world application for developing countries or places that might not have access to expensive medical equipment. The more streamlined and consistent the reaction can be, the simpler, cheaper, and more effective the technological platform upon which it will eventually rely. “Hopefully, we can one day take most of the special equipment out of detecting diseases,” Cooley says.

That emphasis on accessibility is also part of Cooley’s decision to adopt RAFT polymerization.

Thanks to RAFT, Cooley’s method can also be performed in the open air—whereas other polymerization processes have to be done in a de-oxygenated environment, which can be a near-impossible requirement to ask of scientists or medical personnel working out in the field.

“This all sounds like a lot of work, but we’re getting closer to designing a system that will meet all of our criteria. Ease-of-use, user-friendly, producing a bright signal within a short reaction time,” Cooley says. “Once we’ve answered the fundamental chemistry questions behind producing the best possible system, we’ll work on creating a platform that could be applied to whatever disease presents the biggest need.

“At any university, doing research is challenging while balancing all your priorities,” Cooley says. “That’s where you need to have a passion for your work. You have to have a reason, a motivation beyond just doing the work.”

For Cooley, this passion is still driven by that vision of a field worker in a tent, with no access to electricity, medical facilities, or advanced technology, trying to help people struggling to identify and fight infectious diseases. Maybe what that worker needs, Cooley says, isn’t a miracle at all— but just a creative solution.

“I’ve always been motivated by the issue of human health and disease. It’s an area where finding solutions means impacting people’s lives,” Cooley explains. “This is the kind of research that I’d want to carry out anywhere. But the way we can do this type of research in the Department of Chemistry here at Trinity—using undergraduates, celebrating together, having a good time, and making it as close to perfect as we can—that makes our research the best it could possibly be.”

Celebrating With a Passion

This process hasn’t always been smooth for Cooley, or for her valuable team of undergraduate researchers. The team has met failure just as frequently, if not more so, than it has progress.

“Those moments of success can be so rare,” she explains. “To keep you going through all the hard times and the failures, you really need to just celebrate the successes.”

Those passing by Cooley’s lab in CSI can easily tell when her team has made a breakthrough.

“One thing I love to do in our lab is really celebrate when good things happen,” Cooley continues. “I’m known around the department for jumping up and down, screaming, hugging everyone I can find when something works.”

Plenty of researchers are working on projects with scopes just as grand and creative as Cooley’s.

But the ones that are ultimately successful will rely on this type of passion too—because seeing this type of research to the end can be a draining affair.

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Kathleen Surpless was elected to fellowship in the Geological Society of America.

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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, and MATHEMATICS Nationally recognized for academic strength, interdisciplinary focus, and undergraduate research, Trinity’s STEM programs offer students cutting edge opportunities that include experiential learning at the interface of disciplines. The University’s STEM departments include Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering Science, Geosciences, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, and Psychology.

GERARD M.J. BEAUDOIN III ’99 / Biology co-published “Ventral Tegmental Area Astrocytes Orchestrate Avoidance and Approach Behavior” in Nature Communications, 2019, Vol. 10, Issue 1. He received a $70,000 grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation to support his neuroscience research.

CAROLYN BECKER / Psychology , V. Perko ’13, and colleagues published “The athletes’ relationship with training scale (ART): A self-report measure of unhealthy training behaviors associated with eating disorders” in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2018. Becker, along with Keesha Middlemass / Political Science, C. Johnson ’16, B. Taylor ’17, F. Gomez ’18, and A. Sutherland ’18, published “Traumatic event exposure associated with increased food insecurity and eating disorder pathology” in Public Health Nutrition, 2018, Vol. 21, Issue 16. Becker was granted Fellow status by the Association for Psychological Science for contributing significant research, service, and teachings to the science of psychology for more than 10 years.

BERT CHANDLER / Chemistry gave the invited lecture “O2 activation over Au: Three decades of lessons from CO oxidation and PrOx” at the Gold 2018 International Conference in Paris in July 2018.

JANE B. CHILDERS / Psychology and Kimberley A. Phillips / Psychology co-published “Conducting Publishable Research From Special Populations: Studying Children and Non-Human Primates with Undergraduate Research Assistants” in Frontiers in Psychology, 2019, Vol. 10. Childers, T.J. Howard ’15, and B.M. Porter ’18 published “Can 2.5- to 5-year-olds Ignore Irrelevant Events, or Subevents, During Verb Learning?” in the Journal of Cognition and Development, 2019, Vol. 20.

The DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE was invited to participate in the “Learning Circles” program sponsored by the National Center for Women and Information Technology in 2018. A team consisting of Paul Meyers / Computer Science, Yu Zhang / Computer Science, Matthew Hibbs / Computer Science, Alli Roman / Student Life, Aspen Gonzalez ’96 / Admissions, and J. White* attended to develop a plan to recruit more women into Trinity’s computer science program.

CHRISTINA COOLEY / Chemistry along with Z.T. Allen ’18, J.R. Sackey-Addo ’18, M.P. Hopps*, D. Tahseen ’19, J.T. Anderson*, and a colleague published “Fluorogenic Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization in Aqueous Media as a Strategy for Detection” in Chemical Science, 2019, Issue 4.

bolded Trinity faculty, staff, students, or alumni *Trinity undergraduate researchers

SABER N. ELAYDI / Mathematics and colleagues published “A discrete mathematical model for the aggregation of beta amyloid” in PLOS ONE in May 2018.

WILLIAM D. ELLISON / Psychology co-published “Individual differences and stability of dynamics among self-concept clarity, impatience, and negative affect” in Self and Identity, 2019. He also co-published “Dynamics among borderline personality and anxiety features in psychotherapy outpatients: An exploration of nomothetic and idiographic patterns” in Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 2019.

PAULA HERTEL / Psychology along with A. Maydon ’16, A. Ogilvie ’17, and a colleague published “Ruminators (Unlike Others) Fail to Show Suppression-Induced Forgetting on Indirect Measures of Memory” in Clinical Psychological Science, 2018, Vol. 6, Issue 6. The research was supported by a grant from the U.S./Israel Binational Science Foundation. She co-published “Training to Inhibit Negative Content Affects Memory and Rumination” in Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2019, Vol. 43, Issue 6. Hertel began her fourth year as editor of the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition in 2019.

DAVID H. HOUGH / Physics and Astronomy served as a member of the peer review committee for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2018.

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KIMBERLEY PHILLIPS AWARDED $1.4 MILLION GRANT

Psychology professor to research loneliness and cognitive decline

by Carlos Anchondo ’14

In the next 40 years, more than 98 million Americans will be 65 or older. As the U.S. population ages, the prevalence of persons experiencing loneliness is likely to rise, contributing to a number of negative health outcomes such as increased rates of heart disease, a weakened immune system, and cognitive decline.

Kimberley Phillips, Ph.D., a psychology professor and director for the neuroscience program at Trinity University, has been awarded a five-year, $1.4 million grant by the National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to study social and hormonal influences on cognitive aging through the common marmoset, a small monkey.

The marmoset—distinguished by white tufts of hair around its ears and by its banded tail—is a good candidate for the research because it forms long-term pair bonds with mates. Phillips and a team of collaborators are studying how the loss of a partner affects the marmoset, tracking changes both through non-invasive brain imaging and cognitive and behavioral assessments.

Phillips is one of a handful of Trinity professors to ever earn an R01 grant, which are typically awarded to major research institutions.

She says a main goal of this research is to improve human health through its findings.

“If my work can help to understand some of the hormonal disruption that might be happening with loneliness and how social 30

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buffering might mediate those effects and have some improvement in cognition, I think that will provide important information for improving human health in aging,” Phillips says.

The research involves separating marmosets from their partners and monitoring hormonal and cognitive changes. While the pairs are apart, the team will introduce new partners to assess the quality of that social relationship—or a means of social buffering—before the original pairs are ultimately brought back together.

The team will conduct cognitive tests, looking in particular at memory and tasks of executive function, as well as carrying out non-invasive brain imaging.

This grant not only teases apart the effects of aging, Phillips says, but also examines the quality of social support on cognition.

“In some ways it probably sounds so simple,” Phillips says. “You probably know elderly people in your life who fit into different categories and you can imagine individuals who, if their longterm partner dies, they might be more likely to continue to withdraw, which would probably lead to a whole lot more negative health outcomes— as opposed to those individuals who, as they age, continue to seek out social engagements.”

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LAURA HUNSICKER-WANG / Chemistry was selected to join the executive committee of the Beckman Scholars Program in 2018.

The Beckman Scholars Program supports undergraduate research in chemistry, the biological sciences, and interdisciplinary combinations thereof.

ALBERT XIN JIANG / Computer Science was an invited early career speaker at the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence and European Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Stockholm, Sweden, in July 2018.

MICHELE A. JOHNSON / Biology contributed “Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Lizard Display Behavior” for Behavior of Lizards: Evolutionary and Mechanistic Perspectives with CRC Press in 2019. She co-led the publication of the following works for the project HormoneBase: “Macroevolutionary patterning in glucocorticoids suggests different selective pressures shape baseline and stress-induced levels” in American Naturalist, Vol. 193; and “HormoneBase, a population-level database of steroid hormone levels across vertebrates” in Scientific Data, Vol. 5. The HormoneBase project also included articles she was invited to submit to a special issue of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Vol. 58.

