Thriving community partnerships shape Trinity and the place it calls home
From the ‘50s to the early ‘70s, Trinity University was known as the “University in the Sun.”
The concept was the brainchild of then-Public Relations Chief Leon “Tex” Taylor, who felt the logo and brand should reflect the vitality and rigor associated with Trinity’s emerging skyline campus in sunny San Antonio. Campus today is just as sunny and filled with intellectual curiosity as it was back then.
Dear Trinity Community,
When was the last time you came to campus? Some of you might be reading this magazine on or near campus right now, while some of you might not have been back since you graduated. If you visit this year, as I hope many of you will, you will see our majestic live oak trees forming canopies over the walkways between our beautiful, mid-century modern buildings.
You will also see construction. While the restored, reimagined Coates Esplanade opened in the spring, we still have two major projects in the works: the wholly new Welcome Center and Event Hall and the significantly renovated Holt Center. Both should open in time for the fall semester of 2026.
They say construction on college campuses is a good sign, signaling growth, stability, and investment in the future. But construction is not the only way to show where we are headed. Several of the stories in this magazine demonstrate how members of the Trinity community are actively engaging with the place where we live and the people who live here, too. Motivated by the paradox that our future as a national liberal arts university will be fueled by our deep roots in Texas, members of our community are increasingly playing an important role in San Antonio and the surrounding region. Learning, research, and service in our hometown have their own history and legacy, of course, as well as the promise of an impactful future.
At the end of the day, how we build community at Trinity is about the intersection of people, places, and purpose. Wherever you are reading this, I am glad you are part of our community.
Warmly,
TRINITY Fall 2025
Editor Kennice Leisk ’22
Copy Editor
Molly Bruni
Magazine Staff
Gloriana Cardenas
Anh-Viet Dinh ’15
Tom Evelyn
Interns
Luke Banfield ’28
Odalys Caballero ’26
Layal Khalil ’27
Contributors
Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ’08
Kenneth Caruthers ’15
William Christ
Sabrina Cortez ’15
Althea Delwiche
Ryan Finnelly
Paul Hensley ’87
James Hill ’76
Reign Kingsberry
JJ Lopez
Tony Morano
Sarah Moser
Lucy Nabedrick ’28
Art Director
Laura Rodriguez
Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D. President, Trinity University
Jeremy Gerlach
Mason McLerran
Cal Siewert ’22
Fredric Marmolejo ’26
Eve Slemp ’27
Christian Naranjo
Justin Parker ’99
Joannah Pickett
Thomas Melina Raab ’26
Aimee Rowse
Abra Schnur
Carla Sierra
Blair Smith ’10
Terris Tiller ’00
Lexi Walper ’28
Amanda Wise ’06, M’08
Bria Woods ’16
Trinity is published by the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing and is sent to alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the University who remain engaged with Trinity.
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1 Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 marketing@trinity.edu | 210-999-8406 trinity.edu/trinity-magazine
President
Vanessa B. Beasley
Board of Trustees
Ruth K. Agather
Shari Becker Albright ’83, M’86
April Ancira ’02
Erin M. Baker ’99
Annell R. Bay ’77
Ted W. Beneski P’11, P’14
John Brozovich
Miles C. Cortez ’64
Sally Deitch M’03
Janet St. Clair Dicke ’68
Cydney C. Donnell
Marshall A. Hess ’88
Gen. James T. Hill (Ret.) ’68
Jelynne L. Jamison M’88
The Rev. Dr. Richard R. Kannwischer ’95
Christopher M. Kinsey ’79
John C. Korbell
Michael Lynd Jr. ’95
Steven P. Mach ’92
Melody B. Meyer ’79
Jeffrey Mueller ’00
Carey Ann O’Connor ‘93
William Scanlan Jr.
Thomas Schluter ’85
Pat Semmes
Nicholas A. Severino ’88
Darsh Preet Singh ’08
Jessica W. Thorne ’91
Scott W. Tinker ’82
John Tobola ’94
Paul Hensley ‘87
Trinity University Alumni
Association Board President
The Rev. Dr. James D. Freeman ‘83
Synod of the Sun Representative
In Fall 2018, I visited the Immersed: Local to Global Art Sensations exhibition at the McNay Art Museum for my FirstYear Experience course “Arts and Ideas.”
Dear reader,
Trinity University wasn’t really my first-choice college.
Having gone to elementary and middle school at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and high school at Incarnate Word, I wasn’t sure I wanted to attend college at a university that was just a short walk down the road from both of these schools. I thought I wanted to go far from Texas, experience new sights, and discover myself by being away from home. But then I really thought about what it would mean to leave my family, my friends, and the city that has felt like a warm hug all my life, and I realized I didn’t want to navigate my college journey without them. I decided to give Trinity a chance. And after touring the University’s lush campus, experiencing its tight-knit community, and discovering its unique hands-on learning opportunities, I knew it was the place for me.
During college, my friends and I loved venturing to Brackenridge Park to unwind in nature and see all the cute ducks.
As a student, I thought that Trinity’s campus felt both like an insulated new world far from home and a prime location to explore more of the city I’d lived in my entire life. In fact, during my time at Trinity, I experienced more of San Antonio than I ever had before. From day trips to museums downtown and sweaty afternoons at parks near campus to late-night taco runs, San Antonio shaped me just as much as Trinity did.
And that’s exactly what the features in this issue demonstrate. Through the Plunge, the urban studies program, and the KRTU radio station, Trinity has interwoven itself with the fabric of the San Antonio community. These programs have touched the lives of San Antonio residents for years and counting. In turn, San Antonio, with its vibrant multiculturalism, storied history, and emergent urban environment, is impacting the students who participate in these programs. And former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg ’99, who has returned to campus to bring his experience in civic leadership into the Trinity classroom as the Calgaard Distinguished Professor of Practice, is a prime example of this reciprocal relationship between the city and Trinity. His journey reflects the theme at the very heart of this magazine issue—how Trinity and San Antonio continue to learn from and shape each other. Through its partnerships with San Antonio, Trinity is producing graduates who are fortified by different perspectives and real-world experiences, who are empathetic leaders, ready to succeed not just in their careers but also as citizens of our world.
I hope that when you read this issue, you can reflect on the connections you made with San Antonio during your time at Trinity and contemplate how they helped shape you into who you are today.
Sincerely,
Kennice Leisk ’22 Editor, Trinity Magazine
This summer, Tigers in the faculty-led Trinity Madrid Summer Program explored Toledo, Spain, where they toured the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz (pictured) and other historical sites, ate delicious regional foods, and enjoyed free time for shopping and leisure.
For four weeks, students in this program immersed themselves in Spanish culture by taking a Spanish language course while living with local families and going on overnight excursions and day trips.
photo by Sabrina Cortez ’15
Students dive into hands-on research that fuels lifelong passions
by Jeremy Gerlach
Summer 2025 marked one of the biggest summers for undergraduate research and internships at Trinity University. During this period, a cohort of 254 Tigers, the largest in University history, engaged in hands-on discovery and growth. And the nation took note—Trinity ranked No. 30 in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects by U.S. News and World Report in its 2026 rankings, tied with Vanderbilt.
Powered by the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, students spent 10 weeks diving into research, supported by dedicated faculty mentors, a $5,000 stipend, free housing, and funding for travel and supplies to present at national conferences.
For students like Filippo Gambacorta ’26, a neuroscience major from Switzerland, the impact of research is profound. “The beautiful thing about Trinity is that our research facilities are out of this world,” says Gambacorta, who hopes to earn a Ph.D. after graduation. “This experience has been life-changing.”
Notably, 22% of summer research funding comes from philanthropy, underscoring the generosity of donors who believe in student discovery.
And this impact is immediate, as Trinity students don’t have to wait until junior or senior year to pursue research. Many begin as sophomores (during their first summer as students) and get opportunities spanning subjects from STEM to business, social sciences, and the humanities. Many projects bridge multiple disciplines, reflecting Trinity’s spirit of interdisciplinary curiosity and innovation.
Whether in labs, archives, or the field, Tigers are tackling bold questions and contributing meaningful insights. Trinity’s investment in undergraduate research ensures students not only gain knowledge but also the confidence and experience to shape the future of their fields.
254 researchers
$5,000 stipend for all SURF researchers 22% of projects funded by philanthropy
Trinity Ranked No. 16 in the Nation for Health Care Management
USNWR ranking underscores HCAD’s commitment to excellence
Trinity University’s Health Care Administration (HCAD) program has been ranked No. 16 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) for the 2025 rankings in Health Care Management. Adding to this distinction, Money magazine has also recognized HCAD with a 5-star rating in its Best Graduate Schools in America category, further cementing its reputation for excellence in healthcare education. These achievements highlight the program’s unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation, and leadership in the field of health care.
University Extends Warm Welcomes Trinity taps experts for positions across campus
Dania Abreu-Torres, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities
Raquel Meyer Alexander, Ph.D.
Dean of the Michael Neidorff School of Business
Cydney Donnell
Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees
Nicola Martin
Interim Chief Human Resources Officer
Ron Nirenberg ‘99
Calgaard Distinguished Professor of Practice
Carey Ann O’Connor ’93
Board of Trustees Member
Mar-y-Sol Salinas-McCoy, Ph.D.
Senior Director for Academic Success
Aisha Woods, Psy.D.
Director of Counseling Services
Two students selected as 2025-26 Goldwater Scholars
Trinity chemistry major Marc Ewe ’26 (top) and biochemistry and molecular biology major Megan Tansiongco ’26 (bottom) have been selected as 2025-26 Goldwater Scholars. They competed against a pool of more than 1,300 STEM students nominated by 445 academic institutions to receive this prestigious scholarship. For their Goldwater Scholarships, Ewe will work with Chemistry Professor Adam Urbach, Ph.D., and Tansiongco will work with Chemistry Professor Christina Cooley, Ph.D., to conduct research throughout the academic year.
Six faculty-student pairs receive elite research funding
This spring, Trinity became one of only 14 schools in the nation to join the Beckman Scholars Program. Distributed by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, this award recognizes a select list of U.S. colleges and universities conducting research in chemistry and the life sciences. The honor includes funding to support six scholar-mentor research pairs, with two scholars named per year for the next three-year award term. This year’s scholar pairs are Julia Stall ’27 (top) with Neuroscience Professor Kah-Chung Leong, Ph.D., and Kathryn Wheeler ’26 (bottom) with Chemistry Professor Corina Maeder ’99, Ph.D.
A Business School on the Rise
Trinity’s NSB named a 2025 Undergraduate Business School to Watch by Poets&Quants
The University’s Michael Neidorff School of Business (NSB) has been named one of Poets&Quants’ 10 Undergraduate Business Schools to Watch in 2025. This recognition follows NSB’s debut on Poets&Quants’ national ranking, where it was named the No. 27 Best Undergraduate Business School in the nation for 2025. Poets&Quants highlighted the NSB’s distinctive blend of liberal arts and business education, strong emphasis on hands-on learning, and forward momentum under new Dean Raquel Meyer Alexander, Ph.D.
Trinity Named Best Value College by Princeton Review National recognition highlights Trinity’s strong ROI, affordability, and career outcomes
Trinity has once again been recognized as a Best Value College by The Princeton Review, this year earning a rising score of 92/99 for Return on Investment (ROI). Out of more than 650 colleges and universities surveyed for the 2025 list, Trinity is one of 209 institutions selected for earning the highest ROI ratings, based on more than 40 data points from 2024-25 surveys covering academics, affordability, and career preparation. Trinity also continues to hold its place among The Princeton Review’s Top 50 Best Value Colleges for private schools.
Seven graduating students reflect a bright future for Trinity’s partnership with SAISD
by Carla Sierra
In Fall 2021, Levolea Wallace ’25 (left) began her college journey at a campus not too far from her own backyard.
This San Antonio native found out about Trinity University from her high school through the then-new Trinity Community Investment (TCI) partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD).
The TCI program was created to open doors for high-achieving SAISD students by providing them with the enhanced financial and academic support needed to thrive at one of the nation’s top universities, right in their community.
Wallace knew Trinity was the college for her after hearing about the University’s robust financial aid support and receiving that support by winning a full-tuition Tower Scholarship.
From O-Rec trips and studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to de-stressing with her friends during fun events on campus, Wallace took advantage of all the resources and opportunities Trinity’s tightknit community presented to her over the past four years.
“Being in an environment that provides such refreshing energy is essential, especially during stressful college years,” Wallace says. “Trinity is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
This May, Wallace was one of seven students in the inaugural TCI cohort who walked the stage at graduation.
Since its launch in 2020, the momentum of the TCI partnership has only grown stronger: The program is now enrolling nearly 20 TCI students each year. As of this fall, more than 70 current Trinity students graduated from SAISD.
New 10-week internship connects students to faith-based leadership and service in San Antonio
This spring, the University’s Chapel and Spiritual Life Office received a $40,000 grant from the Council of Independent Colleges’ NetVUE program to pilot a new summer internship that cultivates student leadership through community engagement. The two-year grant, titled “Fostering Leadership in Communities of Faith,” will support four to five students each summer as they participate in the University’s newest initiative: the SPARK Internship Program. This summer’s SPARK interns were Esther Dodson ’28, Aseel Eltom ’28, Andrea Rodriguez ’27, and Julia Trevino ’28 (left to right).
Cultivating the Next Generation of Purpose-Driven Leaders
Trinity named among TIME’s Best Colleges for Future Leaders 2025
Trinity has been recognized by TIME magazine and Statista as one of the Best Colleges for Future Leaders 2025. The ranking spotlights universities that have produced high-achieving leaders in business, government, nonprofits, sports, technology, and more. Trinity’s inclusion underscores the University’s strong tradition of cultivating critical thinkers, innovative problem-solvers, and engaged citizens who make a meaningful impact on the world.
Trinity University, a Dream School Nationally known expert highlights Trinity in book aimed at helping students find “the college that’s right for you”
Trinity has been named one of America’s “Dream Schools” by Jeffrey Selingo, a nationally recognized higher education expert and New York Times bestselling author. His new book, Dream School, lists 75 colleges where students find not just strong academic outcomes but also a true sense of belonging and opportunity. Backed by national datasets and a survey of more than 3,000 families, Selingo highlights colleges and universities that deliver on outcomes after graduation, hands-on learning experiences, accessible admissions, and dynamic student experiences.