Several of these articles were written in collaboration with Bonnie Kircher / Biology, Jeremy Donald / Library, and E. Cook ’13: “Do seasonal glucocorticoid changes depend on reproductive investment? A comparative approach in birds;” “Metabolic scaling of stress hormones in vertebrates;” “Species-specific means and within-species variance in glucocorticoid hormones and speciation rates in birds;” “Detecting bias in large-scale comparative analysis: Methods for expanding the scope of hypothesis-testing with HormoneBase;” “IUCN conservation status does not predict glucocorticoid concentrations

in reptiles and birds;” “Standing variation and the capacity for change: are endocrine phenotypes more variable than other traits?;” and “Illuminating endocrine evolution: The power and potential of large-scale comparative analyses.” Johnson and her colleagues published “Rapid evolution of testis size relative to sperm morphology suggests that postcopulatory sexual selection targets sperm number in Anolis lizards” in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 32. She was also a member of a National Science Foundation working group on biomechanics and ecology and a mentor in the Weaving the Future of Animal Behavior faculty development initiative. She was elected to be the secretary of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology.

JOSEPH B. LAMBERT / Chemistry received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who in July 2018.

DANIEL J. LEHRMANN / Geosciences , Z.T. Sickmann*, K.D.H. Gulliver ’16, and colleagues published “Controls on sedimentation and cyclicity of the Boquillas and equivalent eagle ford formation from detailed outcrop studies of western and central Texas, U.S.A” in the Journal of Sedimentary Research, Vol. 89, Issue 7.

KAH-CHUNG LEONG / Psychology co-published “Effects of Methamphetamine Self-Administration and Extinction on Astrocyte Structure and Function in the Nucleus Accumbens Core” in Neuroscience, 2019, Vol. 406 and “Pathway specific activation of ventral hippocampal cells projecting to the prelimbic cortex diminishes fear renewal” in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2019, Vol. 161.

MARK LEWIS / Computer Science co-presented “SwiftVis2: Plotting with Spark using Scala” at the International Conference on Data Science in Las

Vegas, Nev., in July 2018. Also in July, with J. Koeller ’19 and David Pooley / Physics and Astronomy, he presented “Applications of Apache Spark(TM) in Numerical Simulation” at the International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques in Las Vegas, Nev. Along with A. Hansen ’19 he presented “Applying Genetic Algorithms to Generating Paintings” at the International Conference on Image Processing, Computer Vision, & Pattern in Athens, Greece, in October 2018. He co-contributed “Computer Simulations of Planetary Rings” for Planetary Ring Systems: Properties, Structure, and Evolution with Cambridge University Press in 2018.

CORINA MAEDER ’99 / Chemistry and A. Embry, C. Potts ’19, D. Jamison*, and C. Turner* published “The Roles of the Essential Proteins Dib1, Prp31, Prp6 and the U5 snRNA During Splicing” in The FASEB Journal, 2019, Vol. 33, Issue 1.

NIRAV P. MEHTA / Physics and Astronomy co-published “Model for scattering with proliferating resonances: Many coupled square wells” in Physical Review A, 2018, Vol. 98, Issue 6.

DANY J. MUNOZ-PINTO / Engineering Science , R. Van Drunen ’18, A.C. Jimenez-Vergara, E.H. Tsai ’18, R. Tchen ’17, T. Cagle ’19, A.B. Agee ’19, James Roberts / Biology, and Jennifer M. Steele / Physics and Astronomy co-published “Collagen Based Multicomponent Interpenetrating Networks as Promising Scaffolds for 3D Culture of Human Neural Stem Cells, Human Astrocytes, and Human Microglia” in ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2019, Vol. 2, Issue 3. He also co-published “Tuning Forkhead Box D3 overexpression to promote specific osteogenic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells while reducing pluripotency in a three‐dimensional culture system” in the Journal of Tissue Engineering and MAGAZINE.TRINITY.EDU/IMPACT IMPACT

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Works / SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS

Katsuo Nishikawa Chávez talks with a colleague in the Collaborative for Learning and Teaching.

E. Cabral Balreira talks through the efficiency gap mathematical technique with Alice Von Ende-Becker ’19.

ELECTORAL GEOMETRY

Project combines political science and geometry to fight gerrymandering

by Jeremy Gerlach

Gerrymandering, the practice of manipulating electoral districts for partisan advantage, would seem easy to spot: districts that look like terrible balloon animals are usually a telltale sign.

Yet proving the mere existence of gerrymandering in a court of law has been a challenge for American lawyers and political scientists for decades. So an interdisciplinary team of Trinity faculty and students have taken aim at this seemingly impossible task.

Mathematics professor E. Cabral Balreira, Ph.D., and political science professor Katsuo Nishikawa Chávez, Ph.D., have teamed geometry and political theory together to offer quantitative proof of a simple posit: gerrymandering is happening, and it is harming voters.

“We focus on interdisciplinarity at Trinity,” Balreira says, “but I focus on the pure math of this research. We’re looking at maps and seeing grids, blocks, statistics.”

Balreira says courts are hesitant to rely on mathematics to identify gerrymandering simply because of the huge variety of mathematical techniques related to the subject. So, Balreira has honed one existing method called the “efficiency gap” that produces a comparative rating for individual districts. The higher the efficiency gap, the more gerrymandered the district.

“This method isn’t perfect, but it’s a start,” Balreira says.

“This gives you a number, a rating, and people like being able to use these types of ‘ratings.’”

Alongside Balreira has been Alice Von Ende-Becker ’19, a mathematics, art history, and economics triple major, who 32

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helped Balreira produce an initial project, “Who Chooses Who,” an examination of electoral data from 36 U.S. Congressional races in Texas from recent years.

“I’d never heard of math being applied to the gerrymandering problem,” Von Ende-Becker says. “That’s the moment I was excited I was a math major, because that was the moment I knew I could do something about this problem.”

Balreira’s numbers have served as a launching pad for the next phase of this research with Nishikawa Chávez, an expert on immigrant voter participation. Nishikawa Chávez, along with a team of undergraduate researchers such as Josephine Van Houten ’19, are using Balreira’s data to see if there is evidence that gerrymandering in San Antonio is harmful to minority voters.

Van Houten, an international studies major who has also studied computer science, is a perfect example of how Trinity’s dedication to interdisciplinary research can open the door to previously unforeseen solutions and perspectives.

“I had no idea how I would ever combine computer science and political science, but this was my opportunity,” Van Houten says. “I’m able to understand both sides and bridge them together. This math is helping us prove or disprove political theories that have been previously hard to quantify.”

And while political theories can be labeled as partisan, hard data can remove human bias from the equation, Van Houten says. “You can use statistics to definitively show that for some people, their votes don’t matter as much as others’.”

Works / SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS

or resetting these changes, one aspect of addiction, such as relapse, will be prevented.

Regenerative Medicine, 2018, Vol. 12, Issue 12 and “A canine in vitro model for evaluation of marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell-based bone scaffolds” in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 2018, Vol. 106, Issue 9.

TROY G. MURPHY / Biology co-published “Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) caught in the web of a giant lichen orb-weaver spider (Araneus bicentenarius)” in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 2019, Vol. 131, Issue 1.

KIMBERLEY A. PHILLIPS / Psychology co-published “Cortical Afferents of Area 10 in Cebus Monkeys: Implications for the Evolution of the Frontal Pole” in Cerebral Cortex, 2019, Vol. 29, Issue 4. She also co-published “Amplification Dynamics of Platy-1 Retrotransposons in the Cebidae Platyrrhine Lineage” in Genome Biology and Evolution, 2019, Vol. 11, Issue 4.

Additionally, she received a R01 independent research grant from the National Institute on Aging to investigate social and neuroendocrine influences on cognitive aging. She was selected to serve as Trinity’s institutional trustee to the Mind Science Foundation.

DAVID POOLEY / Physics and Astronomy was jointly awarded $580,000 from the National Science Foundation for his work in physics and support for undergraduate researchers at Trinity.

DIANE SMITH / Geosciences published “The role of magma mixing, identification of mafic magma inputs, and structure of the underlying magmatic system at Mount St. Helens” in American Mineralogist, Vol. 103.

She also supervised the presentation

by B.G. Rysak ’19 and Kurt Knesel / Geosciences on “Olivine chemistry of Indian Heaven lavas, southern Washington Cascades” for the Geological Society of America, Rocky

GETTING TO KNOW GERARD BEAUDOIN III ’99 Alumnus awarded grant for neuroscience research

by Kale Ridge ’21

Biology professor Gerard M.J. Beaudoin III ’99, Ph.D., has come full circle— once a Trinity undergraduate himself, he now teaches and researches with Trinity students. His research lab focuses on dopamine neurons—the neurons critical for learning motivated behavior—and how cocaine affects the structure and function of synapses on these neurons.

Beaudoin recently received a $70,000 grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation to support his neuroscience research.

He shared more about his research methods, how he motivates students, and whether Trinity should expect the next Walter White.

What does your research focus on?

Neurons that release dopamine are important for reward-based learning and are co-opted by drugs of abuse, like cocaine, to encode addiction. Just one dose of cocaine has been shown to induce changes in the connections between excitatory neurons and dopamine neurons. We are now determining the process by which these exact changes are induced at connections shown to be strengthened by cocaine. We hope by blocking

You study neurons critical for learning motivated behavior, so as an expert on motivated behavior, how do you motivate your students?

I involve students in all aspects of the research endeavor in my lab.