Committed to a Culture of Care
Trinity launches four-year JED Campus Journey to strengthen student well-being
This September, the University launched a new campus-wide partnership with The Jed Foundation’s JED Campus to guide the University’s work in elevating mental health awareness, help-seeking, policy, training, and student support over the next four years. The JED Campus initiative aligns directly with the Ready. Set. Rise. strategic plan, particularly through its priorities to strengthen student-focused education and reimagine spaces that promote connectedness, wellness, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging. The plan also calls for a coordinated vision for student health and wellness, work that JED helps structure and accelerate.
Trinity’s incoming class admitted with lowest acceptance rate in school’s history by Kennice
Leisk ’22
Trinity University’s Class of 2029 is its most selective class yet. These new first-years brought the University’s admission rate down to 25%, the lowest in the school’s history.
“This record-low acceptance rate reflects both the growing demand for a Trinity educational experience among talented high school students and an increasingly competitive applicant pool,” says Justin Doty, dean of Admissions.
Also a record high, 32% of students in the Class of 2029 applied Early Decision, naming Trinity as their first-choice college. In addition, about twothirds of Trinity’s 163 recruited student-athletes applied Early Decision. Tiger baseball player Asher Levy ’29 (left) is one of these students.
“I made the choice to apply Early Decision after visiting the campus,” Levy says. “After talking to Pitching Coach Dave Smith, seeing the amazing facilities, and meeting many nice people and professors, I knew it was the place I wanted to be.”
Levy plans to study business in Trinity’s AACSB-accredited and nationally ranked Michael Neidorff School of Business. He’s excited to intern with local businesses and conduct research.
25% admit rate (lowest in University history) 11,927 applications 601 enrolled students
Trinity University rose three spots to No. 37 among National Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) Best Colleges rankings released in September. Trinity debuted in the national category at No. 55 just three years ago and has quickly entered the top 40.
Trinity’s momentum, academic excellence, and value are reflected in other 2026 USNWR rankings across several categories. Trinity jumped 14 spots in the Most Innovative Schools list, ranking No. 16 among all liberal arts institutions, as voted on by peer presidents, provosts, and
admissions leaders. Long recognized for its commitment to undergraduate research, the University was named No. 30 in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects for all universities across the nation, with MIT, California Institute of Technology, and Harvard holding the top three spots. Trinity tied with Vanderbilt for its No. 30 spot. In the National Liberal Arts Colleges category, the University was also named No. 33 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, No. 51 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and No. 40 in Best Value Schools.
“These U.S. News rankings reflect the dedication and vision of the entire Trinity community,” says Trinity President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D. “Innovation in higher education is imperative, and it is a foundational aspect of the education we offer at Trinity, where our ‘liberal arts plus’ model invites our students into spaces for discovery and problem-solving that help prepare them for purposeful lives and impactful careers. Our continued rise in national rankings affirms our commitment to the powerful combination of adaptive, applied learning and critical thinking.”
Innovation shows up in Trinity’s classrooms, labs, and spaces across the skyline campus and around San Antonio. Whether it’s through undergraduate research, entrepreneurial ventures, or hands-on opportunities in Trinity’s Makerspace, students are empowered to bring ideas to life across disciplines.
The University’s rising rankings build on Trinity’s long-standing commitment to excellence and its vision for the future. Trinity’s trajectory as a national liberal arts college has been marked by steady progress fueled by investments in student success and an intentional focus on inclusion, affordability, and impact.
“Every day, we challenge our students with academic rigor while supporting them through personal mentorship,” says Megan Mustain, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “This combination equips our graduates not only for successful careers, but also for lives of purpose, confidence, and influence.”
With each step forward, Trinity demonstrates what a 21st-century liberal arts university can achieve. From innovation to teaching, from value to research, the University is writing a story of momentum, possibility, and impact that reaches far beyond San Antonio and Texas.
National Liberal Arts Colleges
U.S. News & World Report, 2026
America’s Top Colleges
Forbes, 2026
#19
Best Liberal Arts Colleges in America
Niche, 2026
#86
Best Colleges for Future Leaders
TIME Magazine, 2026
U.S. News & World Report, 2026
#30 Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects in the Nation
#16 Most Innovative Schools, National Liberal Arts Colleges
#33 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, National Liberal Arts Colleges
#51 Best Undergraduate Teaching, National Liberal Arts Colleges
#40 Best Value Schools, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Niche, 2026
A+ for Academics and Professors
#19 Best Small Colleges in America
#76 Best Colleges in America
#52 Top Private Universities in America
#1 Best Liberal Arts Colleges & Best Small Colleges in Texas
Forbes, 2026
#51 Private Colleges in the Nation
#19 in the South
The Princeton Review
Best 391 Colleges: 2026 Edition
Top Ranked
Best Value Colleges, Best Southwest, Colleges That Create Futures
#10 Best Science Lab Facilities in the Nation
#25 Best College Dorms in the Nation
#24 Best Health Services in the Nation
#46 Top 50 Best Value Colleges (Private Schools) in the Nation
Welcome Center and Event Hall will help new students to take their first steps and familiar faces to continue their journeys
In Fall 2026, two inviting new additions will open the doors to Trinity University’s campus.
Say hello to the Welcome Center and Event Hall.
Trinity’s campus, originally envisioned by historic architect O’Neil Ford to resemble a lowlying Italian village, has long emphasized pedestrian interaction and personal connection—but it lacked a true front entrance. The Welcome Center fills that gap, offering clarity for visitors while honoring the University’s rich architectural history and supporting a future of innovation.
This building will welcome visitors in a way that reflects the extraordinary experience Trinity University is about to offer them. Located at the new Beneski Parkway entrance off Hildebrand Avenue, the Welcome Center structure will serve as the
University’s official front door—a place inspired by access, new opportunities, and connection to both the past and future.
“One of the most powerful and memorable moments for prospective students and their families is their moment of arrival on a college campus,” says Trinity’s Dean of Admissions Justin Doty. “First impressions carry great significance, and we are thrilled that the new grand entrance from Beneski Parkway to the Welcome Center will serve as an iconic moment moving forward.”
Designed to enhance the recruitment experience, the Welcome Center will be the first stop for prospective students and their families, offering a warm, inviting space to explore all that Trinity has to offer. Imagine taking your first steps
as a future Tiger, seated in the Center while gazing out at the iconic red bricks of upper campus—this is a moment that will shape countless decisions to join our vibrant community for so many future Trinity students.
The Welcome Center will house the Offices of Admissions and Alumni Relations, providing a hub for visitors, alumni, and families to connect with the University, receive guidance, and engage with Trinity’s storied legacy while also looking toward the future. Positioned next to Dicke Hall and connected to Coates Library, it will be a gateway for learning, discovery, and campus events.
While the Welcome Center will enhance how the University greets its visitors, the Event Space will offer a new space for visitors to engage in
lectures, seminars, assemblies, large workshops, and other Trinity events throughout the year. This 7,028-square-foot flexible event space includes a catering kitchen, a central area with two sets of dividers to allow for multiple configurations and uses, and a lobby to host receptions.
With this new front door, Trinity strengthens its commitment to providing accessible, memorable, and inspiring experiences for all who step onto campus—prospective students, alumni, families, and friends alike.
Welcome to the beginning of every new Trinity journey.
The Welcome Center building will be the new front door to Trinity’s campus. top left The Event Hall will bring together students, alumni, and guests to engage with intellectual content and moments of celebration. top right The Event Hall central venue space will feature multimedia and varied layouts for various event styles. above The Welcome Center will house new spaces for the Admissions and Alumni Relations offices to create a warm arrival experience for visitors, guests, and returning alumni.
The Malú and Carlos Alvarez family’s gift will impact the arts and humanities for generations to come
Trinity University is strengthening its legacy with a transformational $25 million gift from the Malú and Carlos Alvarez family to name the Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities.
The Alvarez gift, among the largest in Trinity’s history and a lead gift to Our Time: The Campaign for Trinity University, builds on the University’s recent investments in the humanities, including the construction of Dicke Hall. Recognizing this momentum, the Alvarez family chose to amplify
it by turning infrastructure into enduring opportunity. By naming the School of Arts and Humanities, the family supports the disciplines at the core of the liberal arts, ensuring that humanistic inquiry remains a vital force on campus, in the San Antonio community, and beyond, while honoring the life of Carlos Alvarez in perpetuity at Trinity.
“The Alvarez family’s extraordinary generosity affirms the timeless value of the arts and humanities at the heart of a Trinity education,” says Trinity
President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D. “We are deeply grateful to Malú and Carlos Alvarez and their family for their vision and their faith in Trinity University. We are committed to their belief that education in the arts and humanities is essential to preparing thoughtful leaders for the future.”
This commitment comes from a family whose generosity has shaped the student experience at Trinity for two decades. In 2005, their support helped launch the Mexico, the Americas, and Spain (MAS) Program, opening doors for Trinity students to engage in immersive experiences across the world. Through study abroad, internships, research, and cultural programming, MAS has broadened students’ worldviews and prepared them for a globally interconnected future.
The $25 million Alvarez gift endows the dean’s position to ensure strong leadership in perpetuity, creates new scholarships that expand access for students, and funds opportunities for undergraduate research, internships, and global study. It also supports faculty through endowed term professorships, professional development, and recruitment, while establishing a flexible excellence fund to spark innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community partnerships. In doing so, the Alvarez family demonstrates the power of philanthropy to strengthen institutions and enrich communities.
Just as Dicke Hall provided a dedicated space for discovery, the Alvarez family’s generosity now promises that the arts and humanities have the resources to flourish. Together, these commitments form a powerful expression of how bold investments propel Trinity forward as a leader in liberal arts education, creating more opportunities for students to learn, create, explore, and connect across cultures. For the University, it is a moment of transformation, firmly rooted in its mission and boldly looking toward the future.
Scan to read the full article.
Explore two interdisciplinary humanities courses taught this fall by Layal Khalil ’27
In Trinity University’s Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities , students dive into courses that go beyond the studies of the departments that host them. Read about two fall courses that bridge disciplines in true liberal arts fashion to help students make discoveries about the world and the human condition.
CLAS/ANTH 1309: Pirates, Merchants, and Marines
Taught by Nicolle Hirschfeld, Ph.D.
Combine anthropology, ethnography, physical sciences, engineering, art history, history, and geography to grasp a holistic view of how ships and maritime trade impacted the ancient Mediterranean world.
Analyze shipwrecks, harbor-works, inscriptions, graffiti, mosaics, literary texts, and gravestones.
Consider the ethical questions of underwater archaeology and problems posed by modern treasure hunting.
ENGL 2308: Poetry as Medicine: How Reading and Writing Can Facilitate Healing
Taught by Laura Van Prooyen, MFA
Draw on the medical humanities field to consider the roles of poetry, psychology, and culture as they relate to life, death, illness, health, and well-being.
Engage with journal articles, poems, podcasts, and art.
Develop close reading skills to analyze literature’s therapeutic benefits.
Fall guest lecturers and artists shared insights with the University community
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES
ARTHUR C. BROOKS, Ph.D.
New York Times bestselling author and Harvard professor
MAVERICK LECTURE
MICHAEL McFAUL, Ph.D.
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia and Stanford professor
POLICY MAKER BREAKFAST SERIES
NICHOLAS BURNS
Former U.S. ambassador to China
VIVEK MURTHY, M.D.
19th and 21st surgeon general of the United States
DECOURSEY NOBEL ECONOMIST LECTURE
JOSHUA ANGRIST, Ph.D.
Nobel laureate and MIT professor
STIEREN ARTS ENRICHMENT SERIES
LYYRA
All-women’s vocal ensemble from The VOCES8 Foundation
PETER HESSLER
New Yorker staff writer and MacArthur Fellow
LENNOX SEMINAR LECTURE SERIES
NATALIA VENTURA
Multimedia artist and organizer
KATE CATTERALL, MFA
Designer and UT Austin professor
GLENN PATTERSON
Award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and Seamus Heaney Centre director
RACHEL BROWN
Artist and Seamus Heaney Centre coordinator
LEONTIA FLYNN, Ph.D.
Poet and Queen’s University Belfast professor
DAWN WATSON, Ph.D.
Poet, author, and Queen’s University Belfast lecturer
MARK MENJÍVAR, Ph.D.
Artist and UT San Antonio professor
SUSAN BRIANTE, MFA, Ph.D.
Poet and University of Arizona professor
Trinity welcomed Anand Pandian, author of Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and How to Take Them Down, for a
by Trinity Sociology and Anthropology Professor Tahir Naqvi.
Dialogue is one of the most powerful acts we have for learning , healing, and moving forward together. At Trinity University, dialogue is more than a classroom exercise; it’s a practice embedded in our identity. Through The Conversation, Trinity creates intentional spaces where people can engage across differences with courage and humility. This event series is part of the University’s commitment to being a laboratory for democracy, where diverse voices come together to tackle hard questions, share lived experiences, and imagine new possibilities.
This fall, The Conversation invited our community to step into that practice of dialogue with the following events:
In partnership with the H.E. Butt Foundation’s Know Your Neighbor initiative, Trinity hosted a screening of The Walkout, a documentary about the 1968 Edgewood Walkout, followed by a facilitated conversation where attendees shared reflections on the legacy of the Edgewood students and the challenges that persist today.
Sociology and Anthropology Professor Tahir Naqvi, Ph.D., moderated an evening dialogue with Anand Pandian, Ph.D., Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Attendees were invited to imagine what it takes to bridge divides while discussing Pandian’s latest book, Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life and How to Take Them Down
By remembering the courage of the Edgewood students and engaging the insights of leading scholars such as Pandian, Trinity affirms its commitment to dialogue as both a method and a mission.
New partnership enriches Trinity and Queen’s University Belfast
by Kennice Leisk ’22
As a salty sea breeze whips across dark rocky crags , a cohort of Trinity University students traverses lush rolling hills, notebooks and pens in hand, pondering how they’ll infuse the sensations that arise from this breathtaking landscape into their next assignment.