Thus, I meet weekly with them to discuss their progress. Additionally, we place this work in the context of the overall project and look forward to upcoming presentations or papers that are due. In this way, we see the project both in the short and long term.

In the classroom, I encourage and motivate by noting when things go well and try to highlight the growth the students have achieved while in class.

You use a cocaine lab for studying the effects of the drug on dopamine responses in the brain—is there going to be a Trinity version of Breaking Bad? I really enjoyed this show and know it well, so I can answer this question on several levels. At a superficial level, am I going to start making and selling cocaine to support my family? Uh, no. I’m registered with DEA to purchase and use cocaine, a Schedule II drug, so I’m definitely being monitored.

On a slightly deeper level, in the show an excellent chemist used his skill to make methamphetamine. However, cocaine is purified from the coca plant, which highlights one of my biggest weaknesses—an infallible inability to keep plants alive.

On the deepest level, Walter White had a great deal of hubris and felt being a teacher was a complete waste of his genius. I’m actually in my dream job now and enjoy all aspects of the position, so I don’t intend to leave anytime soon.

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Works / SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS

Jane Childers discusses planned experiments with undergraduate researchers.

CHILD(ER)S PLAY Psychology chair’s research focuses on how children learn the meanings of verbs

by Nicolette Good ‘07

If you ask Jane Childers, Ph.D., learning nouns is pretty easy for young kids. Verbs, though? That’s a whole different ball game.

“Learning a verb means trying to figure out what an adult is thinking about when they use this word,” says Childers, chair of the psychology department at Trinity.

She says this difficulty is due in part to the fact that adults rarely label their actions. For example, Childers says, “Imagine a child is at a volleyball game. They could be hearing and seeing a lot of different verbs, like ‘score,’ ‘spike,’ ‘yell,’ ‘jump,’ ‘run.’”

The problem, though, is that a volleyball player does not say “I am walking onto the court,” “I am jumping,” or, “Now I’m spiking the ball.”

“To learn a verb means hearing action words and then trying to figure out, out of this whole dynamic scene, what that verb might be picking out,” Childers says. “That’s a fun problem to work on.”

Her research centers on the mental processes that underlie the ability to learn verbs, using experimental designs to study developing children aged two to four years.

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One possible view of the mental processes at play happens to be the view Childers takes: The first time a child hear a novel verb, the child stores whatever information they can and links it to that new verb. But Childers says the verb’s meaning probably remains unclear to the learner.

She says one way children may learn verbs is to compare this first example (of a verb and an action pairing) with one or more new examples that follow.

“If they can hear it a second time, then recall the first exposure and compare it to the second, they can learn a lot from that comparison: Is the person moving?

Is it always a person? Is a ball necessarily involved?,” Childers says.

By comparing examples, similarities and differences between the situations tell the learner what is and is not important about that verb.

Childers experiments by giving kids verbs they have not heard before—either by showing them live events or using videos—then controlling the types of comparisons available and testing how those comparisons influence what the kids think that verb means. For example,

Works / SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS

Mountain-Cordilleran Section Meeting in May 2019 in Flagstaff, Ariz.

BETHANY STRUNK / Biology was awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

KATHLEEN SURPLESS / Geosciences and K.D.H. Gulliver ’16 published “Provenance analysis of the Ochoco basin, central Oregon: A window into the Late Cretaceous paleogeography of the northern U. S. Cordillera” in Tectonics, Sedimentary Basins and Provenance: A Celebration of William R. Dickinson’s Career: Geological Society of America Special Paper, 2018, Vol. 540, Issue 11. She and Rubén R. Dupertuis / Religion participated in the Council of Independent Colleges Workshop for Department Chairs in Williamsburg, Va., in June 2018.

In May 2019, Surpless was elected to fellowship in the Geological Society of America.

Childers was an early adopter of a new technology called eye tracking, which helps researchers record precise eye movements.

Over the years, Childers has mentored many students in her lab, which runs all year long. Students work off-campus at local child care centers, often conducting controlled experiments (or “games”) with young preschoolers, as well as creating events to be shown, coding children’s responses from videos, and entering and analyzing data.

“Students have been invaluable to my lab,” Childers says. “They bring their own talents to the research team and together, questions are asked, answers to those questions are revealed through the results of studies, and more questions emerge as well.”

WILSON TERRELL JR. / Engineering Science c o-authored “Thermal and flow characteristics of helical coils with reversed loops” for the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2018, Vol. 126, Part B.

ADAM URBACH / Chemistry along with Z. Hirani ’19, H. Taylor ’19, and E. Babcock ’19 published “Molecular Recognition of Methionine-Terminated Peptides by Cucurbit[8]uril” in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2018, Vol. 140, Issue 38. He also organized the 2019 COMPASS Faculty Workshop on Student Career Mentoring in the Sciences, which focused on creating career development programs in the physical sciences, and led the COMPASS (Career and Occupational Mentoring for the Professional Advancement of Science Students) program as a Cottrell Scholar Collaborative project, partnering with the American Chemical Society and American Physical Society. Additionally, Urbach served on the editorial boards of Frontiers in Chemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry. He gave invited seminars at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the Scripps Research Institute, Texas A&M University, Brigham Young University, and the University of Utah.

DENNIS UGOLINI / Physics and Astronomy along with H. Rafferty* and colleagues published “LIGO analogy lab – A set of undergraduate lab experiments to demonstrate some principles of gravitational wave detection” in the American Journal of Physics, 2019, Vol. 87, Issue 1.

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A CITY AS A

CANVAS Trinity partners with San Antonio Museum of Art for inaugural postdoctoral fellowship words by Robin J. Johnson photos by Joshua Moczygemba ’05

T

rinity’s mission to redefine and elevate l iberal arts education materialized as an innovative postdoctoral fellowship that turns the city of San Antonio and its collection of art into a classroom.

In fall 2019, Yinshi Lerman-Tan, Ph.D., began the postdoctoral fellowship between Trinity University and the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA), with support provided by the Coates Foundation. The two-year fellowship uses the museum as a place for teaching and learning and will add to the vigor of Trinity’s faculty research.

The fellowship was made possible by the Coates Family Foundation and collaborates with Trinity’s Department of Art and Art History, as well as the Departments of Classical Studies and Sociology and Anthropology and SAMA. Classical Studies professor Corinne Pache, Ph.D., developed the proposal for the Coates Fellowship with the former SAMA director after two successful Lennox Seminars that incorporated exhibits at SAMA. In hopes of creating a more permanent tie between the two institutions, the Coates Fellowship was developed and needed a special kind of candidate.

“We were looking for someone who could use the collection at SAMA for both their research and teaching,” Pache says. “This is an unusual kind of postdoc where the postdoc has offices and duties in both institutions, so we were looking for someone who has the ability to make and maintain connections, and whose research could be sustained by the collection at SAMA. We also needed someone who is an excellent teacher, who could teach in the First-Year Experience (FYE) program and create new courses that use the collection at SAMA.” That someone was Yinshi Lerman-Tan.

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Yinshi Lerman-Tan discusses Elsie Wagg with Ariel del Vecchio ’20 and Aubrey Harlan ’23.

Holding a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a doctorate from Stanford University, Lerman-Tan is the inaugural recipient of the fellowship, which entails her to teach one class per semester that focuses on students’ direct engagement with art at SAMA while conducting research and curatorial projects out of SAMA’s collections. She is on the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History and receives mentorship, support, and an office in the department.

“A postdoc of this kind—and the rare joint and collaborative nature of it—establishes Trinity and SAMA as an incubator for new types of collaboration,” Lerman-Tan says. “Looking at the landscape of art history postdoc fellowships, it’s pretty unique to see a fellowship that spans two institutions in this way. It tracked exactly with my experience and my mission as a scholar committed to university teaching and research, as well as to curatorial work and museums.”

The fellowship mutually benefits Trinity and SAMA with a goal to strengthen its connections and future collaborations, including internships, additional classes utilizing the museum, new research, and new curatorial research out of the museum.

“Both Trinity and SAMA have long-standing relationships with the Coates Foundation, who have helped us individually advance scholarship and intellectual engagement in our own spheres,” says William Rudolph, co-interim director and chief curator of SAMA and a member of the fellowship search committee.

“This exciting, innovative partnership allows us to think in unexpected and original ways about how our two organizations can offer a new model of collaborative learning and service, while also helping mentor the next generation of art historians. We have had a wonderful relationship with Trinity, who provides otherwise unavailable library and research resources to our curatorial and educational teams. The partnership takes our interactions to a deeper, richer level.”

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Lerman-Tan specializes in American art and culture from the nineteenth century to present, focusing on the idea of rethinking and expanding American art and the relationship between marginal and mainstream American art. Her scholarship centers on forgotten or understudied art and artists, including Asian American artists, another focus of her research and teaching. Additionally, her research

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“This is the first course of this kind at Trinity that will be completely taught out of a museum collection and completely on site (at SAMA).”

Lerman-Tan introduces students to works by artists such as John Singer Sargent.

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is interested in the artist’s lived experience, how art moves through time, and the afterlives of art.

Lerman-Tan was a recipient of a predoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., which supported her research on turn-of-the-century still life painter John F. Peto.

During her graduate work at Stanford, Lerman-Tan developed and taught a class that brought medical students into galleries at campus museums. Her students looked at art to hone observational skills and to think about how clinicians use observation and description in their clinical practice.