This is “Writing in Place,” a two-week-long course English Professor Jenny Browne, MFA, has taught for the past two summers as part of the Trinity in Ireland Beyond the Classroom study abroad program. In Spring 2026, Browne will expand “Writing in Place” into a full-semester course for the inaugural Trinity Semester at Queen’s.
poetry, and building ties as an honorary professor at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast for the past five years. In Spring 2025, Browne, in partnership with Trinity President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., and other University leaders, established a semester-long exchange program with Queen’s called the Trinity Semester at Queen’s. Browne will spend her entire spring semester in Northern Ireland teaching Queen’s and Trinity students in “Writing in Place” and
“In this course, students will develop a more meaningful connection to the places from which the texts they are reading emerged.”
“In this course, students will develop a more meaningful connection to the places from which the texts they are reading emerged, deepening their critical engagement and sparking opportunities for creative writing in response to their experience,” Browne says. “I’m incredibly excited to teach the course over an entire semester in Northern Ireland, where we’ll live and explore the landscapes we read about in poems, novels, and plays.”
Browne, a two-time U.S.-U.K. Fulbright recipient, has been teaching, conducting research, publishing
co-teaching with a Queen’s professor a culture course titled “Exploring Northern Ireland,” which introduces students to various events and activities across the island.
This October, faculty and staff from Queen’s Seamus Heaney Centre visited Trinity’s campus for the Lennox Seminar Series. Novelist and screenwriter Glenn Patterson, poet Leontia Flynn, poet and short story writer Dawn Watson, and artist Rachel Brown enriched the Trinity community with their artistic insights, marking a promising start to this new partnership between Trinity and Queen’s.
Welcome to the dedicated space that features scholarship, creativity, community engagement, and accomplishments of faculty and staff at Trinity University.
VANESSA B. BEASLEY, Ph.D.
(Trinity University President) was recognized by Women We Admire as the most influential female leader in the Top 50 Women Leaders of San Antonio and as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Education for 2025. Beasley also was elected as an at-large board member to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which focuses on student aid, tax policy, and government regulation issues, protecting the independence of private, nonprofit institutions and ensuring that all students have access to higher education.
KENNETH CARUTHERS ’15
(Alumni Relations) won a 2025 Bronze Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for the Move-In Day video he created featuring LeeRoy.
JANE CHILDERS, Ph.D.
(Psychology) had two papers accepted for publication. The papers, co-authored by Trinity undergraduate researchers, examine how children learn verbs in different cultures.
ANDREW KANIA, Ph.D.
(Philosophy) published a new essay, “Musical Meaning and Authentic Work Performance” in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism as the culmination of a project he began during his 2022-23 academic leave. Kania also published a post about cover versions (including, but not limited to, Taylor’s Versions!) on the Blog of the American Philosophical Association. The post is a shorter version of a paper Kania presented as a keynote address at the inaugural Lisbon Meetings on the Philosophy of Music at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.
TAHIR NAQVI, Ph.D.
(Sociology and Anthropology) published a book, Questioning Migrants: Ethnic Nationalism at the Limits of Pakistan, with Cambridge University Press in November 2024.
ANDREW PORTER, MFA
(English) had his short story “Angelo” selected by Celeste Ng for the 2025 Best American Short Stories, an annual anthology for the 20 best short stories published in a given year. In addition, Porter’s novel, The Imagined Life, was included in The New Yorker’s “Best Books We’ve Read This Week.”
JAMES SHINKLE, Ph.D.
(Biology) received the Texas Association of Advisors for the Health Professions Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his excellence in health professions advising and notable expertise.
JACOB TINGLE ’95, Ed.D.
(Business Administration) received the 2025 Sarah Fain Distinguished Service Award from NIRSA (formerly National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association) in recognition of his exceptional impact on the NIRSA Championship series and collegiate recreation and well-being. Tingle was also featured in a NIRSA research spotlight article about his recent co-publication, “NIRSA Student Referees: Exploring the Connection Between Sense of Community and Positive Health and Wellbeing Outcomes.”
ADAM URBACH, Ph.D.
(Chemistry) received a $300,000 grant from the Welch Foundation to support three years of research on developing new methods for protein modification, working with Trinity students.
RITA URQUIJO-RUIZ, Ph.D.
(Modern Languages and Literatures) received the prestigious 2025 Catrióna Rueda Esquibel Recognition Award from the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies for her co-authored book Writing That Matters: A Handbook for Chicanx & Latinx Studies
KATHRYN VOMERO SANTOS, Ph.D.
(English) had a brief excerpt of her new book, Shakespeare in Tongues, featured on the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare & Beyond blog.
CABRAL BALREIRA, Ph.D. (Mathematics), JORGE COLAZO, Ph.D. (Finance and Business Analytics), LAURA HUNSICKER-WANG, Ph.D. (Chemistry), JENNIFER MATHEWS, Ph.D. (Sociology and Anthropology), and JUDITH NORMAN, Ph.D. (Philosophy) had their co-authored article, “Using Force Field Analysis to Facilitate Conversations That Chairs Need to Have About Change in Faculty Evaluation,” featured in the summer 2025 issue of The Department Chair.
THE CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP (Education) published the third issue of the Trinity Leadership Forum, in which every article features Trinity students, alumni, and programs and their impact in the city, nation, and world.
Communication professor discusses research process and discoveries from fall sabbatical
In April, Trinity University
Communication Professor Patrick Keating, MFA, Ph.D., was awarded a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for scholarship in the arts and sciences. The fellowship is supporting a full sabbatical year (2025-26) for Keating to complete a manuscript for his current book project, The Luminists: On the Art of Film Lighting after Neorealism
We asked Keating for updates on his sabbatical.
WHAT’S YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS BEEN LIKE SO FAR?
My research process involves several steps: watching movies and taking notes, visiting archives to find documents related to the movies, organizing my thoughts in outline form, and eventually writing the book itself.
The first step sounds like fun, but it’s actually a lot of work. I grab many clips from the movies I watch, and then I organize those clips using the tagging function on my computer. That way, when I come to a new topic, I can click on the tag, and I get a cluster of clips related to that topic.
HAVE YOU MADE ANY EXCITING DISCOVERIES THAT YOU PLAN TO INCLUDE IN YOUR BOOK?
I’m focusing on five cinematographers, G.R. Aldo, James Wong Howe, Subrata Mitra, Sven Nykvist, and Néstor Almendros, who are all from different countries but watched and responded to each other’s works. One emerging theme is that these cinematographers are constantly referring to painting to make sense of their work. Their approach to lighting might be broadly classified as realist, but it’s a realism that is openly grounded in previous representations. A film will seem realistic if its lighting mimics the appearance of lighting that is already familiar from painting.
Ben Surpless honored with prestigious Piper Professorship
by Jeanna Goodrich Balreira ‘08
As a young geologist conducting fieldwork in the rugged terrains of Nevada, Trinity University Geosciences Professor Ben Surpless, Ph.D., found more than just fault lines and fold systems. He was inspired to teach so he could help future geologists experience the same joys of hands-on learning as he did.
Twenty years later, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to teaching, advising, and service in higher education, Surpless was named a 2025 Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. This prestigious award, established in 1958, honors 10 professors annually across Texas for superior teaching at the college level.
“Because of Dr. Surpless, I have grown tremendously as a learner in all senses of the word.”
–Student Nominator
The American Chemical Society awards Adam Urbach for his research and mentorship
by Jeremy Gerlach
Mentorship and research have been central to Adam Urbach, Ph.D., for more than 30 years, dating back to his own undergraduate days. Now, the Trinity University Semmes School of Science Distinguished Professor of Chemistry is being honored nationally for his dedication to championing the next generation of scientists.
Urbach has been named the 2026 recipient of the American Chemical Society Award for Research at an Undergraduate Institution, sponsored by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Since 1986, the award has been given to one professor nationwide each year. With Urbach’s recognition following Chemistry Professor Nancy Mills, Ph.D., who received the 2013 award, Trinity joins a small group of institutions with multiple recipients.
“I am deeply honored to receive the award, and it reflects directly on Trinity’s culture of excellence in scholarship,” Urbach says. “Distinctions like this should help
increase awareness of the high level of research being carried out at Trinity.”
Urbach conducts his research alongside promising young undergraduate researchers such as chemistry major John Powers ’26, who has worked on two of Urbach’s projects and is currently taking his medicinal chemistry advanced topics course. Powers says Urbach is “intense, genuine, straightforward, and passionate,” and he appreciates how Urbach gives him chances to shine, whether it’s by attending conferences together or collaborating on research methods. “As a mentor, he is genuinely interested in my development as a scientist, and he encourages students to think for themselves,” Powers adds. By blending rigorous scholarship with personal mentorship, Urbach exemplifies the distinctive strengths of Trinity’s chemistry program— and its national reputation for undergraduate research excellence.
Semmes School of Science continues to bolster research and scholarship
Trinity University Geology Professor Kathleen Surpless, Ph.D., can often be found guiding students in fieldwork across North America’s mountain ranges, showing them how to read the earth’s story layer by layer. Meanwhile, in Trinity’s nationally ranked science labs, Chemistry Professor Adam Urbach, Ph.D., works alongside his students to test bold research ideas, encouraging them to chase the thrill of discovery.
Throughout both of their 21 years at Trinity, Surpless and Urbach have established themselves as invaluable mentors and innovators, and this past May, both professors rose to new endowed positions in the D. R. Semmes School of Science: Surpless as the Imogene and Harold Herndon Professor of Geology and Urbach as the Semmes School of Science Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. Surpless follows Diane Smith, Ph.D., the previous occupant of the Herndon endowed position, who retired this year. Urbach’s inaugural position was made possible by the Semmes Foundation’s $26.5 million gift to name the D. R. Semmes School of Science. Both endowed positions provide these professors and their students with vast institutional resources to help them do what they do best: conduct hands-on research and make groundbreaking discoveries.
“The Trinity ‘special sauce’ is really getting students engaged in and out of the classroom and blurring those lines. This position allows me to focus more on that.”
–Kathleen Surpless
“This position provides unrestricted funding that will allow me and my students to explore brand-new research ideas each year.”
–Adam Urbach
Faculty and staff recognized for exceptional service, scholarship, and student advocacy
This spring, Trinity University celebrated faculty and staff who exemplify Trinity’s commitment to excellence and student-centered education through their advocacy, inclusivity, research, teaching, advising, and mentorship.
Dr. and Mrs. Z. T. Scott Faculty Fellowship
The highest recognition of excellence in teaching and advising at Trinity
KATHLEEN SURPLESS, Ph.D.
Earth and Environmental Geosciences Surpless’s pedagogy is methodical, intentional, and always in favor of the students’ learning needs and overall well-being. Her teaching philosophy is based on the premise that students learn best when they are active participants in their own education.
Dr. Deneese L. Jones Award for Inclusive Excellence
Recognizes outstanding support of inclusive excellence in honor of Deneese L. Jones, Ph.D., former Trinity vice president for Academic Affairs
Danny and Kimberly Anderson Faculty Prize for Excellence in Teaching
Recognizes mentorship of research students in honor of former Trinity President Danny Anderson, Ph.D., and his late wife, Kimberly
NICOLE FRATTO GARCIA ’13 Admissions and Aid
HEATHER HAYNES SMITH ’97, M’98, Ph.D. Education
LAUREN TUREK, Ph.D. History
Nine faculty members honored for 274 collective years of teaching, research, and service
ALAN ASTRO, Ph.D.
Modern Languages and Literatures
STACEY CONNELLY, Ph.D.
Human Communication and Theatre
JENNIFER HENDERSON, Ph.D. Communication
GLENN KROEGER, Ph.D.
Earth and Environmental Geosciences
PABLO MARTINEZ, Ph.D.
Modern Languages and Literatures
KIMBERLYN MONTFORD, Ph.D. Music
RICHARD REED, Ph.D. Sociology and Anthropology
BOB SCHERER, Ph.D. Michael Neidorff School of Business
DIANE SMITH, Ph.D. Earth and Environmental Geosciences
Distinguished Achievement Awards
Recognizes faculty and staff who have shown outstanding dedication and accomplishments at the University
Early Career Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research
GREGORY CLINES, Ph.D. Religion
SUNING ZHU, Ph.D. Finance and Business Analytics
Award for Distinguished Advising and Mentoring
JASON JOHNSON, Ph.D. History Award for Distinguished University, Community, and Professional Service
ANGELA TARANGO, Ph.D. Religion
Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Research, or Creative Work or Activity
DAVID POOLEY, Ph.D. Physics and Astronomy
Welcome to the space dedicated to celebrating books authored, edited, or translated by Trinity University faculty. The selections for this issue were published between February and June.
SHANNON MARIOTTI, Ph.D. Political Science
Contemplative Democracy: Politics, Practice, and Pedagogy Oxford University Press
KATHRYN VOMERO SANTOS, Ph.D. English
Shakespeare in Tongues Routledge
co-edited by NORMA E. CANTÚ, Ph.D. Modern Languages and Literatures ¡Somos Tejanas!: Chicana Identity and Culture in Texas University of Texas Press
ANDREW PORTER, MFA
English
The Imagined Life Knopf
edited by VICTORIA AARONS, Ph.D. English
The Story’s Not Over: Jewish Women and Embodied Selfhood in Graphic Narratives Wayne State University Press
Submit your recent and upcoming book publications to stories@trinity.edu for a chance to have your work featured in future magazine issues!
This September, Michael Fischer, Ph.D., Trinity University’s Janet S. Dicke Professor in Public Humanities, published How Books Can Save Democracy with Trinity University Press. This book emerged from years of classroom discussions with students grappling with political polarization, paired with Fischer’s extensive administrative experience witnessing how institutions navigate disagreement and build consensus. His combination of administrative leadership, teaching excellence, and scholarly expertise makes him an authoritative voice on how educational institutions and reading communities can foster the civic virtues democracy requires.
by Michael Fischer, Ph.D.
A testament to the power of books to bring us together in an age of division
“There are three aspects of literature that I talk about: One is reading it, which is a solitary act. The other is writing it, which is equally solitary, but the very important one is discussing it. The way that you magnify the impact of literature is by discussing it in all different settings.”
– Fischer on Trinity University Press’s Tripod podcast
Lily Brennan ’25 began her journey with Trinity University Press in August 2022, when she landed a marketing internship with the press as a sophomore. While coordinating the press’s social media and events, Brennan was struck with the idea to develop a podcast for the press to market its books and connect with its reader community. She pitched the concept to Burgin Streetman, the assistant director at the time and current editor-at-large, who was instantly taken with the idea. Shortly after, Brennan took up the mic as the producer, editor, and host of Tripod, the Trinity University
Press podcast, which captivates and enlightens listeners about their favorite press publications and authors and the greater San Antonio community. Brennan became Tripod’s executive producer after graduating from Trinity this May. She has interviewed Trinity professors and authors Michael Fischer, Ph.D., Andrew Porter, MFA, and Kelly Grey Carlisle, Ph.D., with more to come in the future!
Tune in to Tripod at tripodcast.org
How the Hell Did I Not Know That? My Midlife Year from Couch to Curiosity
by Lucie Frost
A witty memoir about the power of curiosity and learning how to laugh at inappropriate things
Out There: Dispatches from My Personal Wilderness
by Lance Garland
An outsider’s tale of discovering the worlds of nature and adventure— and himself along the way
Dodgers to Damascus: David Lesch’s Journey from Baseball to the Middle East by Catherine
Nixon Cooke
An adventure-driven story that helps us understand the Middle East and Syria
David W. Lesch, Ph.D. is the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professor of History in the Department of History at Trinity.
A modern-day Renaissance man—an acclaimed scholar, educator, author, and conflict resolution specialist—he has advised five U.S. presidential administrations on the cultural complexities of the Middle East. In Dodgers to Damascus: David Lesch’s Journey from Baseball to the Middle East, awardwinning author Catherine Nixon Cooke traces Lesch’s American dream while illuminating the oft misunderstood Middle East.
You Can’t Have It All poem by Barbara Ras paintings by Terrell James
A radiant and insightful poetpainter collaboration
Don’t miss this chance to check off your holiday shopping list with discounted books from Trinity University Press
Trinity University Press is committed to civic engagement with ideas. Published books, public programs, and related media focus on helping us all understand our place in a crowded world, with a particular focus on the following areas: bilingual early childhood literacy; the human relationship to the physical environment ranging from wilderness to constructed, urban life; social equity and justice; the interdependence of animal and human life; and Southwestern U.S. and Mexican regional studies. For more information, visit tupress.org
Wednesday, December 3 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Coates Esplanade
In May, sixth-ranked Trinity Baseball defeated McMurry University 10-4 to win the NCAA Super Regional and advance to the NCAA Division III College World Series for the fourth time in school history. Although the team’s World Series appearance ended with a 13-2 loss to Rowan University, Trinity Baseball finished its season with 41 wins, the second-most in school history and only the second 40-win season in school history.
photo by Tony Morano
All Trinity teams officially joined the SAA Conference in Fall 2025
by Carla Sierra
This fall, Trinity University Athletics began its new era as an official full member of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). Prior to Fall 2025, all women’s and men’s athletic teams were members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) except football, which was already an affiliate member of the SAA. Trinity’s move to the SAA was made jointly with Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
“We are excited about the opportunities this move to the SAA creates for our athletes and the City of San Antonio as we become part of a conference with a more diverse footprint,” says Bob King, Trinity’s director of Athletics. “Yet we cannot adequately express our appreciation for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, which we have been part of for more than 30 years. We have tremendous respect for the conference as great competitors and have learned a lot from them.”
Trinity Athletics SCAC Recap
36 years of competition
278 conference championships (129 men’s & 149 women’s)
25-Time Bell Trophy winner
2,927 named to SCAC Honor Roll
869 individual Players of the Week
2,548 wins, 15 ties, 720 losses
Trinity Athletics thanks Lucy Nabedrick ’28, Thomas Melina Raab ’26, and Lexi Walper ’28 for their assistance in compiling teams’ season recaps for this issue.
Men’s Basketball
Head Coach Jimmy Smith led the 2024 Tigers to a 22-5 record, including 14-2 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play. The Tigers were SCAC Tournament runners-up for the third time in five seasons, and five players earned All-SCAC honors, with two making the All-SCAC Tournament team. Christian Green ’27 and Dean Balo ’27 were named to the SCAC Championships All-Tournament Team after Trinity fell just short to St. Thomas in the final. With the loss, the Tigers missed out on an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament, but they had plenty to be proud of regardless. Jacob Harvey ’25 picked up All-SCAC First Team honors, and Green was selected to the All-SCAC Second Team. Robert Conrad ’28 was named to the All-SCAC Freshman Team, and Jacob Millhouse ’25 and Balo were tabbed All-SCAC Honorable Mentions.
With Head Coach Cameron Hill ’99 at the helm, the 2024 Trinity women’s basketball team finished with a 16-12 record, including 10-6 in conference play and the Tigers’ 13th straight SCAC Championship appearance. Four players were named to All-SCAC teams, and two were selected to the AllSCAC Championships Tournament team. The Tigers won two games to reach the final but fell short in the championship game against Texas Lutheran. Kylie Minter ’26 and Josie Napoli ’25 both earned SCAC All-Tournament honors. Despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament because of the loss, the Tigers left the SCAC on a high note with a run to the title game and four players with All-Conference honors: Napoli was named to the All-SCAC First Team, Minter to the All-SCAC Second Team, Livy Sauvageau ’28 to the All-SCAC Freshman Team, and Bailey Timmons ’25 was dubbed an All-SCAC Honorable Mention.
During her fourth year in charge of the program, Head Coach Cathleen Pruden led the Tiger men’s and women’s swimming
Trinity research ensures fairness for all members of SAA conference
by Jeremy Gerlach
At Trinity University, undergraduate research is getting a chance to hit the field Math Professor Cabral Balreira, Ph.D., and former student-athlete Jared Gallagher ’25 pioneered a new, mathematical approach to scheduling for the Southern Athletic Association conference. It’s called “atomic scheduling” and uses graph theory to solve a problem most fans never think about: how to build a truly fair sports schedule.
“We see it all the time that playing a bad schedule might affect your chances of making it to the postseason,” Gallagher says. “So I really liked the idea of making a fair schedule, where everyone starts on a level playing field.”
“The liberal arts give you the chance to take courses in all sorts of different fields, such as math, business, and sports.”
Unlike traditional methods that take hours of computation and might still favor certain teams, atomic scheduling turns logistical constraints into manageable priorities. The result? More equitable matchups, more manageable travel demands, and balanced home and away games.
Gallagher, a math and mathematical finance double major who ran track and field and cross country, brought his own athletic insight into the research. And he couldn’t imagine doing a project like this anywhere but at Trinity.
“The liberal arts give you the chance to take courses in all sorts of different fields, such as math, business, and sports,” Gallagher says. “It wouldn’t be possible anywhere else to have that many types of different experiences.”
That’s a win for sports. A win for student-athletes. And a win for mathematics.
University ranked No. 22 in Learfield Directors’ Cup
Trinity University has once again demonstrated its athletic excellence, earning the No. 22 spot in the 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup. This marks the Tigers’ fourth consecutive top-25 finish, solidifying their reputation as a powerhouse in NCAA Division III athletics.
The Learfield Directors’ Cup, established by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today, recognizes the nation’s top collegiate athletic programs based on their performance in NCAA Championships.
Led by Athletics Director Bob King, Trinity’s continued success in the Learfield Directors’ Cup underscores the University’s commitment to athletic excellence and student-athlete development. King picked up the Division III Athletic Director of the Year award— the fourth of his career—from NACDA this year and was honored at the organization’s convention in Orlando, Florida, in June.
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and diving teams to another successful season. The women’s team won the SCAC Championship and finished 25th at the NCAA Championships. Seven Tigers qualified for the national meet, and five of them earned All-American honors for their performances: Neely Burns ’26 with First Team honors in the 400 IM and Second Team honors in the 200 breaststroke, Amy Benson ’27 with Second Team honors in the 50 free, Luke Fender ’28 with Second Team honors in both the 500 free and the 1,650 free, and Julia Carter ’27 and Audrey Jacobson ’26 with Second Team honors in the 800 free relay. Benson and Fender earned both SCAC Swimmer of the Meet and Swimmer of the Year honors, leading a pack of 22 Tigers that received All-SCAC recognition. The Tiger men and women combined to win 25 individual and relay SCAC Championships. These studentathletes were just as impressive out of the water, piling up several academic awards. Benson, Carter, and Fender added Scholar All-American awards to their accolades for the year, and Benson led a group of eight College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honorees. Benson was also named an Academic All-American by the CSC.
Tiger Baseball finished the 2025 season with a 41-10 overall record, which included 27-3 in SCAC play. Trinity won its 15th SCAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III College World Series for the fourth time in school history, earning Head Coach Tim Scannell SCAC Coach
of the Year and ABCA Region X Coach of the Year awards. Trinity had 13 All-SCAC honorees and five CSC Academic All-District performers. Maddox McDonald ’25, Nicholas Lazzara ’25, Brandon Nelson ’25, Brandon Morio ’27, and Will Taylor ’28 were all named All-Region by the ABCA and D3baseball.com. McDonald also earned Fifth Team AllAmerican honors from D3baseball, and Taylor was the Region X Rookie of the Year for the organization.
Men’s Golf made its seventh appearance at the NCAA Championships in 2025, finishing tied for 17th as a team and just missing the cut for the final two rounds of play. The Tigers also finished as the SCAC runner-up for the 11th time in school history, led by Head Coach Sean Etheredge and four All-SCAC golfers. Carter Code ’26, Jacob Mason ’24, M’25, and Sam Rossi ’28 were named PING All-Region honorees. Rossi was also the SCAC Freshman of the Year. Off the course, Code and Mason were recognized on the CSC Academic AllDistrict team, and Code was a Cobalt Golf All-American Scholar.
Women’s Golf won its fifth straight SCAC Championship and fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, earning Head Coach Shelby DeVore ’18 SCAC Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time in her four seasons with the team. Jessica Mason ’26 was named an All-American for the third time in her career and was also named the SCAC Golfer of the Year, leading the Tigers to a tie for 22nd at the NCAA Championships and tying for 12th individually at the national event. Five players earned All-SCAC honors, led by SCAC individual medalist Lauren Huddleston ’27. Mason, Carmen Kennett ’25, and Kate Schulle ’25 earned CSC Academic All-District recognition, and this trio, along with Peyton Flynn ’28, were named WGCA Scholar All-Americans.
Under Head Coach Bailey Wittenauer, Tigers Softball had a record-breaking 32-12 season, the most single-season wins in program history. Sophomore pitcher Megan Kriechbaum ’27 threw two no-hitters during the ’25 season, her first no-hitter being the Tigers’ first since 2019. Two more members of Trinity’s pitching staff, Jordan Arce ’26 and Heather Nugent ’27, came together to
Trinity prepared Quentin van der Lee ’21 for success on and off the field
by James Hill ’76
For Quentin van der Lee ’21, Trinity University wasn’t just the start of a successful soccer career—it was the foundation for a career in sports management at one of its highest levels.
Van der Lee serves as a senior coordinator for the Consumer Products division and a football operations representative for the NFL, roles that are as dynamic as the events he oversees.
“My focus is on coordinating strategies for e-commerce and event retail while also managing the logistics of NFL Shop locations at high-profile events,” he says. “The travel demands and the fast-paced nature of the job make it an exciting challenge every day.”
At Trinity, van der Lee was captain for three out of his four seasons with Trinity Men’s Soccer and received All-America honors and All-Region and All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference accolades.
Reflecting on the support he received from Head Soccer Coach Paul McGinlay and Sport Management Program Director Jacob Tingle ’95, Ed.D., van der Lee says, “Trinity is an incredibly special place and community that prepares you well for the rest of your life.”
Tiger Network is Trinity’s livestreaming network, covering athletics and special events for a worldwide audience.
Tiger Network showcases #TigerPride in full HD with realtime replays, color commentary by professionals and student-athletes, and on-demand options.
Watch events ON DEMAND
On-demand videos include:
• Concerts and performances
• Archived speakers and lectures
• Commencement exercises
• And more!
throw the first combined no-hitter in Tiger softball history. Ella Whitacre ’27 used her wheels to set a school record of scoring five runs in a single game and finished the season with 36 stolen bases. Hannah Boudreaux ’27 put up big numbers with a .446 batting average and 40 RBIs on the year. Mariana Garcia ’28 had a breakout season with a .404 batting average and 14 doubles. Carsyn Lee ’26 broke three school single-season records with a .447 batting average, 19 doubles, and 63 hits. Garcia and Lee were Second Team NFCA All-Region selections, and Whitacre was named to the Third Team. The Tigers not only put in the work on the field but also in the classroom. Sammi Tagawa ’27, Sydney Watson ’25, Lee, Josie Koelewyn ’27, and Whitacre were all selected to the 2025 Academic All-District Softball Teams.
Men’s Tennis had another strong season in 2025, capturing its 29th SCAC Championship and 15th in a row. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen before falling to top-ranked Claremont. Ryan Warren ’28 was named a singles All-American, and the duo of Rocco Mendez ’28 and Kishan Kersten ’27 earned All-American Honors in doubles. Head Coach Russell McMindes ’02 was named SCAC Coach of the Year, and Mendez earned SCAC Newcomer of the Year. Eric Liao ’25 earned the honorable title of ITA West Region Senior Player of the Year. The Tigers also stood out in the classroom, earning ITA All-Academic Team recognition with a team GPA above 3.2. Eight players were honored as ITA Scholar-Ahletes for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA. Among those eight, Liao and
Aashish Dhanani ’26 were also named CSC Academic All-District.