Lerman-Tan’s background and research interests lead to unique classes, which will continue at Trinity, highlighting her philosophy that “there’s something invaluable you can learn from standing in front of a work of art.”

The activation of SAMA as a place for teaching and learning began with Lerman-Tan’s first semester of the fellowship in fall 2019. Her lecture for the FYE “Arts and Ideas” course invited about 90 students to the museum, some for the first time, to see paintings by John Singer Sargent, Kehinde Wiley, and Angel Rodríguez– Díaz, allowing students to explore their city and its resources at SAMA. “San Antonio is a city with a rich cultural fabric, and this fellowship really establishes that Trinity students can be integrated into the city and into an institution like SAMA,” Lerman-Tan says.

“They can start to see their city as a sort of classroom, and that’s an innovative thing that Trinity has done by making this postdoc fellowship.”

Lerman-Tan describes her upcoming spring 2020 art history course, “This is America: Rethinking American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art,” as the “headliner” for the Coates Fellowship. Taking its name from a song by the hip-hop artist Childish Gambino, the course will meet weekly in the galleries of SAMA instead of a classroom and push students to approach canonical American art with a critical lens by studying lesser-known artists and objects available at the museum. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to interact with SAMA’s curatorial staff as well as experience the functions of the museum on a day it’s closed to the public.

“This is the first course of this kind at Trinity that will be completely taught out of a museum collection and completely on site (at SAMA),” Lerman-Tan says. “I’ve noticed the student-focused

nature of Trinity, and that’s something I’m really loving about Trinity. There’s a fostering of close dialogue between students and faculty, so I think it’s going to be a really rich environment for the spring class. Students will be excited to be off campus and have these intellectual experiences in the larger community and in the museum context.”

Lerman-Tan’s experiential courses teach Trinity students how to conduct art historical writing by choosing an object from the SAMA collection and writing an extended research project about that object. Additionally, the courses teach students how to look at art, how to have experiences in front of art and to discuss it, as well as how to place Texas and San Antonio in relation to the larger contributions of American artists.

“My hope is that (my courses) will introduce students to the importance of the humanities in terms of what they can teach us about what it means to be alive as a person, as well as the ways they can go on and pursue (humanities) after graduation,” Lerman-Tan says.

Students already benefiting from Lerman-Tan’s expertise and passion for the humanities include senior art history major Ariel Del Vecchio.

Lerman-Tan is Del Vecchio’s thesis adviser.

Del Vecchio’s thesis focuses on the aftermath of violence in the works of Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta, articulating the way Mendieta forces the viewers of these works to become participants in the scene.

“Dr. Lerman-Tan has been absolutely amazing,” says Vecchio, who hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in art history.

“She is so affirming, and our conversations are always constructive. She is extremely skilled at guiding students to refine their projects and thoughts to be the best they can. I cannot put into words how grateful I am to work with her and how much I value the investment she has in this project.”

In addition to her courses and thesis advising, Lerman-Tan has already begun research out of the SAMA collection and working directly with the curatorial team at SAMA. “Dr. Lerman-Tan brings a fresh academic and curatorial perspective to our collections, exhibitions, and practice,” Rudolph says. “We expect to learn a lot about our American collections and to re-think our assumptions. We are learning along with the students and with Dr. Lerman-Tan, and we hope that this fellowship becomes such a success that it can offer a new way to bring

together the academy and the museum.”

Lerman-Tan’s current research focuses on Asian American artist Tyrus Wong in relation to the internment moment and his animation of Disney’s Bambi, as well as artists in the SAMA collection including Angel Rodríguez–Díaz, Henry M. Shrady, and Seymour Guy. Only one semester into the Coates Fellowship, Lerman-Tan has and will continue to assist in elevating Trinity and a liberal arts education.

“There’s something of value that is a part of a liberal arts education that is more than just interacting with text or participating in the Socratic method,” Lerman-Tan says. “The direct engagement with art can really be an integral part of what a college student is learning at Trinity. We can look to works of art to tell us about all kinds of issues, from current events to the art historical canon and the pre-Columbian past. These artworks are on display for the public and for students, and they are telling us something both about the past and what it means to be alive today.”

Lerman-Tan’s current research focuses on artists and works in SAMA, including Henry M. Shrady’s Moose.

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In addition to his research and service on campus, E. Dante SuĂ rez teaches faculty-led study abroad courses at TecnolĂłgico de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.

Works / BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

BUSINESS and SOCIAL SCIENCES The University’s business and social science education is distinctively grounded in a balanced blend of liberal arts and applied professional programs, where faculty engage and prepare students for meaningful lives of leadership and service around the world. At Trinity, this area incorporates the School of Business (Accounting, Business Administration, and Finance and Decision Sciences) as well as Communication, Economics, Education, Health Care Administration, Political Science, and Sociology and Anthropology.

DENNIS AHLBURG / Economics published “Skunks in an English Woodland: Should England Embrace For-Profit Higher Education?” in Political Quarterly, 2018, Vol. 90, Issue 2. He also edited The Changing Face of Higher Education: Is there an international crisis in the humanities? with Routledge in 2018, to which he contributed the chapter “Whatever it’s Called.”

LAURA ALLEN / Education was elected 2019-20 president of Texas Coordinators for Teacher Certification Testing. She is also a board member of the Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education.

BRADLEY BEAUVAIS / Health Care Administration co-published “Doing Well by Doing Good: Evaluating the Influence of Patient Safety Performance on Hospital Financial Outcomes” in Health Care Management Review, 2019, Vol. 44, Issue 1.

ANGELA BREIDENSTEIN ’91, M’92 / Education co-authored An UnCommon Theory of School Change: Leadership for Reinventing Schools with Teachers College Press in 2019.

With S. Albright ’83, ’86 / Education and a colleague, Breidenstein contributed “Teacher education at Trinity University meets the STEPS interpretive framework” for the Australian

Handbook on Teacher Education, School-based Partnerships in Teacher Education: A Research-Informed Model for Universities, Schools, and Beyond with Springer in 2018.

NORVELLA CARTER / Education was honored by Texas A&M University with a named lecture series, the “Carter/Larke Lecture Series.” The series focuses on urban and multicultural issues that represent the work Carter and her colleague touched on in urban education at A&M. COURTNEY CRIM / Education co-published “The Power of Peers” in Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education in October 2018.

J. CHARLENE DAVIS / Business Administration was elected to the Board of Directors for BioBridge Global, which oversees and supports the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, QualTex Laboratories, GenCure, and The Blood and Tissue Center Foundation.

ROCIO DELGADO / Education , Ellen Barnett / Education, and K. Mendez-Perez* presented “Equitable learning opportunities for English learners: Using the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in the bilingual classroom” at the Texas Association for Bilingual Education conference in Dallas in October 2018.

bolded Trinity faculty, staff, students, or alumni *Trinity undergraduate researchers

AARON DELWICHE / Communication and M. Herring* relaunched the website “Propaganda Critic,” and their media literacy work led to a presentation at the Broadcast Educators Association and publication of the book Media Literacy in a Disruptive Environment and the anthology Project Censored 2020: Through the Looking Glass.

The DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION and SAISD were awarded a $700,000 Educational Leadership Award from the Texas Education Agency in June 2019. The grant will provide scholarships for 10 Master of Education graduate students in the School Leadership Program.

ASHLEY DOUGLASS / Accounting , Sarah E. Erickson / Communication, and Paola Gutierrez ’18 / The Collaborative, along with N. McCray* and M. Paniagua Jr.*, presented “Student and Faculty Voices in Teaching and Learning Initiatives,” which highlighted their experiences for the Tiger as Partners program, at the Teaching for Active and Engaged Learning conference sponsored by the Lilly Foundation in Anaheim, Calif.

SARAH E. ERICKSON / Communication co-published “Romantic parasocial attachments and the development of romantic scripts, schemas and beliefs

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Works /

ARTS and HUMANITIES

from left to right: Kate Nuelle ’21, Peyton Tvrdy ’21, Jonathan Chapman ’20, and KaDarius Lee ’19

150 YEARS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Faculty, staff, and students research Trinity’s history of hands-on learning

by Margaret Miller

Though the term “experiential learning” wasn’t coined until the 2000s, Trinity students have been doing it for more than a century. One hundred fifty years ago, Trinity began redefining the liberal arts, giving students the opportunity for handson learning inside—and outside—the classroom.

In recognition of the University’s 150th Anniversary, a team of faculty, staff, and students explored this rich history. The research project, titled “150 Years of Experiential Education at Trinity University: Context, Perspective, and Implementation” was funded by the Mellon Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities.

Like experiential learning at Trinity, the public history project took an interdisciplinary approach.

The four student researchers represented a range of interests and majors: Peyton Tvrdy ’21 (history and classics); Jonathan Chapman ’20 (history and French); KaDarius Lee ’19 (marketing); and Kate Nuelle ’21 (art and art history). Mentoring the students were history professor Lauren Turek, Ph.D.; former assistant director of Experiential Learning Erin Hood ’03, Ph.D., and Robert Scherer, Ph.D., dean of the School of Business.

For 10 weeks, with the help of University archivist Jes Neal, the students collaborated to research and document the history of Trinity’s commitment to experiential learning. The students then curated the content and constructed a physical exhibit that was displayed at Trinity’s Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium in July 2019, as well as a digital database of the oral history interviews.

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The students discovered many experiential learning projects that transpired during Trinity’s early years, including military science, solar, and aviation programs, and a home economics project that lasted from the 1920s until the 1960s, where students practiced cooking and sewing in a cottage that served as an on-campus lab. Over time, they found, experiential learning has grown and flourished to an institution-wide practice that students participate in through all genres and departments, from STEM and humanities to internships, business, and international studies.

The results exceeded Turek’s expectations.

“Trinity students never fail to impress me and go beyond what I anticipate they can do,” she says.

“This project was huge, and there were moments when I wondered whether we would get everything done on time. But the team was fantastic. It’s a reminder that Trinity students are remarkable— and if you set the bar high, they will meet it.”

Explore the team’s public history project online at 150years.omeka.net.

Works / BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

among adolescents” in Media Psychology, 2018, Vol. 21, Issue 1. She also co-published “Toward a multi-dimensional model of adolescent romantic parasocial attachments” in Communication Theory, 2018, Vol. 28, Issue 3 and “An Experimental Examination of Binge Watching and Narrative Engagement” in Social Sciences in 2019. She received the University of Michigan’s Mark Foote Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation, “Teenage Dreams: An Examination of Adolescent Romantic Parasocial Attachments,” in 2018.

MARIO GONZALEZ-FUENTES / Business Administration published “Millennials’ national and global identities as drivers of materialism and consumer ethnocentrism” in the Journal of Social Psychology, 2019, Vol. 159, Issue 2. He presented his research comparing American and Japanese millennials’ global and national identities at many institutions in Japan in summer 2018, including as part of the School of International Studies Distinguished Lecture Series at Kindai University.

AMY HOLMES / Accounting , C. Kappmeyer ’16, Florence Hartsfield / Accounting, and a colleague published “Developing Bridges Center Grant Proposal: A Budgeting Case for a Nonprofit Organization” in the Journal of Government and Nonprofit Accounting, 2018, Vol. 7, Issue 1. Holmes, Shage Zhang / Finance and Decision Sciences, and Benjamin R. Harris / Library published “An Analysis of Teaching Strategies Designed to Improve Written Communication Skills” in Accounting Education, 2019, Vol. 28, Issue 1. She also co-published “Using Pinterest to stimulate student engagement, interest, and learning in managerial accounting courses” in the Journal of Accounting Education, 2018, Vol. 43.

OSCAR JIMÉNEZ-CASTELLANOS / Education is a member of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. In 2018, he co-contributed “Applying Racist Nativism Theory to Arizona K-12 Education Policy (20002010)” to The Chicana/o Education Pipeline: History, Institutional Critique, and Resistance with UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press.

DENEESE JONES / Academic Affairs was honored in January 2019 by Henry Cisneros and Aaronetta Pierce at an appreciation reception for San Antonians who have advanced Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

AMER KAISSI / Health Care Administration presented a two-day workshop for healthcare and hospital CEOs and executives on “Agility & Resilience in Healthcare Leadership” at the American College of Healthcare Executives cluster series workshop in Baltimore in September 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Healthcare Book of the Year by the American College of Healthcare Executives for Intangibles: The Unexpected Traits of High-Performing Healthcare Leaders.

Association at the Accounting Behavior and Organizations Research Conference in Phoenix in October 2018 and in San Antonio in January 2019 for another American Accounting Association meeting.

ZHAOXI LIU / Communication and a colleague published “Exploring the dynamics in the environmental discourse: the longitudinal interaction among public opinion, presidential opinion, media coverage, policymaking in 3 decades and an integrated model of media effect” in Environment Systems and Decisions in 2019.

YI LIU / Business Administration was re-certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources by the Human Resource Certification Institute in 2018.

DAVID A. MACPHERSON / Economics published “Where Does the Minimum Wage Bite the Hardest in California?” in the Journal of Labor Research, 2019, Vol. 40, Issue 1. With colleagues, he published “The Importance of Wage Growth Assumptions in Calculating Economic Damages” in the Journal of Forensic Economics, 2018, Vol. 27, Issue 2 and “Nonprofit Wages: SARAH BETH KAUFMAN / Sociology Theory and Evidence” in the Handbook and Anthropology and H. Niner ’17 of Research on Nonprofit Economics and published “Muslim Victimization in Management in 2018. Macpherson also the Contemporary US: Clarifying co-contributed “Who’s Affected by a the Racialization Thesis” in Critical $15 Minimum Wage?” to Fighting for Criminology in 2019. $15? An Evaluation of the Evidence and a Case for Caution with the EmployPATRICK KEATING / Communication ment Policies Institute in 2019. He published The Dynamic Frame: Camera co-published Union Membership and Movement in Classical Hollywood with Earnings Data Book: Complications from Columbia University Press. He also the Current Population Survey with the presented “Close Analysis through Bureau of National Affairs in 2019.

Audiovisual Criticism: A Workshop” at the University of Pennsylvania in SHANA MCDERMOTT / Economics Philadelphia in September 2018. co-published “Health Impacts of Invasive Species Through an Altered JARED KOREFF / Accounting preNatural Environment: Assessing Air sented “The Impact of Data Analytics Pollution Sinks as a Causal Pathway” on Auditors’ Judgments and Decisions” in Environmental and Resource Ecofor the American Accounting nomics, 2018, Vol. 71, Issue 1.

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MELISSA MCMULLEN / Communication published “Seeing history: a visual assessment of the historic-grounding of Old Western tourist towns” in the Journal of Heritage Tourism, 2018, Vol.13, Issue 5 and “‘Pinning’ tourist photographs: Analyzing the photographs shared on Pinterest of heritage tourist destinations” in Current Issues in Tourism in 2019. She also published “Cross-Cultural Design: Identifying Cultural Markers of Printed Graphic Design from Germany and South Korea” in The International Journal of Visual Design, 2019, Vol. 13, Issue 2.

ALFRED MONTOYA / Sociology and Anthropology published “The Force of Absent Things: HIV/AIDS, PEPFAR Vietnam, and the Afterlife of Aid” and co-published “Introduction: Networked Human, Network’s Human: Humans and Networks in Inter-Asian Contexts” in East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal, 2018, Vol. 12, Issue 4. He also published “SA Climate Ready: A Pathway for Climate Action & Adaptation” in Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research in 2019. Montoya co-contributed “Death in Life and Life in Death: Forms and Fates of the Human” to Digital Existence: Ontology, Ethics and Transcendence in Digital Culture with Routledge in 2018.

DOMINIC G. MORAIS / Business Administration published “Doing History in the Undergraduate Classroom: Project-Based Learning and Student Benefits” in The History Teacher, 2018, Vol. 52, Issue 1. He co-published “Legitimacy in public recreation: examining rhetorical shifts in institutional creation and maintenance” in Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics in 2019.

KATSUO A. NISHIKAWA CHÁVEZ / Political Science presented an evaluation of voting opportunities for the 44

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Mexican presidential election for Mexican citizens living in the U.S. at the National Electoral Institute in Mexico City, Mexico, in 2018.

PATRICIA NORMAN / Education , Rocío Delgado / Education, and colleagues contributed “Taking the mentoring of new teacher educators seriously: Lessons from a clinically-intensive teacher preparation program” to Preparing the Next Generation of Teacher Educators for Clinically-Intensive Teacher Preparation with Information Age Publishing in 2019. Norman co-presented “From intentional to transformational learning: School visit to Lamar Elementary” at the pre-conference for School Reform Initiative’s annual fall meeting in San Antonio in November 2018. Norman and Andrea Lucas ’02, M’03 presented “Structuring field-based methods courses to benefit elementary students, teachers and teacher candidates” at the annual conference of the National Association of Professional Development Schools in Atlanta, Ga., in February 2019. At this same conference, Norman co-presented “Engaging families to create equitable policies and practices.”

MAURO OLIVEIRA / Finance and Decision Sciences presented “Effects of Customer Horizontal Merger on Supplier Capital Structure Decisions” at the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., in October 2018.

ORHAN OZBEK / Business Administration presented “The Effect of CEO Hubris on Greenfield Investment Decisions: A Theoretical Analysis, including Contingency Effects of CEO Duality and Environmental Uncertainty” at the annual meeting of Contemporary Issues in International Business in Reading, United Kingdom, in April 2019.

MARIA PIA PAGANELLI / Economics was invited to publish “Adam Smith’s Answer to Arthur Lewis” in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 2019, Vol. 37A. She was also invited to contribute “De la monnaie: Ferdinando Galiani et Adam Smith” to Ferdinando Galiani, economie at politique with Classiques Garnier in 2018. Panagelli copublished “Adam Smith Anti-Stoic” in the History of European Ideas, 2019, Vol. 45, Issue 4; “The Vigorous and Doux Soldier: David Hume’s Military Defence of Commerce” in the History of European Ideas, 2018, Vol. 44, Issue 8; and “Do Not Take Peace for Granted: Adam Smith’s Warning on the Relation between Commerce and War” in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2019, Vol. 43, Issue 3. She was an associate editor for the Southern Economic Journal and an editorial board member for the review of the History of Economic Theory and Methodology and for the History of Political Economy. She was also a book review editor for the Journal of the History of Economic Thought. Paganelli was invited to present the keynote “Crime and Punishment: Adam Smith’s Theory of Sentiments” at Creighton’s Humanomics Colloquium in Omaha, Neb., in 2019. She also presented “Crime and Punishment: Adam Smith’s Theory of Sentiments” for the European History of Economics Society in Lille, France, in May 2019 and at the International Adam Smith Society Southern California Conference in Orange, Calif., in January 2019. Paganelli was invited to give seven presentations around the world in 2018 and 2019.