Women’s Tennis had a standout 2025 season, capturing its 27th overall SCAC Championship and fourth in a row. Trinity was ranked as high as eighth before finishing the year as the No. 11 team nationally with a 21-5 overall record. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen before falling to PomonaPitzer. Ruth Hill ’25 and Olivia Kim ’25 earned All-American honors in doubles, and Hill also secured an All-American title in singles. Head Coach Andrew Cohn was honored as SCAC Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive time. Hill was named SCAC Player of the Year for the third straight season, and Lucy Nabedrick ’28 was named SCAC Newcomer of the Year, completing a sweep of the major SCAC awards. Trinity Levy ’26 was selected as the ITA West Region Player to watch, and Rosabella Andrade ’27 was named ITA West Region Most Improved Player. The Tigers also excelled in the classroom, earning ITA All-Academic Team recognition with a team GPA above 3.2. Five players were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA, and Levy and Ellie Hughes ’25 were selected for the CSC Academic All-District team.
The 2024 Tiger track and field teams finished their final season in the SCAC with six school records, 55 new marks on the program’s top-10 list, eight NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifiers, and a conference championship. The women ended their time in the conference with their 17th SCAC title, while the men finished second to break a four-year title streak. Combined, the Tigers won five individual conference titles and had 30 All-SCAC performances. The season culminated with four NCAA All-American performances: Annabelle Lanik ’28 with a third-place finish in the women’s long jump, Bocar Diagana ’26 with a 16th-place finish in the men’s triple jump, Joy Areola ’25 with a 14th-place finish in the women’s triple jump, and Danya Selber ’25 with a 14th-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. The men’s 4x100-meter squad of Legend Grigsby ’25, Nicolas Ladreyt ’25, Orie Piken ’26, and Price Schultea ’27 also competed at the national championships, coming within 0.20 points of All-American honors with a 13th-place finish. The Tigers picked up a plethora of postseason awards as Head Coach Marcus Whitehead was named Women’s Coach of the Year, Areola picked up Field Athlete of the Year honors (her second straight such award), and Lanik was tabbed the Newcomer of the Year. Additionally, 12 Tigers were selected to the USTFCCCA All-Region team.
Shelby DeVore ’18 named SCAC Coach of the Year for fourth straight time
by James Hill ’76
As a Trinity University student-athlete, Shelby DeVore ’18 was a star on the golf course. She was SCAC Freshman of the Year in 2015 and garnered All-SCAC honors for three years. Now, as Trinity’s head women’s golf coach, her mission is to inspire excellence and unparalleled dedication in every one of her players so they can shine their brightest on and off the course.
“We talk a lot about commitment. When we are on the golf course, we want to commit to every swing and every shot. We also want to be committed to our team and to ourselves.”
Her unwavering devotion to her sport and her students has earned DeVore the SCAC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year four times running. She believes the success of her teams also comes down to their commitment.
“We talk a lot about commitment. When we are on the golf course, we want to commit to every swing and every shot. We also want to be committed to our team and to ourselves,” DeVore says. “I preach to the team that every time we show up to practice, qualifying, tournaments, or an event where we represent Trinity Women’s Golf, we want to do it with pride and heart.”
On July 4, catastrophic floods swept through the Texas Hill Country, claiming at least 135 lives and leaving lasting devastation across the region. The impact of this disaster reached far and wide, touching countless families, communities, and individuals.
Among those lost were Aidan Heartfield ’26, a Trinity University marketing major and beloved classmate, and Kellyanne Lytal, the daughter of Trinity Football Offensive Coordinator Wade Lytal ’09.
Aidan Thaddeus Heartfield ’26, a Trinity marketing major, passed away on July 4 in Hunt, Texas. He was 22.
Aidan was born on January 11, 2003, in Beaumont, Texas. He was the beloved son of Melanie and Thad Heartfield and the little brother to three doting sisters, Hannah Grace, Claire, and Bailey. His Beaumont community shaped him into an honest, goofy, and loving young man, and from his early years, it was clear that Aidan’s gift to the world was his ability to create connections with those around him.
Aidan built strong friendships at Trinity, and his fellow Chi Delta Tau fraternity members became a group of brothers he had never had. Together, they weathered the challenges of young adult life, and Aidan would brag about them constantly to his family.
Aidan loved the natural world and felt most at ease when immersed in it. He grew up exploring the Cattail Marsh, was an avid snowboarder, and loved to scuba dive. Aidan earned the rank of Eagle Scout through a wetlands restoration project using plants native to Southeast Texas. Among his many adventures, Aidan sped through the Tour du Mont Blanc, hiked volcanoes in Guatemala, and went on many trips near and far with his family.
Memorial contributions in Aidan’s name may be made to the International Esperanza Project at bit.ly/SupportIEP, All Saints Episcopal School at bit.ly/SupportAllSaints, or Trinity University at give.trinity.edu.
Kellyanne Elizabeth Lytal, the daughter of Malorie Liljenwall Lytal and Wade Lytal ’09 and big sister to Emmalynn Grace, passed away on July 4 at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. She was 8. Kellyanne was born on May 25, 2017, in Houston. She brought sparkle and joy into every space she entered and was the perfect combination of beauty and athleticism, cautious yet carefree, and serious but wildly fun-loving with an unshakable spirit.
Kellyanne loved school and enjoyed learning, with a curious mind and quick wit. She was named a Mighty Mule and honored as a recipient of the Cambridge PTO Excellence Award at Cambridge Elementary. Kellyanne was active in her community, being a proud Girl Scout member for Troop 5116. She was a true leader and friend to everyone she met.
Kellyanne attended all of Trinity’s home football games and loved watching Trinity softball, volleyball, and women’s basketball games. Kellyanne and her father would often take walks together through Trinity’s campus on the weekends, and he says, “She would always look up at Murchison Tower and wonder if Rapunzel was up there.”
Memorial contributions in Kellyanne’s name may be made to the Kellyanne Elizabeth Lytal Memorial Foundation at bit.ly/SupportKELFoundation . This foundation was established with the goal of spreading kindness in the world and supporting charitable causes that were near and dear to Kellyanne’s beautiful heart.
As we grieve the loss of Aidan and Kellyanne, we also pause to honor all those affected and reflect on the strength and solidarity that have emerged in the face of overwhelming loss.
On October 16, Trinity’s Department of Music and the Kerrville-based Symphony of the Hills held a joint benefit concert titled “A Time To Remember: Tribute Concert for Kerrville/Hill Country Flood Victims” in Laurie Auditorium. More than 90 Trinity student musicians participated to honor and support the victims of this natural disaster. All proceeds from the concert were given to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country for flood disaster relief.
This issue’s obituaries include Trinity community members who died between March 1 and August 1.
Francisco “Frank” Oscar Garcia Treto, Ph.D., professor emeritus of religion, died on March 6. He was 88.
Born in Cuba, Garcia Treto was shaped in his early years by his father’s ministry and his family’s deep commitment to education. Garcia Treto graduated from Maryville College in 1959 and pursued theological studies at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1959 to 1966, where he founded the first Hispanic student organization and later served on the Board of Directors. In 1967, he became a U.S. citizen, embracing his new home while maintaining a deep connection to his Cuban heritage.
Garcia Treto served four decades at Trinity University, where he joined the faculty in 1966 and later served as chair of the Department of Religion. As a professor, he was a guiding light to countless students, inspiring them with his deep knowledge and passion for religious studies.
Garcia Treto is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and his sister, his son, his daughter, his two stepsons, and his nine grandchildren.
John Thornton ’87, a Trinity University trustee and visionary leader in entrepreneurship and nonprofit journalism, died on March 29. He was 59.
Thornton graduated from Trinity at the top of his class in 1987. After graduating from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, he joined Austin Ventures, which became the largest regional capital firm in the U.S. In 2008, Thornton founded the Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit news organization committed to providing comprehensive coverage of Texas politics and policy. He then co-founded the American Journalism Project in 2018, further demonstrating his commitment to revitalizing local news ecosystems nationwide.
Thornton’s dedication to Trinity remained steadfast throughout his life. He was serving his second term as a trustee, offering invaluable guidance and support to the institution that played a pivotal role in shaping his journey. In 2015, Thornton was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Trinity, the highest award presented by the Trinity University Alumni Association.
Thornton is survived by his wife, Erin, and two stepsons.
John H. Moore III ’60, Ed.D., Norine R. Murchison Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Education, died on June 7. He was 87.
Moore returned to Trinity University in 1968 to begin a transformative 33-year tenure. During his time as chair of the Department of Education from 1973 to 2001, he launched the Master of Arts in Teaching program, which was the first of its kind in Texas and quickly gained national acclaim. Moore also established the Trinity Tomorrow’s Leaders educational leadership program, the Center for Educational Leadership, the Trinity Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and the Brackenridge Interns in Teaching program.
Moore received the Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship in 1989 and was the inaugural recipient of the Spirit of Trinity Award in 2001 for his service to the University and the greater community.
Moore is survived by his wife, Suzanne. Together, they supported the longest-running endowed scholarship at Trinity, the Moore Family Education Scholarship, which has helped hundreds of Trinity students pursue their dreams of becoming educators and leaders in the field.
Donald “Don” Frank Van Eynde, Ph.D., professor emeritus of business administration, died on July 3. He was 87.
Van Eynde retired from the U.S. Army in 1980 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He then earned a doctorate in organizational psychology from Columbia University.
Van Eynde came to Trinity University in 1984. He served as chair of the Faculty Senate, chair of the University’s Crisis Management Team, and a trusted adviser to four Trinity presidents. Van Eynde helped spearhead the capstone course for the human resource (HR) management major, through which Trinity students serve as consultants for small, local nonprofit organizations that lack full-time HR management. In 2011, he earned the prestigious Z.T. Scott Faculty Fellowship for excellence in teaching. Though he officially retired in 2014, Van Eynde continued to teach one course each spring semester from 2020-25.
Van Eynde is survived by his wife, Dixie, and their three children. He is also survived by his two children from his first marriage and their children and grandchildren.
“It was sweaty and exhausting, but it was also joyful.”
A leap into service that grows into connection, purpose, and lifelong impact
words by Gloriana Cardenas
photos by Anh-Viet Dinh ’15, Fredric Marmolejo ’26, and Plunge members throughout the years
The clang of hammers echoes in the San Antonio heat. Sweat trickles down foreheads, laughter bounces across a half-painted wall, and the smell of fresh-cut lumber drifts through the air. It’s the week before school starts. Before syllabi, before study sessions, and before residence halls feel like home, a group of new acquaintances is building something together.
This is the San Antonio Plunge, a Trinity University tradition where incoming first-year students dive headfirst into service. For more than two decades, it has been the University’s invitation to begin their college journeys with orientation and with purpose. A five-day immersion experience sponsored by Trinity’s Chapel and Spiritual Life Office, the Plunge brings students into the city to serve alongside community partners during the day and gather for meals, fellowship, and reflection at night. It’s a chance to sweat, laugh, and learn together while also getting to know San Antonio as home not just for the week but also for the next four years.
Guiding the program now is University Chaplain and Everett H. Jones Chair of Ministry Alex SernaWallender ’08, M’09, who knows firsthand the impact of starting college through service.
For Chaplain Alex, the Plunge is more than a week of volunteering—it is one of Trinity’s clearest expressions of what it means to belong.
“The vision from the very beginning was simple but powerful,” he says. “Give students a chance to build community by serving their new community. From day one, they see San Antonio as more than a backdrop for their education—they see it as a home where they can contribute meaningfully.”
top The Plunge 2025 participants hit the streets of downtown San Antonio, learning about the city and each other along the way. bottom Sameed Aijaz ’26 at the Food Bank packing boxes
“The vision from the very beginning was simple but powerful. Give students a chance to build community by serving their new community.”
Chaplain Alex knows the experience personally. He joined the Plunge as a first-year student two decades ago, and the program gave him lifelong friends and mentors. “Participating in it profoundly shaped who I am,” he says. “To now help cultivate that same experience for others feels like a gift, a way to ‘pay forward’ what I once received.”
Over the years, he’s witnessed strangers become friends in a matter of days, watched students grow in confidence navigating both the campus and the city, and seen many of them return year after year to lead. “The Plunge models the kind of culture we want for Trinity: one that balances learning with giving, discovery with responsibility, and individual growth with community care,” Chaplain Alex says.
As the program nears its 25th anniversary, his hopes for future participants are steady and forward-looking. “I want students to carry with them a conviction that service and neighborliness aren’t just college activities but also lifelong practices. They’re what endures.”
By the end, what begins as a group of strangers working side by side becomes a community of new Tigers whose first leap into college is also a step toward something bigger than themselves.
As a San Antonio native, Justin Rodriguez ’29 was already familiar with the city in which he would spend his next four years. But stepping onto Trinity’s campus, surrounded by new faces, he needed more than geography to feel at home.
So when he thought about how to make Trinity feel like home, his answer was simple: “I wanted to meet people who cared about giving back,” he says, “and I wanted to see how my efforts could impact the city I love.”
His group crisscrossed the city during the week of the Plunge, swinging hammers in the morning, packing meals in the afternoon. One project stays etched in his memory: a wheelchair ramp built for a woman who hadn’t been able to enter her own home.
763 participants to date Community partners: San Antonio Food Bank, Catholic Worker House, Haven for Hope, Texas Ramp Project, Habitat for Humanity, and House of Neighborly Service
“Those conversations changed me as much as they changed the students I worked with,” he says.
Through the Plunge, Aijaz discovered a guiding principle he now carries into every corner of life: Grace abounds. Plans fall
“This wasn’t just a project. It was making life better for someone else.”
“When she and her family thanked us, it hit me—this wasn’t just a project,” Rodriguez says. “It was making life better for someone else.”
Nights in the Plunge brought reflection circles. Stories of housing insecurity, immigration, and educational disparities surfaced—not as statistics, but as lived realities. For Rodriguez, the week reframed what it meant to belong.
“It wasn’t about proving myself,” he says. “It was about understanding my role in a community I’m part of.”
What Rodriguez discovered in his first week, other students have continued to find year after year. Sameed Aijaz ’26, a biochemistry and molecular biology major, saw that discovery deepen over four years in the Plunge.
By his fourth year, Aijaz had walked San Antonio’s streets many times, but each Plunge experience felt new when seen through the eyes of new first-years.