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Jennifer Henderson (left) works with an undergraduate student on a research project.

COGNITION, COOPERATION, COORDINATION Communication professor teaches Lennox Seminar on collective intelligence

by Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08

On the surface, the physicists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and a group of 15 liberal arts undergraduates in a seminar might not have much in common. But beyond the collision of microparticles is the synergistic collision of ideas from different disciplines, backgrounds, and areas of study. This is core to the practice both of these teams share: learning and leading through collective intelligence.

“Special Topics on Collective Intelligence” was taught in spring 2019 by communication professor Jennifer Henderson, Ph.D., though she would be quick to say she wasn’t the course’s leader. One of the key tenets of collective intelligence as a practice is to share equal leadership across participants through active cognition, cooperation, and coordination.

“At its most basic level, the idea of collective intelligence is that groups comprised of diverse backgrounds and skills can find more creative solutions to complex problems than an individual expert tasked with the same problem,” Henderson says. She adds that Trinity, as a liberal arts institution, is “the perfect laboratory for testing whether collective intelligence can move us beyond current economic, institutional, and social barriers of problem solving.”

Henderson guided the students toward a problem to solve, and the class—comprised of biology, urban studies, psychology, philosophy, marketing, English, and communication majors—chose a timely one: comprehensive immigration reform. The students were charged with collecting and organizing information, developing two original surveys in multiple languages, and writing and naming the proposed legislation.

“The students, not surprisingly, were amazing participants and up to the challenge of tackling this ambitious project,” Henderson says. “They are curious by nature and eager to learn about many topics and from multiple perspectives.”

For the final project, the class worked with students at Sorbonne University in Paris, conducting two original surveys on perceptions of immigration reform. They also collectively wrote a white paper that was sent to staff members of U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The seminar was part of Trinity’s Lennox Seminar Series that brings speakers to a class on campus to teach, interact, and conduct a public lecture. Five guest speakers from across the world, including Trinity alumnus Daren Brabham ’04, joined the class to help the students understand collective intelligence through different lenses.

Additionally, through Trinity’s Collaborative for Learning and Teaching, Henderson received a grant to redesign her syllabus for this special topic.

Download the whitepaper “Recommendations for Comprehensive Immigration Reform in the United States” from Trinity University’s Digital Commons at gotu.us/collectiveintelligence.

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Patrick Shay ’03, M’05 talks with students about their consulting projects.

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CONSULTING WITH A PURPOSE HCAD students take on community projects with practical impact

by Jeremy Gerlach

This year, 22 students in Trinity’s Health Care Administration program have launched 13 consulting projects for community partners across the state of Texas.

These diverse projects, according to HCAD professor Patrick Shay, ’03, M’05, Ph.D., serve as an invaluable experiential tool for the students involved, while also making a meaningful impact on the populations served by the work itself. These projects range from patient experience journey mapping at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, to assessing and strategically addressing community health needs for underserved communities in Houston for Lone Star Circle of Care.

“It’s important for Trinity’s graduate students to be involved in these projects because they serve as a meaningful bridge between the academic setting and the field of practice,” Shay says. “We also recognize that the work students produce through these projects are of benefit to their ‘clients,’ with participating health care organizations often incorporating students’ analyses, proposals, and recommendations into the work that they do each day in serving their respective communities.”

Elizabeth Adsit ’20, an HCAD student from Houston, is currently working on the Texas Scottish Rite project. The project aims to examine how easily and efficiently patients of the pediatric and orthopaedic hospital are able to park, use the facilities,

receive care, and more, all considering factors such as time cost and logistics.

Hopefully, Adsit says, the project will increase patient satisfaction.

“The work is hard, and some nights we’re up as late as 2 a.m.,” says Adsit, who will be stepping into an administrative residency at Scottish Rite next year. “But it’s worth it when you consider that some of our research may be implemented, which will make a difference not just for my job in the future, but for the community as well.”

Adsit says Trinity faculty are instrumental in supporting these types of consulting projects. “We’ve had Dr. Edward Schumacher helping with data, Dr. Patrick Shay assisting us with the writing and organization, and Dr. Seongwon Choi has been researching more about Scottish Rite so we know more about the client itself. Having a faculty like this makes a big difference.”

Shay says faculty members also play an invaluable role in encouraging student autonomy: “Student teams are encouraged to not fear failure in their ‘live’ work with organizations, but to instead seize the opportunity to connect the classroom to the field, synthesizing and applying key concepts they’ve learned during their graduate education while challenging themselves to grow and develop through experiential learning in ways that invaluably prepare them for their administrative residencies and future careers as health care leaders.”

SARAH RAMOS / Education was elected as a delegate for College Board’s CSS/Financial Assistance Assembly Council in 2018. The group provides the College Board with guidance on policies, practices, and standards concerning the economic aspects of college attendance.

RICHARD J. SALVUCCI / Economics published “Sobre Antonio Ibarra, Mercado e institución: corporaciones comerciales, redes de negocios y crisis colonial. Guadalajara en el siglo XVIII” in Historia Mexicana, 2019, Vol. 68, Issue 3.

ROBERT F. SCHERER / School of Business co-edited the special issue “Millenials in and out of the Workplace” for the Journal of Social Psychology. He co-published “Millennial Research on Fleek: Suggestions for Improving Generational Research Design” in The Journal of Social Psychology, 2019, Vol. 159, Issue 2, and “A Systematic Review of AACSB International Accreditation Quality and Value Research” in the Journal of Economic and Administration Sciences, 2019. In 2018, Scherer was appointed to a threeyear term on the Initial Accreditation Committee of AACSB International, which helps ensure accreditation is facilitated in a consistent, equitable, and timely manner across institutions.

The SCHOOL OF BUSINESS received a $25,000 grant from the Valero Foundation to support the Business Analytics and Technology program in July 2018. The grant supports faculty and student development and lab equipment.

PATRICK SHAY ’03, M’05 / Health Care Administration published “The critical role of hospitalists for successful hospital-SNF integration” in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2019, Vol. 14, Issue 3.

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SUSSAN SIAVOSHI / Political Science was awarded the Houshang Pourshariati Iranian Studies Book Award from the Middle East Studies Association, which recognizes outstanding publishing in Iranian studies, for Montazeri: The Life and Thought of Iran’s Revolutionary Ayatollah in 2018.

HEATHER HAYNES SMITH ’97, M’98 / Education , Courtney Crim ’93, M’94 / Education, and S. Bos ’13, M’14 published “Educator perceptions of a school-wide writing intervention implementation: Implications for practice” in Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 2019, Vol. 63, Issue 1. Smith, A. Sanchez M’17, and colleagues published “Using Learning Express-Ways in Special Education Teacher Preparation: Developing Student-Faculty Relationships as a Path to Partnership” in The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 2018, Vol. 7, Issue 3. Smith also co-published “Response to intervention and the impact on eligibility for special education services in Texas” in Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly: Special Issue on Special Education in 2018. She contributed “Service-learning field experience with students with exceptionalities: A commitment to inclusion in general education teacher preparation” to the Handbook of Research on Service-learning Initiatives in Teacher Education Programs with IGI Global in 2018. Smith along with C. Wills ’18, J. Hernandez*, M. Carolin*, and Y. Peña ’18, M’19 presented “A tale of two studies: Addressing social emotional learning” at the International Council for Learning Disabilities Conference in Portland, Ore., in October 2018. She was also elected secretary of the Council for Learning Disabilities, where she is also an executive committee member. Smith was recognized as a United Way Volunteer of the Year Higher Education 48

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Impact Award Nominee in 2019, and she was invited to be a member of the United Way of San Antonio Successful Students Impact Council.

DAVID SPENER / Sociology and Anthropology published Canto unido: Los tiempos y las canciones de Violeta Parra, Woody Guthrie, Víctor Jara y Phil Ochs (United in Song: The Times and the Songs of Violeta Parra, Woody Guthrie, Víctor Jara, and Phil Ochs) with Ediciones Radio Universidad de Chile in 2019. He presented his work of musical history, “Canto unido, un encuentro americano (United in Song, an American Encounter)” with a cast of Chilean singers at a recital in Santiago, Chile.

AMY STONE / Sociology and Anthropology published “Frame Variation in Child Protectionist Claims: Constructions of Gay Men and Transgender Women as Strangers” in Social Forces, 2019, Vol. 97, Issue 3.

JOSEPH E. STOVER / Finance and Decision Sciences presented “Why do some companies leave? Evidence on the factors that drive inversions,” at the Annual Meeting of the Financial Management Association in San Diego in October 2018.

E. DANTE SUÁREZ / Finance and Decision Sciences presented “Modeling evolving Agency in a social context” at the Complexity and Policy Studies conference in Washington, D.C., in April 2019.

JACOB K. TINGLE ’95 / Business Administration co-published “NIRSA championship series volunteerism: The perceived impact of professional development” in Recreational Sports Journal, 2018, Vol. 42, Issue 1. He presented “Strategies for effective recruitment and retention of referees,” at the Applied Sport Management Association National Confer-

ence, Nashville, Tenn., in February 2019. Tingle co-presented “Sailing uncharted waters: Establishing a new experiential learning center” at the National Society for Experiential Education Annual Conference in Savannah, Ga., in September 2018.