“The Plunge taught me that service isn’t just about helping,” Aijaz says. “It’s about noticing, listening, and learning from the people you work with.”
Now a mentor, Aijaz led this year’s evening circles, nervously at first, notebook twisting in his hands. But soon, conversations flowed: stories about families, schools, and challenges of the city.
apart. Paint spills. A project takes longer than expected. But patience, flexibility, and empathy transform obstacles into lessons.
That same blend of resilience and connection also drew Maddie Mueller ’26, an engineering major, back to the Plunge year after year.
She joined the program as a first-year student because she loved volunteering throughout high school and with her church. Moving into Trinity early was a bonus—an extra beat before campus swelled with students. What began as participation soon grew into leadership, and Mueller has returned as a Plunge leader ever since.
From painting playgrounds to navigating buses back to campus, she found that her Plunge experiences weren’t held together by service alone. “The people keep me coming back,” Mueller says. “Every year, I meet genuine, kind-hearted individuals who make the experience worth it.”
Small moments linger: shared laughter at work sites, the quiet satisfaction of a finished project, the tradition of late-night churros after the final dinner. “Working side by side naturally bonds people,” she reflects. “It’s never forced—it just happens.”
The Plunge also grounded Mueller in San Antonio’s realities of food insecurity, housing struggles, and neighborhoods she hadn’t seen before. She carried that perspective into new service, from helping with basketball clinics to volunteering at Morgan’s Wonderland, a local
top Evenings during the Plunge were filled with fellowship, reflection, and fun after days spent serving throughout the city. bottom Justin Rodriguez ’29 taking a selfie with fellow “Plungees”
accessibility-focused theme park. “The Plunge is eye-opening,” she says. “You leave with a new perspective on both service and yourself.”
To Lea Watson-Vick ’15, the Plunge wasn’t just a week of service; it was the spark that shaped her Trinity journey, her career, and ultimately her return to campus to serve as the department assistant for Chapel and Spiritual Life.
experience steered her toward urban studies and years of volunteering on San Antonio’s inner West Side. “The Plunge taught me that Trinity isn’t just its campus,” Watson-Vick says. “You live here now, so you’re part of this larger city. You contribute. You form relationships that matter.”
After graduating, Watson-Vick built a career in nonprofit service, leading youth programs and camps in San Antonio. Today, she helps organize the Plunge each year as
“Working side by side naturally bonds people. It’s never forced—it just happens.”
“My very first Plunge felt like summer camp,” she remembers. “We were sleeping on the floor in big rooms, playing games, and working hard under the hot sun at sites like Habitat for Humanity. It was sweaty and exhausting, but it was also joyful. You met people who cared about the same things you did, and suddenly you had 50 friends before classes even started.”
Those early bonds carried her through Trinity. Nearly all her closest friends were “Plungees,” as she calls them, and the
the Spiritual Life assistant, ensuring new students step into the same eye-opening journey she did. “For students, it’s easy to stay inside the ‘Trinity bubble,’” Watson-Vick says. “The Plunge gets them out, face to face with neighbors, learning how to build relationships. That skill, being relational, being present, is something you carry for life.”
For Watson-Vick, giving back to Trinity isn’t just about nostalgia; it’s also about sustaining a tradition that changes students and strengthens the city. “The San Antonio
community has high expectations of Trinity students,” she says. “They know our students will show up prepared, curious, and capable. I wanted to make sure this program continues—for the nonprofits that rely on us, for the students who benefit from the experience, and for the community we’re part of.”
Through the Plunge, Trinity students begin their journey not in lecture halls but in kitchens, construction sites, and city streets, side by side with neighbors. They paint walls, build homes, construct ramps, pack meals, deliver food, and much more. They listen. They learn. They connect.
Sometimes, the leap into college is less about diving into textbooks and more about diving into each other’s worlds. The Plunge is Trinity’s reminder that education goes beyond knowledge—it’s empathy in action.
And with each passing year, those first-week moments ripple outward into friendships, into careers, and into lives marked by purpose. What starts with one shared hammer, one shared story,
one shared meal, becomes something far greater: a tradition that keeps shaping a campus, a city, and the students who pass through them year after year.
What begins in the first week lasts forever.
Experience the
and
“The Plunge taught me that Trinity isn’t just its campus ... you’re part of this larger city. You contribute. You form relationships that matter.”
Over the course of two decades and counting, Urban Studies Professor Christine Drennon has opened doors for generations of students to succeed as empathetic leaders.
Trinity’s urban studies program is thriving under longtime director Christine Drennon
words by Jeremy Gerlach
photos by Mason McLerran
The first of many doors that open for Professor Christine Drennon’s urban studies students are the ones on a city bus.
This is one of the most memorable assignments for any member of Trinity University’s urban studies program: experiencing the dynamic city of San Antonio by riding to the edge of town and back.
“You ride the bus, and you sit in the same vicinity as complete strangers whom you will never see again, and you make peace with that,” says Drennon, Ph.D., now in her 22nd year with Trinity. “Getting out into the world is step one for our program. After that, you engage with the community. Then, when you can do that effectively, you’re going to have ideas and contribute.”
Drennon is not one to mince words, and under her guidance and vision, Trinity’s urban studies program is not content to sit on the sidelines. Here, students conduct pivotal research that informs multi-billion-
dollar city budgets, provide invaluable technical skills to an entire ecosystem of nonprofits that help San Antonio flourish, and go on to thrive as leaders in a variety of careers across the nation.
This success all stems back to Drennon’s belief in the power of people skills, an emphasis on lived experience over textbooks, and a realization of the connectedness between the many disciplines that affect people’s lives in an urban environment. And, as Drennon tirelessly advocates, what better environment could there be than Trinity’s unique place as a small liberal arts school in a big, growing city such as San Antonio?
“Trinity is one of the very, very few highly ranked liberal arts universities in a major city,” Drennon says. “If you want to make significant contributions to the future in every way, this is the place to be to educate yourself in urban studies.”
“If you go to New York City to study, you don’t get this close to decision making,” she continues. “But here in San Antonio,” Drennon leans in and holds her fingers close enough that a strand of hair couldn’t fit between them, “I can get you this close to decision making. I can get you in the room.”
Which room—and what doors open—is largely up to Drennon’s students.
Urban studies can be a difficult subject for its students to explain because its scope encompasses too many possibilities to count. At its most basic premise, urban studies is an interdisciplinary program that examines the history and nature of cities and the global phenomenon of urbanization.
“I tell my students that a lot of traditional disciplines are a product of 19th-century problems. Now we’re in the 21st century, and we have to start thinking differently,” Drennon says. “You can’t do anything coming from just one perspective. If you’re studying housing, you need to know finance and economics, but if you
don’t also understand poverty, sociology, environmental studies, and urban planning, you’re never going to be effective.”
But that’s life at Trinity, where a dedication to interdisciplinarity combines with a unique urban location, which creates an exciting environment for students, such as Elizabeth Hammer ’27 and Caitlin Minor ’27, to explore, grow, and discover across disciplines.
Hammer, an urban studies and environmental science double major, says she might want to work in landscape architecture or for an environmental nonprofit when she graduates. Wherever she ends up, she feels the interdisciplinarity of Trinity’s approach to urban studies is going to be an asset.
“Urban studies and environmental studies are both studies of our surroundings. One is built, one is natural,” she says. “But the line between those definitely gets crossed as we start talking about sustainability as the main thing that we’re focusing on in urban studies and urbanism.”
Minor, who originally came to Trinity from her hometown of New Orleans interested in political science, says her “mind exploded”
“If you want to make significant contributions to the future in every way, this is the place to be to educate yourself in urban studies.”
after taking Drennon’s “Urban Experience” class, and swapped out her previous interest for urban studies. “I said immediately, ‘Oh my God, I love this,’” she adds.
As someone who wants to work with public transit, Minor says she was hooked by Drennon’s bus ride assignment. That assignment is just the beginning of how Trinity’s urban studies program puts Tigers in a position to gain lived experience in their field.
For decades, Drennon’s formula for hands-on work has been consistently rigorous and practically applied. Early assignments give students the chance to reimagine what a city would look like under their own influence: They may examine new possibilities for disinvested spaces, pushing themselves to take into account varied perspectives; they may envision how a land bridge connecting Trinity’s campus to the River Walk would affect the University’s connection to the city.
Then, Drennon’s students launch into a series of community-based research opportunities. They develop invaluable skills in geographic information systems, a mapping software that allows users to analyze and visualize geographically referenced information.
By the time Drennon’s students are seniors, they can do more than collect data. “My students don’t just analyze a situation, they propose change,” Drennon says. “And afterward, they’re in demand for any number of internships because they’ve gone above and beyond volunteer work. They’re bringing a pretty elite set of skills into the field.”
Minor, who says she’s looking forward to more research and hands-on opportunities
this year, is ecstatic to pursue these experiences under Drennon’s guidance.
“Drennon is always telling us, ‘You have to be a grounding force in the field. You should be able to apply what you’ve learned to the real world,’” Minor says.
What better example of “practicing what you preach” than Drennon herself, whose teaching is still being informed by lessons learned from her 2022-23 sabbatical, where she went out into the world for a stint as a CEO for a local housing nonprofit.
After serving as a longstanding member of the board of a local housing resource called the Alamo Community Group (ACG), Drennon was asked to step in as CEO during a turbulent time for the organization.
Cities typically have a handful of area organizations like these for local residents who are seeking affordable housing and social services. ACG serves a specific niche in the housing sector, consisting of inhabitants living at about 60-80% of the area’s median income. “These are people who are still struggling to find a place to live,” Drennon says. “The nonprofit community uses financial instruments to help them, but this is really tough work. We’re very reliant on the state and federal money that runs through the state.”
With Drennon’s help, the nonprofit was able to navigate multiple challenges while maintaining its community commitments. Though Drennon is back on campus at Trinity, she remains connected to the housing sector by sitting on the ACG board after her term as CEO ended. “Trinity saw value in my involvement and was gracious enough to allow me to continue to serve in these roles,” she says.
“Drennon is always telling us, ‘You have to be a grounding force in the field. You should be able to apply what you’ve learned to the real world.’”
“At Trinity, you’re going to get the critical skills that are needed in city-planning fields.”
left Drennon’s teaching style is driven by creating as many hands-on, real-world experiences for her students as possible. right Drennon shared insights on pressing issues affecting San Antonio in a lecture to students in this year’s Plunge.
When your urban studies program is this connected to practical opportunities, from top to bottom, it’s no surprise that alumni are still buzzing about the impact this major has had on their trajectories.
Jason Azar ’16, who double majored in urban studies and art history with a concentration in architectural history, now works in commercial real estate in Austin. While he went on to get his master’s degree in urban design in New York, he still remembers his undergraduate capstone project with the National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders, where he helped analyze shifts in home prices and tax rates.
“That was a real-world exercise that, the older I get, really has informed how I communicate complex, overlapping systems,” Azar says. “Right now, I’m putting together marketing material for a new multifamily investment in Colorado. A lot of our investors aren’t familiar with Colorado,
so I have to educate them from zero to them being comfortable saying, ‘Here’s all the demand drivers in this area.’ Just like Drennon would tell us, I’m thinking about how all of these different layers stack to influence one place.”
Giselle Britt ’21, an urban studies major who has worked in affordable housing development for about five years in Texas, has now started a master’s program in city planning in Pennsylvania. Still, she’s continually thinking back to her undergraduate experiences.
“Some of my favorite Trinity projects were San Antonio-focused. We did some longitudinal studies and analyses of neighborhoods,” Britt says. “Regardless of what we were working on, I really appreciated getting hands-on experience and also learning those technical skills that allow you to work in the modern environment. At Trinity, you’re going to get the critical skills that are needed in cityplanning fields.”
Even Trinity’s own University Chaplain Alex Serna-Wallender ’08, M’09, and his spouse Elena Serna-Wallender ’08, fondly recall their times as urban studies majors under Drennon. Elena now works as a researcher for an education nonprofit, specifically focused on researching how to improve opportunities for students in community college. She says she still thinks about Drennon’s bus ride assignment.
“On that very first project, the bus project, Alex and I were bus buddies before we even started dating, and we chose the same route,” Elena says. “It was just so eyeopening as a way to get to know San Antonio better. That really pushed me out of my comfort zone and began to shift my identity away from the bubble that I grew up in to someone who can really live out in the world and fully engage with a city.”
After Drennon connected the SernaWallenders to the city, she helped connect them to opportunities. Drennon helped Elena find an internship with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and she helped Alex secure an internship with a city councilwoman that Alex says “was instrumental in helping me think about living out my faith values.”
Drennon pushed Elena to attend grad school in the Ivy Leagues. Ultimately, Alex jokes, Drennon “also claims credit for our marriage. She was even at our wedding.”
previously considered to be rock-solid, such as underlying beliefs and assumptions about city life. “She’s so passionate about bringing people into the field of urban studies that it can be a little intimidating,” Hammer says with a laugh. “I joke that I feel like I’m spending the whole class trying to impress her because she just very clearly has so much to offer. If you’re willing to sit down and learn, she really challenges you and your ideas.”
But the true legacy of the program, her students and alumni say, is not just technical skills or academic knowledge—it’s making a case for finding ways for people to live and thrive together.
“Drennon is the reason I approach problems through a compassionate lens,” Britt says. “I think this Trinity program really inspires stepping into other perspectives. You’re understanding things from poverty, class, and gender, and while you’re developing
“Drennon is the reason I approach problems through a compassionate lens.”
a set of analytical skills, you’re also understanding that at the root of truly productive policies, there should always be compassion. And I think that at Trinity, you learn that compassion is rooted in a deep understanding of your community. Every day, that’s the thing that carries me through.”
HHear more from Drennon and her former student, Victoria Gonzalez-Gerlach ’13, about the lasting impact Trinity’s urban studies program has on the lives of its participants.
In many ways, Drennon’s bus ride assignment has become more than just an introduction to the urban studies program— it’s a definitive dot on the map where urban studies students can pinpoint the origin of lessons that will serve them for a lifetime.