With colleagues Jamie Thompson ’05 / Student Involvement, Twyla Hough / Career Services, and Rachel Boaz Toppel ’10 / Residential Life , he presented “Mentorship as the nexus of transactional & transformational learning” at the Association of Leadership Educators National Conference in Chicago, Ill., in July 2018. He was appointed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Certification Advisory Council, a group that maintains the integrity of postsecondary degree programs across the state, in 2018.

UPWARD BOUND was recognized in 2018 as an Example of Excelencia in Education, a national effort to recognize programs that use evidence-based practices to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.

DELI YANG / School of Business published “Patent Litigation Strategy and its effect on the Firm” in the International Journal of Management Reviews, 2019, Vol. 21, Issue 4.

DIANA K. YOUNG / Finance and Decision Sciences co-published “Refining Technology Threat Avoidance Theory” in Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2019, Vol. 44.

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Communication professor Sarah Erickson guides small group discussions during a class.

BINGE-WORTHY RESEARCH Communication professor Sarah Erickson studies the effects of binge-watching

by Danyal Tahseen ‘19

Have you ever heard the adage that the more time you spend with someone, the more you like them? Did you think this could be true for your favorite TV characters, too?

Communication professor Sarah Erickson, Ph.D., focuses part of her research on binge watching. In a recent study, she found that binge-viewing makes it easier for viewers to bond with the people on the screen and to transport themselves into that fictional world, compared to watching the same show with breaks in between episodes. This study could have important implications on the lasting effects of media on viewers and is particularly relevant given today’s growing culture of binge-viewing with the popularity and convenience of streaming services.

Erickson, who recently received the Mark Foote Distinguished Dissertation Award, shared more about her research.

Why is it important to study this in today’s media age?

We are seeing more and more people “cut the cord” and move away from traditional modes of media engagement (watching live television, going to movie theaters, etc.). As this shift in how we engage with media changes, there are implications for whether and how much the media content affects us as viewers. We know engagement is associated with stronger evidence of media effects. So, if I am more engaged when binge-watching a show, it might follow that the effects of that program on me might be stronger.

How would you describe your findings to those watching from the couch?

Basically, binge watching is an increasingly common practice. I do it, my students do it, my friends and colleagues do it. When we binge watch, our experiment suggests, we are more involved in and engaged with the story and characters we are watching. This might explain why we sometimes binge watch shows that we would otherwise skip if we watched them on a regular weekly schedule.

Importantly, being more engaged with media content is known to be related to increased media effects, and our study suggests that binge-watching might increase engagement and thus effects. For example, if I watch The Bachelor on a weekly basis, I am exposed to many messages about romance, love, gender, and sex, some of which might stick with me over time.

Based on our findings, if I were to watch The Bachelor as a binge, the likelihood that those messages would influence me would be greater.

Given your findings on binge-watching and its ability to engage audiences more deeply, do you foresee other media outlets besides Netflix starting to abandon the “weekly episode” format?

I think we are already seeing this, certainly with other streaming services like Amazon and Hulu but also in traditional broadcast and cable television. Over the past several years, we have seen more and more examples of high-profile mini-series or limited series (like American Crime Story, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Fosse/Verdon). I am not an expert in this area but as an avid media viewer, it seems like writers are increasingly writing extended narratives that are enhanced by binge-watching rather than weekly stand-alone episodes.

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An Exceptional Take on

LEARNING Education course dispels disability stigma through inclusion words by Robin J. Johnson photos by Laura Kaples

I

ndividuals with disabilities are often stigmatized and marginalized. One Trinity course strives to change these mindsets by preparing future teachers to focus on inclusion.

Taught by education professor Heather Haynes Smith ’97, M’98, Ph.D., “Understanding Learners with Exceptionalities in School and Society” is not like the typical introduction to special education course. The first indication is in the title: Smith prefers the term “exceptionality” to “disability” to account for all students who may struggle with learning, including students at risk for difficulty in school, those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and gifted and talented students.

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“The course challenged us to think in a different way than what we have thought and been taught our whole lives about students and their abilities,” says Madison Carolin ’20, a psychology major who intends to pursue the Master of Arts in Teaching at Trinity with a supplemental certificate in special education. “Society uses labels that can be very stigmatizing.

The course is an introduction to the complexity, which is often just boiled down to two words—special education—which is another label that can be limiting to students and their abilities.”

The curriculum, Smith explains, focuses on inclusion, a term that has evolved over time. In the United States, the Individuals

“The course challenged us to think in a different way than what we have thought and been taught our whole lives about students and their abilities.”

Heather Haynes Smith ’97, M’98 with Sarah Thompson ’21 and Madison Carolin ’20

with Disabilities Education Improvement Act mandates inclusion in public schools, but the definition behind the term has gone through three different iterations.

The first generation of the term focused on an inclusive physical space—the learning environment— while the second iteration emphasized inclusive teaching practices.

Now, inclusive practices hone in on both instructional methods and curriculum mastery. Smith adopts this definition into her course.

“Most introductory courses in special education use a textbook and cover a different disability every week,” says Smith, who has taught the course in some form for the past 10 years. “With that approach I wasn’t seeing deeper learning, but rather silos of information and superficial knowledge. I began refining the view of disability categories in a way that focused on strengths, characteristics, and instructional

accommodations and modifications, which helps students in the course recognize equity issues and frame their learning and goals around social justice.”

In addition to implementing an instructor-focused curriculum, Smith requires students to establish their own learning goals and accomplish them by partnering with a local organization. This service-learning aspect of the course, Smith explains, allows students to form a personal connection to what they’re learning.

“This course reflects the reality that people with disabilities are marginalized in all spaces, not just schools,” she says. “It is my hope that the learning in this course stays with my students in whatever their future careers are.”

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Trinity University Press was awarded a grant to distribute 1,000 copies of the Arte Kids bilingual book series to economically challenged youth in the Laredo area.

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STAFF Staff at Trinity University are lifelong learners whose talents grow the University as an exceptional place to study and work. They contribute diverse backgrounds and perspectives to the culture of the University, serving as leaders, mentors, and role models for the campus community. Staff create new and innovative advances in higher education, propelling the education of the whole student forward.

SETH ASBURY / Athletics was awarded a certificate of completion from the Sports Management Institute, an academic graduate-level business program for athletic administrators, in 2018.

JEANNA GOODRICH BALREIRA ’08 / Strategic Communications and Marketing presented “Implementing a Diversity and Inclusion Style Guide at your Institution” at the Higher Ed Content Conference in April 2019. She was invited to present on the panel “Why Open Source and Cloud Earns an ‘A’ for Digital Excellence” at Acquia Engage in Austin, Texas, in November 2018.

MOLLY MOHR BRUNI / Strategic Communications and Marketing was elected to the San Antonio Choral Society Board of Directors as its marketing director in November 2018.

VEE DUBOSE / Strategic Communications and Marketing w as awarded three American InHouse Design awards from Graphic Design USA, all in 2018: the Ash Carter poster design for the Flora Cameron Lecture Series; the logo design for the Pollinator Education, Action, and Sustainability program; and the “13 in CAT Years” Cat Alliance t-shirt design.

STEPHANIE ENOCH / Strategic Communications and Marketing presented “We Are the Champions!” at DrupalCon Seattle in April 2019.

NICOLE FRATTO ’13 / Admissions co-presented “From Challenge to Balance: Creating Volunteer Engagement to Benefit Alumni & Parent Communities as well as the Institution” at the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Salt Lake City in September 2018.

KINDEL HOLLIS ’07 / Admissions co-presented “Around the World in 60 Minutes: Expert Updates on Recruitment, Enrollment and Mobility Trends” at the Council of International Schools Global Forum on International Admission & Guidance in November 2018. She also presented “Uncertain Times: Sustainable Recruitment and Enrollment Models for International Students” at the National Association for College Admission Counseling conference in September 2018.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES was recognized as an honorable mention winner in Digital Defense, Inc.’s Client Recognition Award program in 2018. They are one of 48 out of more than 1,600 clients that won the award. The DDI Client Recognition Award program recognizes organizations that display the

bolded Trinity faculty, staff, students, or alumni *Trinity undergraduate researchers

highest level of network security based on their Frontline.Cloud vulnerability and remediation data.

LISA JASINSKI / Academic Affairs presented “Theorizing the Process of Returning to the Faculty After Senior Academic Leadership” for the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Tampa, Fla., in November 2018. She also delivered a TED talk-style presentation on “Adding Value: How Senior Leaders Who Return to the Faculty Can Support Institutional Goals” for a HEDS Up Session at the AAC&U Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Ga., in January 2019. Jasinski and Deneese Jones / Academic Affairs presented “Shifting the Culture: Addressing Implicit Bias in the Academy” for the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education in Philadelphia in March 2019. Jasinski gave the invited session “Measuring Impact: Demonstrating the Value of Purpose and Vocational Initiatives” for the Network for Purpose and Vocational Initiatives at the Council of Independent Colleges Annual Meeting in Louisville, Ky., in March 2019.

She also presented “Going Back?: Competing Paradigms of Returning to the Faculty After Senior Academic Leadership” at the American Educational Research Association in Toronto in April 2019.

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ADAM MCGUIRE / Athletics received the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, a program that supports the professional development of minority coaches.