“Drennon really challenges you to think critically and thoughtfully. I think she’s just such a seismic force,” Elena says. Like an earthquake, Drennon has a way of disrupting what students may have
Tracing the history and impact of KRTU, Trinity’s student-led radio station
words by William Christ, Ph.D. photos by Mason McLerran and collected from Trinity’s Special Collections and Archives
made its first broadcast on January 23, 1976. Founded as a studentrun, noncommercial educational radio station, KRTU has served as a student laboratory offering experiential learning for Trinity University students interested in the radio since its inception. Now, KRTU is a professional nonprofit and one of the last two jazz stations in the state. It is a widely respected media outlet that maintains one of the largest in-studio collections of jazz recordings in the country.
How do you tell the 50-year history of KRTU in under 1,900 words? You can’t. What follows is a snapshot highlighting several key events by decade. These stories don’t reflect all the excitement, successes, and challenges that were faced during the last 50 years, but hopefully they will give you a flavor of some of the decisions that got us here.
According to a May 3, 1974, Trinitonian article, Bill Hays, the chair of the Department of Communication at the time, and Bernard “Bernie” Waterman, cofounder and head of Waterman Broadcasting Corporation, decided that Trinity University could benefit from having its own radio station. However, wanting a radio station and getting a radio station are two very different things.
Nevertheless, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Emilio Nicolas Jr. ’75, then director of the Student Activity Board, Hays’ direction, and a generous gift from the Waterman Broadcasting Corporation, a radio station would be coming to Trinity University.
“I’ve been given so many opportunities to learn through KRTU, and I am thrilled to see what new tasks are thrown my way!”
–Elisa Hernandez ’28 Student Intern
FROM TRINITONIAN, JULY 3, 1975:
BERNARD WATERMAN (LEFT) AND PRESIDENT
DUNCAN WIMPRESS (RIGHT)
“Bernard Waterman, president of Waterman Broadcasting, which has donated more than $17,000 for the construction of the station, made the formal announcement Tuesday (July 1) in a joint statement with Trinity President Duncan Wimpress.
The Waterman corporation agreed in April 1974 to financially back San Antonio’s newest FM station.”
The proposed 10-watt station was predicted to reach a 5-mile radius from the Sid W. Richardson Communications Center and feature what the first station manager, Don White, called “unusual radio,” a mix of various genres, including drama. White’s slogan for the station was “Fresh Air for San Antonio.”
The plan was for the station to be on the air by September 1974, but this date had to be pushed back after the denial of both the original license request to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the 88.1 MHz frequency and subsequent requests for 91.5 MHz and 91.2 MHz frequencies. Even with these setbacks, things kept moving forward for the station. In March 1975, William B. Blakemore II of Midland and the J. M. West Texas Corporation of Houston contributed to the construction of a recording studio that included a new 16-track tape machine. Finally, at 2 p.m. on January 23, 1976, at 91.7 MHz and 50 watts (not the 10 watts that were in the initial proposal), Program Director David King threw the switch. However, the station was only on air for about an hour before Hays quickly shut things down. He was concerned that the station might not be legal because he had received only a copy of the FCC temporary license, not the original telegram. Fortunately, News Director Ron Zimmerman ’73 was by a Western Union
rush it to the station. After that, KRTU filled the airwaves of the local community from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day.
In 1979, Ron Calgaard, Ph.D., became the president of the University, and the station moved from eclectic programming to classical music.
From the beginning, KRTU was seen as a student lab. Hays and Waterman had collaborated to ensure this new station would create unique educational opportunities for Trinity students. They agreed that Trinity students would first train in commercial radio operations at Waterman’s radio stations before stepping into staff positions at KRTU. In the 1980s, two events occurred that would further solidify the station’s commitment to a student-first mission. The first was an invitation by a local group to consider turning KRTU into a National Public Radio station. Robert Blanchard, Ph.D., who became chair of the Department of Communication in 1982, was against the idea. He felt that if KRTU became an NPR station, students would eventually be shut out. It had happened at other public radio stations, and Blanchard wanted to be sure that KRTU continued to provide experiential learning opportunities for students.
The second event that shaped KRTU in the 1980s was an administration reorganization. The faculty voted positively
on Blanchard’s request to put the radio station directly under the Department of Communication to guarantee that the curricular goals of both the department and the station would be met. The department created a number of one-hour, pass-fail practica, making it possible for students of any major to gain hands-on radio experience in announcing, production, and management.
In the 1990s, the station continued under Station Manager Scott Sowards. I became the chair of the Department of Communication and general manager of KRTU in 1998. Toward the end of the decade, KRTU tried broadcasting 24 hours a day using a large CD changer to play music. Unfortunately, the changer had the habit of getting stuck during the night, and we often woke to a noise like a car engine turning over and over.
In May 1999, the department received a call from KLOV, a Christian broadcast station, saying they had an offer to buy the station for $1 million. The new Trinity president, John Brazil, Ph.D., who had started in June 1999, requested the Department of Communication’s recommendation. Initially, we considered keeping the station, but we needed more staff, a new transmitter, and a new control room, and it was unclear how much the University would support us in the future.
Additionally, the administration indicated they would give the department half of the sale price for needs above and beyond our salaries and expenses budget. When we weighed the pros and cons, we decided to recommend the sale of the station.
By the end of the summer, it was clear that our listeners, community and student volunteers, and some of the University trustees did not like our recommendation. After some conversations with Charles White, Ph.D., vice president of Academic Affairs, we agreed to change our recommendation. In return, we were able to add one more person to the staff and get funding for a new 8,900-watt transmitter and upgraded control room equipment. The administration said they expected us to become self-sufficient in five years and make Trinity proud of the station. We said, “No problem!”
No problem? Ha! What were we thinking? By Summer 2002, it was clear that we weren’t going to become self-sufficient when our competition was KPAC, a local 24-hour-a-day classical music station. And though we had a loyal listener base, we weren’t attracting much underwriting, and our spring membership drives normally only raised between $3,000 and $5,000. The money coming in wasn’t enough to fund the station. We weren’t sure about our next move, but we knew what we were doing was not sustainable.
“At the station, I feel like more than simply an intern; I’m a part of a tight-knit team that works together to promote education, inclusivity, and community.”
–Gabriela Nieraeth ’27 Student Intern
FROM TRINITONIAN, MARCH 27, 1975: STATION MANAGER DON WHITE
“‘Most of the records you see are mine and the speakers are borrowed,’ White said, pointing into the studio at the wall of shelves that are only about one-quarter filled with albums.”
“I’ve been able to host jazz and indie shows live on air and gain real-world experience in the music industry.”
–Zoë Collier ’26 Student Intern
KRTU has been scheduling its shows using these clock diagrams since its founding. These specific diagrams break down the broadcasting segments during the morning drive time slot.
During the summer, Gerry Gibbs, a Grammy-nominated drummer, and Operations Manager Ben Donnelly came to the Department of Communication and said we could do the city and ourselves a service if we changed our format to jazz. Of all the public radio music formats, jazz did not normally perform well financially. After consulting with several people and researching jazz radio in the San Antonio market, the department decided to give jazz a chance. The department voted in late summer to move to a jazz format. The question was, “When would we be ready to make the change?”
In October 2002, while I was on leave, the station went down for a day because of technical difficulties. Robert Huesca, Ph.D., faculty station manager and acting department chair, decided this “technical crisis” provided the impetus to change formats. When the station came back on the air the next day, it was a jazz station for 17 hours a day and a rock station for the remaining seven hours.
Thanks to Lila Cockrell, former San Antonio mayor who led the San Antonio Parks Foundation from 1981 until her retirement in 2012, the ’00s were the decade we became collaborators with Jazz’SAlive, the premier city jazz festival.
KRTU 1989
In 2009, the South Texas Jazz Project began. The radio program, which features local musicians performing and being interviewed, became central to the station’s efforts to give back to the jazz community and San Antonio. JJ Lopez, who at the time was a part-time announcer and volunteer and is now the general manager of KRTU, was hired to produce the show.
In 2010, KRTU welcomed Kory Cook as its new music director and chief announcer. During his nearly 15-year tenure, Cook elevated and advanced the station’s jazz credibility, expanding the playlist and establishing a new tone and style on air, and he produced several high-profile programs. Around this time, host Jorge Canavati joined KRTU. His special broadcast, Jazz de Mexico, connected us internationally with jazz artists throughout Mexico.
In 2011, I asked the KRTU staff if we should host a concert or two to build awareness about our upcoming 10th anniversary of becoming a jazz station. Associate General Manager Ron Nirenberg ’99, who would go on to become mayor of San Antonio, took the idea and ran with it. He developed a monthly concert series in collaboration with other
KRTU released the first edition of its newsletter Halfnotes on February 19, 1979.
nonprofits. The “Year of Jazz” was a game changer for the station. Nirenberg’s vision and execution put KRTU on the national jazz map, with the magazine JazzTimes doing a feature on the event.
In Fall 2012, I retired from KRTU. Jennifer Henderson, Ph.D., who was chair of the Department of Communication, took over responsibility for KRTU and put renewed resources into the indie-overnight programming. In 2017, she and General Manager Lopez, along with the dedicated KRTU staff and Trinity stakeholders, helped spearhead the 30,000-watt power upgrade to the station … a far cry from the original 50 watts.
As its 50th anniversary approaches, KRTU has not slowed down. The South Texas Jazz Project began a collaboration with public television’s KLRN and the Carver Community Cultural Center to produce and record televised concerts. The first concert featured trumpeter and educator Adrian Ruiz, D.M.A., and the second showcased pianist and composer Aaron Prado, D.M.A. The Ruiz broadcast was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy.
Now, under the direction of Communication Department Chair Althea Delwiche, Ph.D., and a committed, professional staff of five, KRTU continues to work toward expanding community engagement. Students are now spearheading the production of independent music events such as the indie rock KRTUfest.
And, KRTU hasn’t forgotten its educational and fine arts mission. There are 43 students participating in internships and/or enrolled in KRTU-focused classes this fall, not to mention its
“I am so humbled to be part of a storied legacy that has engaged our community, our students, and other media partners for five decades.”
–Bria Woods ’16
KRTU Content Director
nearly 40 community volunteers on air and nearly 1,000 members. This fall, KRTU staff members taught classes in “Radio Broadcasting,” “Audio Production and Podcasting,” and “Nonprofit Management.”
To kick off the 50-year celebration, the station is collaborating again with KLRN and the Carver Community Cultural Center to hold a free concert featuring Texas jazz star vocalist and Grammy-nominated artist Jazzmeia Horn on January 23, 2026, 50 years to the day of the first KRTU broadcast. The concert is being funded through contributions by Trinity University, H-E-B, Community First Health, and individual donors.
The best is yet to come.
KRTU staff photo from the 2013 Mirage (left to right, back row) J.D. Swerzenski ’09, Brad Fox, Jennifer Henderson, Rebecca Villarreal, Monica Reina (left to right, front row) Kory Cook, Ron Nirenberg ’99, William Christ
William Christ, Ph.D., is a Trinity professor emeritus of communication and was KRTU’s general manager from 1998 to 2012. Christ wishes to thank Althea Delwiche, Ph.D., JJ Lopez, Bria Woods ’16, Kennice Leisk ’22, and Molly Bruni for reading and editing drafts of this essay. Thanks also goes to the Trinitonian for its early news stories about KRTU and University Archivisit Abra Schnur for collecting KRTU’s archival images.
KRTU’S SUCCESS IN THOSE EARLY YEARS WAS A FUNCTION OF MANY PEOPLE.
Read more about KRTU’s history at krtu.org
Read the full-length story at gotu.us/50yearskrtu
Have a KRTU story? Send it to krtu@trinity.edu
Follow KRTU on social media to stay up to date on its 50th Anniversary programming.
KRTU maintains one of the largest in-studio collections of jazz recordings in the country. Check out some of the records in its collection.
1958
1978
1980
From 1976 to 2026, listen to what 50 years of community radio sounds like.
words by JEREMY GERLACH
The mayor will take your questions.
Ron Nirenberg ’99, four-term mayor of San Antonio and two-term District 8 city councilman, has returned to Trinity University—this time at the head of a classroom.
As the Calgaard Distinguished Professor of Practice in the Department of Communication, Nirenberg is teaching “How a Modern City Works: The People and Systems of San Antonio.” Through the course, he hopes to impart students with “functional know-how” on leadership, public service, and running a major city.
“Trinity was the place that allowed me to launch into the world,” Nirenberg says. “It was also the place that cultivated
my love of San Antonio. I have served now for a dozen years in elected office, and I feel a responsibility to bring that experience back and share it with students who are also looking for that spark of inspiration.”
After eight years leading a city of 1.5 million people, Nirenberg describes public office as “controlled chaos” and “a little bit of a merry-go-round.” Returning to Trinity, he says, has been grounding.
“It always feels like home when you come back,” Nirenberg says. “The energy of Trinity hasn’t changed.”
left This fall, former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg ’99 returned to Trinity to serve as the Calgaard Distinguished Professor of Practice. right In September, Nirenberg and students in his “How a Modern City Works” course visited the San Antonio Water System.
While he describes a “surreal” sense of being back on campus, he also notices what remains consistent: the serene presence of architect O’Neil Ford, the sound of the bells of Murchison Tower, and the smell of mountain laurels.
“There’s still this buzz, this excitement about learning and exploring the world,” Nirenberg says. “The world is different from what it was 30 years ago, but that electricity, that drive to solve problems, is still here. That’s what I’m excited about.”
Nirenberg, who arrived in San Antonio as a “fresh-faced, impressionable 18-yearold,” counts Trinity as the point that made a life of leadership possible. He majored in communication with minors in business and management and served as editor-in-chief of the Trinitonian. Before being elected mayor in 2017 and District 8’s council representative in 2013, he worked at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and as general manager of KRTU FM 91.7. He grins as he sits back in the KRTU jockey chair, surrounded by records and radio equipment, for a quick interview before class.
Though he returns to the classroom with the same confidence he would for a council session or press conference, Nirenberg says
he isn’t just lecturing on policy or campaign stories—he’s helping students grapple with the meeting point of idealized values and practical systems.