JOHN ORANGE / Advancement Services along with Selim Sharif / Alumni Relations and Cynthia Uviedo ’93 / Annual Giving published “Using RFM segmentation to support alumni reunion fundraising” in the Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing, 2019, Vol. 3, Issue 4.

Alli Roman accepts the Equity & Social Justice award from NCORE.

AN AGENT FOR CHANGE Alli Roman recognized for her work in the field of social justice and equity

by Margaret Miller

Alli Roman, Trinity’s inaugural director for Diversity and Inclusion, was recognized by the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) with the Equity & Social Justice Award for her outstanding contributions as a change agent in the NCORE community. Roman was nominated for the award by peers and colleagues from around the country.

Since joining the Trinity staff in 2018, Roman has launched several programming initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion that have provided ways for the Trinity community to think differently about these issues: PRAXIS, a professional development series for faculty and staff members seeking to become “social justice allies” on campus; the Solidarity Summit, an annual conference in which students facilitate workshops on specialized social justice topics; and the Social Justice Peer Education Program, a leadership program that provides undergraduate students with ongoing training and leadership development regarding issues of social justice and equity.

Throughout her time at Trinity, Roman has also concentrated on creating spaces where students from underrepresented and historically marginalized backgrounds can connect with each other and build community.

“As a first-generation college graduate, a daughter of working-class immigrants, and a Black Latina woman, receiving this award means the world to me,” Roman says. “To be seen and honored by those I have so much respect for serves as a reminder of the work I have done and the work I want to continue to do.”

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TOM PAYTON / Trinity University Press was elected to the Board of Directors for the Publishers Association of the West in 2018.

THE TRINITY UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT achieved accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) in 2019. The department was recognized for this accreditation in the House and Senate Gallery in 2019.

TRINITY UNIVERSITY PRESS was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation to distribute 1,000 copies of the Arte Kids bilingual book series to economically challenged youth in the Laredo area.

RICHARD H. REAMS / Counseling Services led a seminar on “Clinical and Ethical Foundations of Psychological Practice with Adolescent and Adult Transgender Clients” for the Bexar County Psychological Association in May 2019.

FRED RODRIGUEZ / Registrar received the Leadership and Commitment Award from the Moody Foundation Scholar Selection Committee in 2018.

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ALLI ROMAN / Diversity and Inclusion received the Equity & Social Justice Award from the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) for her outstanding contributions as a change agent in the NCORE community.

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING w as recognized as a finalist for the American Marketing Association Higher Education Marketing Team of the Year in 2018.

PEGGY SUNDERMEYER / Academic Affairs presented “Integration of Undergraduate Research and International Experiences to Universities’ Missions” at the International Network of Research Management Societies in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 2018.

The WRITING CENTER earned Level One Certification by the College Reading and Learning Association for its peer tutor program. The CRLA helps ensure that university tutoring programs adhere to the best practices, as established by the profession, by providing an internationally recognized set of criteria for tutor training.

Adam McGuire coaches at a Minnesota Vikings practice.

A TEACHER OF THE GAME Assistant football coach learns from NFL Vikings in prestigious fellowship

by Robin J. Johnson

Summer football training for Texas coaches usually isn’t met with cold mornings or cool breezes. But for Trinity assistant football coach Adam McGuire, it was this summer.

McGuire was one of three college coaches awarded the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, which is designed for the professional development of minority coaches. The prestigious fellowship allowed McGuire, Trinity’s defensive backs and special teams coach, to work directly alongside the National Football League Vikings’ coaching staff in Minnesota, including Trinity alumnus Adam Zimmer ’06, the Vikings’ linebackers coach.

“It was an experience that I could have never dreamed up for myself,” says McGuire, who obtained the fellowship with the help of head coach Jerheme Urban ’03. “One of my off-season goals was to get an internship in the NFL, but once it happened—whoa. I was able to learn from some of the best teachers in the profession, both on offense and defense.”

During his five weeks in the fellowship, spaced out over the months of June-August, McGuire first learned the operational aspects of the Vikings’ organization before working to build relationships within the organization with coaches and staff. In his final three weeks of the program, McGuire worked directly with full-time Vikings’ coaches, which included learning the team’s strategies of game planning, film evaluations, and scouting opponents.

“I got to learn a lot about the game, which has helped me better understand the big picture of how it all works together, but I also learned so much more about life,” McGuire says. “Some of the coaches were straight to the point, and others explained the why and how behind everything. It made me start to think deeper as to why I like to teach what I teach, but more importantly, how to teach it.”

McGuire adds, “The better I am as a teacher of the game of football and life, the better our players will be, and the stronger our program will become.”

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Works / STAFF

The Trinity University Police Department poses outside of Northrup Hall after receiving prestigious IACLEA accreditation.

BIG RECOGNITION FOR A BIG FORCE

TUPD is honored with IACLEA accreditation

by Abby DeNike ’20

In 2019, the Trinity University Police Department (TUPD) achieved accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). TUPD is one of only 65 departments that have received this honor out of 1,200 member agencies of IACLEA. To achieve this status, TUPD met 210 standards of professional practices in university police departments in a variety of administrative and operational areas, including patrol, organization, and crime prevention and investigation. Accreditation affirms TUPD as an exemplary campus public safety agency.

Chief Paul J. Chapa explains, “In my 28-year journey in higher ed policing, this is definitely a milestone in my career. I am so proud of each and every member of our department and their commitment to our motto: Proactive, Progressive, Professional.”

TUPD was recognized for its IACLEA accreditation in the House and Senate Gallery in May 2019.

The IACLEA accreditation came after the agency’s 2014 accreditation by the Texas Police Chiefs Association (TPCA). TUPD was the first private university police department to achieve this recognition. They were reaccredited in 2018 with TPCA.

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Chief Paul Chapa and Lieutenant John Rowse visited the State Capitol to receive the TUPD recognition. They are pictured above with Texas Sen. Pete Flores, and below with Flores and Texas Sen. José Menéndez.

DIALOGUE with DR. DEE A Note from the Vice President for Academic Affairs

While reading this issue of IMPACT, I experienced both excitement and awe! The excitement was present because it is thrilling to see how the work of our faculty and staff colleagues has the potential to transform academic disciplines, to create unique learning experiences for the students we serve, and to usher in lasting changes in the world around us. The awe is present because my academic colleagues continue to demonstrate a priority to be top scholars while serving as dedicated educators, mentors, and University citizens.

Wow! Trinity is certainly a place where people seem to do it all and do it well. I am so grateful to serve at such a place.

At Trinity, creativity and innovation take on many different forms, whether in a laboratory, on a stage, or even off-campus at a museum.

Chemistry professor Christina Cooley and her students are pioneering new advances in light and protein research, changing how medical drugs improve health. Across campus, music professor Brian Bondari composed Symphony No. 2—Trinity, an original symphony dedicated to the University’s 150th Anniversary. Music professor Joseph Kneer directed the piece, brought to life entirely by Trinity student musicians. This fall, incorporating artifacts from the museum itself, art and art history professor Yinshi Lerman-Tan taught students at the San Antonio Museum of Art as part of

an inaugural postdoctoral fellowship between Trinity and SAMA. In all of these cases, our faculty consistently use innovative approaches to design hands-on learning experiences that enable students to stretch and thrive at Trinity and beyond.

Our faculty’s shared commitment to innovation and creative problem-solving makes this an exhilarating time to be at Trinity. And while faculty members hold the same underlying values to challenge and scaffold students, they further enact and live these same values in a variety of ways and settings. Gaining a full appreciation for the multifaceted and action-oriented forms of teaching and learning at Trinity illustrates our growing respect for diverse perspectives and culturally responsive approaches—we recognize that learning takes many forms with multiple frames of reference, backgrounds, and experiences. We are becoming an even better institution as we celebrate, encourage, and learn to appreciate this diversity and its relevance for inclusion with equity.

In the year to come, I encourage students, staff, faculty, and alumni alike to continue to expand their spheres of influence. Challenge yourselves to learn from the diverse people and complex experiences that surround us, recognizing that your next big breakthrough might be sparked by a previously unexpected and unlikely inspiration.

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TRINITY UNIVERSITY JOINED IN THE NATIONWIDE CELEBRATION FOR FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS IN NOVEMBER 2019.

A panel of Trinity faculty and staff members spoke to first-generation students about the challenges they faced and opportunities they were presented as first-gen students themselves.

The University cares deeply about firstgeneration and students from low socioeconomic status—these are students the institution is committed to serving and supporting through initiatives such as: • Aspire Scholars mentorship program • Diversity and Inclusion Office (DIO) pop‑up shops • Judd Emergency Fund for non-academic needs • Study Abroad grants for high-need students • Early-start, early-finish Summer Bridge FirstYear Experience • Summer research and internship placements and stipends Because the needs of students from underserved populations don’t stop at admissions or their first financial aid package, Trinity is committed to guiding and supporting them throughout their four years with programs, services, and mentorship opportunities.

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First-generation students are important because all families have had a first person to attend and graduate from college.

This achievement changes the lifetime trajectory not only of the individual but of the entire family. – Oscar JimÊnez-Castellanos murchison endowed professor of education and executive director for the center for educational leadership

One Trinity Place San Antonio, Texas 78212-7200 Change service requested.

We welcome the chance to be able to meet each student’s needs more completely to ensure their success at Trinity and in their professional lives as alumni. – Betty Curry, Director for Academic Support