“As a student here, you’re discovering the world and developing your own belief system and values. Those are extremely important to bring into the world,” Nirenberg says. “At the same time, it’s the functional awareness of how institutions and systems actually work that allows you to become a real actor
“It always feels like home when you come back. The energy of Trinity hasn’t changed.”
in shaping the future. So, one of the primary hopes that I have for this class is really finding the intersection of students’ personal values with real-world awareness.”
That’s the driving force behind Trinity’s “professor of practice” model. Across multiple majors, Trinity complements nationally acclaimed faculty, who open doors to research, internships, and mentorship, with professionals who bring hands-on industry experience. The result: Students continue to pursue their passions while discovering how to translate them into lives of impact.
Nirenberg sees his role as adding a unique dimension to students’ on-campus journeys. “I’m contributing my experience, access to people and networks, and a knowledge base of how one of the top-10 cities in the United States functions,” he says. “That combination of idealism with real, practical know-how prepares students to not just be voices in the future but also actors in shaping it.”
“Becoming a public servant, getting more involved in the city and its inner workings, has become a lot more possible for me.”
John De Hoyos ’28, a prospective urban studies and business double major, says he took Nirenberg’s class to understand how public service could play out in the real world.
“I would never have imagined my professor being the former mayor of San Antonio. He has great connections, and not a lot of universities offer students that type of opportunity,” De Hoyos says. “One of the first things Professor Nirenberg told us is that ‘the city is going to be our textbook,’ which is a pretty big textbook.”
Weekly field trips—visiting City Manager Erik Walsh ’91, M’94, other former mayors, and agencies such as the San Antonio River Authority—show students the workings of a city firsthand.
“Before Trinity, I kind of saw a future in public service as impossible for me. But since I’ve been at Trinity, and I’ve become more involved, I’ve had multiple jobs already, multiple connections, and now I get to know Professor Nirenberg,” De Hoyos says. “I feel like becoming a public servant, getting more involved in the city and its inner workings, has become a lot more possible for me.”
Nirenberg can be quite a motivator. He won every San Antonio election he ran in, yet he’s just as inspired by the next generation of Tigers who are preparing for their own leadership opportunities.
“Part of my motive here is to give back—but also to gain the kind of inspiration I know Trinity fosters,” he says.
Nirenberg appreciates how Trinity remains connected to the outside world while encouraging students to thrive in leadership roles in San Antonio.
“Trinity trains you to be a critical thinker, to be open to different perspectives, and that makes for better citizens.”
Trinity offers numerous pathways for engagement: research on the city’s urban environment, internships in government and the private sector, opportunities in the nonprofit world through the Arts, Letters, and Enterprise program, service events through Greek Life, and representation at cultural events such as Fiesta and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. March. Trinity faculty have positioned the University as a thought leader and city resource.
That exchange between the University and the city, in Nirenberg’s eyes, is one of Trinity’s greatest strengths. “Trinity has such an important place in San Antonio’s history and landscape,” he says. “Every major city would love to have a premier liberal arts institution like this. Today, as San Antonio grows and diversifies, Trinity has an expanding role in that trajectory.”
Nirenberg credits Trinity’s leadership, particularly the efforts of President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., for “bursting the bubble” and drawing the University closer into partnership with its hometown. He’s noticed more local students on campus, which gives a sense of the city embracing Trinity.
Nirenberg’s outlook on his alma mater is full of inspiration—for its students, its potential in a dynamic city, and its enduring reputation as a place that cultivates leaders.
“When I say ‘leaders,’ I’m not just referring to people in C-suites,” he explains. “It’s people who contribute to their community through whatever sphere of influence they have.”
At Trinity, Nirenberg found his voice while keeping his curiosity; he maintained his ideals while learning consensus building. He hopes future Tigers, regardless of belief, background, or opinion, will embrace the most valuable skill of all: independent thinking.
“Trinity trains you to be a critical thinker, to be open to different perspectives, and that makes for better citizens,” Nirenberg says. “And better citizens make better leaders, in whatever capacity they serve.”
Through its $300 million campaign, Our Time: The Campaign for Trinity University, Trinity University is redefining its future while honoring and securing its legacy as a university of the highest order. Welcome to the space dedicated to sharing updates and recognizing donors whose continued support and commitment to Trinity’s mission are a driving force for the campaign. Each of us, all of us, must rise to this challenge for Trinity students: providing access, creating opportunities, and advancing excellence for generations to come. Give today to support tomorrow at give.trinity.edu
President Beasley hosted regional rollout events for comprehensive campaign
This year, Trinity University President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., hosted regional rollout events in Dallas and Austin for the Ready. Set. Rise. strategic plan and the Our Time: The Campaign for Trinity University comprehensive campaign. Amid good food and company, President Beasley kicked off the event by sharing exciting Trinity news, such as new rankings and prestigious scholarship and fellowship awards, which reflect the University’s rise in national recognition. The presentation outlined the four pillars of the University’s strategic plan and how its goals align with and support those of the campaign. Attendees of these events were encouraged to consider how they will impact Trinity’s future. They wrote responses on colorful cardstock depicting the Our Time campaign-branded tiles, which are modern interpretations of Trinity’s iconic mid-century modern details from notable doors across campus. The attendees added their tiles to a reflection wall.
1 Attendees of the Dallas rollout event shared how they hope to impact Trinity’s future on colorful cardstock squares depicting the Our Time branded tiles.
2 A Trinity parent wrote a heartfelt note for the reflection wall at the Austin rollout event.
3 Attendees of the Austin rollout event mingled before the presentation began.
4 Trinity President Vanessa B. Beasley presented on the four pillars of the Ready. Set. Rise. strategic plan at the Dallas rollout event.
5 President Beasley (left) talked with the attendees of the Dallas rollout event.
6 Trinity Board of Trustees member Darsh Preet Singh ’08 spoke to the crowd of the Austin rollout event.
Craig Greenway shares heartwarming stories that inspired him to establish the Ruth Metz and Charles A. Greenway Endowed Scholarship
by Kennice Leisk ’22
In November 2023, Craig Greenway became one of the first donors to establish an endowed scholarship through the Trinity Commitment, a Board of Trustees initiative to use $25 million from Trinity University’s unrestricted endowment as a donor match to create new, endowed scholarships or fund existing scholarships. Greenway, a retired wealth adviser, established the Ruth Metz and Charles A. Greenway Endowed Scholarship in honor of his parents, Ruth Metz ’46 and Charles A. Greenway ’50. Greenway’s philanthropic journey with Trinity is best told through a trip down memory lane about his parents.
At the end of World War II, Charles and Ruth were both in San Antonio; he was serving in the Army Air Corps, and she was attending Trinity from Yorktown, Texas. One night, Ruth and her sister decided to go to a dance for U.S. servicemen, and it was there that she met Charles. That night, Charles found both the woman he would marry and the University that would shape his future. After he was out of the service in 1946, Charles attended Trinity thanks to the G.I. Bill.
While one world event brought Ruth to the man she would marry, another disrupted her celebration of her time at Trinity. In 1946, the polio epidemic forced the cancellation of Trinity’s traditional graduation ceremony, and Ruth never had the chance to walk the stage with her classmates. Instead, she marked
the milestone at home, receiving her diploma in the mail along with a heartfelt letter of congratulations penned by then-University President Monroe G. Everett, who expressed, “You will rejoice in every forward step which your alma mater makes. Her success will be yours, and your success will be hers.”
This family story and timeline are core memories that inspired Greenway to give to Trinity University to honor his parents’ legacy.
“Establishing the scholarship checked all the boxes for me: I could honor my parents, provide opportunities for deserving students, and attract students to a great university, all while supporting my hometown of San Antonio,” Greenway says.
The Ruth Metz and Charles A. Greenway Endowed Scholarship will support in perpetuity students with financial need who are majoring in mathematics, computer science, or education, the same subjects Greenway’s parents studied. Through this scholarship, Greenway is ensuring that more bright students have access to the same quality education that enriched his parents’ lives.
“If you had a good experience and you know that there are students who wouldn’t have that experience were it not for your generosity, then you should give back.”
Belle Wheelan ’72 has been investing in students’ futures for 24 years as a Trinity True donor
by Cal Siewert ’22
For Belle Wheelan ’72, studying at Trinity University was like a dream come true. As a San Antonio native, Wheelan had always passed by the “University in the Sun” and thought, “One day, maybe.” After receiving her acceptance letter at just 16 years old, Wheelan stepped onto campus as a student and was met with remarkable warmth and a community where she belonged.
From making the cheerleading team as a firstyear student to becoming the president of her sorority chapter her senior year, Wheelan’s time at Trinity was marked by engagement, hard work, and a spirit of helpfulness from peers and professors alike.
“All your professors knew your name; they made it a point to learn who you were. Classmates actually got together and helped each other,” Wheelan says. “I carried that involvement and studentcenteredness with me professionally as I began my career and always tried to keep students first.”
Since graduating from Trinity, Wheelan has become a leader in higher education, from teaching at San Antonio College to serving as president of Northern Virginia Community College, as Virginia’s secretary of education, and, most recently, as president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, from which she retired in July. While her career has taken her to many different universities and colleges,
Wheelan remains dedicated to her alma mater. She’s given consecutively to Trinity for the last 24 years, making her Trinity True, a designation given to Trinity community members who support the University consistently over time, regardless of the amount they give annually.
Leaning on her motto, “Students are central to success,” Wheelan prioritizes access to education through both her work and her annual giving. “Someone invested in me when I went through Trinity, because I attended on scholarship,” Wheelan explains, “so it seemed appropriate that I gave back so somebody else could matriculate as well.”
Wheelan is sharply focused on the student experience and firmly believes that education prepares students for life by developing perspective and a greater appreciation for the rest of the world. “If you had a good experience and you know that there are students who wouldn’t have that experience were it not for your generosity, then you should give back,” Wheelan says.
Although Wheelan graduated from Trinity more than 50 years ago, her belief in the “University in the Sun” remains, and her gifts help empower students to access the warmth of a Trinity education.
Healthcare leader John Haupert ’83, M’92 honors his past by investing in Trinity’s future
by Kenneth Caruthers ’15
As president and chief executive officer of Atlanta’s Grady Health System for more than a decade, John Haupert ’83, M’92, FACHE, has built a reputation as a transformational leader grounded in humility, empathy, and emotional intelligence, values that he traces back to his formative years at Trinity University.
Born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Haupert found more than just an education at Trinity. “Trinity is very welcoming, very open, and very easy to be part of the community. I found it to be a place where I could discover more about myself without obstacles,” Haupert reflects.
Growing up in a family full of physicians, Haupert admits to feeling a bit of pressure to start down a premed track. With the encouragement of his professors, he found a home in the Michael Neidorff School of Business and majored in business administration with a concentration in finance.
Eventually, Haupert’s calling to health care pulled him back to Trinity’s Health Care Administration master’s program. “There was no need to go anywhere else,” he says. “It’s one of the top programs in the country, and the required year-long administrative residency gets your foot in the door.”
Haupert’s administrative residency at Methodist Health System in Dallas launched a 14-year tenure there. Then in 2011, Haupert joined Grady Health
John Haupert ’83, M’92 credits Trinity’s Health Care Administration program for setting him up to succeed as a healthcare leader.
System in Atlanta during a critical turnaround phase. Named among Atlanta’s most admired CEOs, he approaches his role as a servant leader, meeting people where they are and truly listening to them.
The recipient of the 2023 Gold Medal Award, the highest honor given to outstanding leaders by the American College of Healthcare Executives, Haupert wants to pay back Trinity for everything it gave him.
“Trinity was a great life formation experience for me. So much of who I became was because of the environment at Trinity. I’ve always been indebted to Trinity for that,” Haupert says.
To ensure Trinity’s mission is sustainable well into the future, Haupert and his husband, Bryan Brooks, established the Elizabeth Wolferman Haupert Endowed Scholarship Fund in mathematics in memory of Haupert’s late mother. “She was a mathematician with a degree from Wellesley College. She fell in love with Trinity through my experiences at the University. Trinity meant the world to her, just like it does to me,” Haupert says.
This endowment, matched by the Trinity Commitment scholarship initiative, will ensure a lasting impact for students following in Haupert’s footsteps to pursue their passions and lead with purpose and integrity.
Tigers rallied TUgether to raise nearly $1 million for Trinity students
On September 24-25, Tigers everywhere came TUgether to make an incredible impact through the 1869 Challenge. A total of 4,215 donors met 60 challenges to raise $950,814 in support of Trinity University students.
The Trinity community smashed through its goal of reaching 3,500 donors to unlock $35,000 for our Tigers. They didn’t stop there. Retired Trinity staff member Linda Crick Campbell challenged our community to gain 250 new donors to unlock an additional $50,000 for Trinity students—and they did it, with Tiger Pride!
“As both an alumna and a proud parent of a 2023 Trinity graduate, I choose to support the Trinity Symphony Orchestra (TSO) because I deeply value the role music plays in shaping well-rounded individuals,” says 1869 Challenge donor Phyllis Nguyen ’91, P’23. “TSO’s dedication, artistry, and unwavering commitment to excellence deserve to be celebrated and sustained.”
Across generations, academic disciplines, student organizations, and athletic teams, the 1869 Challenge showcased what it truly means to be One Trinity—with a healthy dose of friendly competition.
Congratulations to our challenge winners, and thank you to all our supporters! Every gift, no matter the size, will help fund the student organizations, athletic teams, academic departments, and scholarships that make our Tigers’ Trinity journeys special.
The Trinity University community came together during Alumni Weekend to celebrate this year’s alumni award recipients. The Trinity University Alumni Association recognized nine alumni, and the Health Care Administration Alumni Association honored two alumni.
Patricia J. Blattman M’82
Tower Award
Blattman served as the Northside Independent School District’s (NISD) first Gifted and Talented coordinator. Upon her retirement, NISD honored Blattman’s 28 years of dedicated service by naming a new elementary school after her. She also served as an adjunct professor at Trinity from 1998-2008.
Homero R. Garza ’71, MPH, M.D.
Tower Award
Garza credits his Trinity education as the bedrock of success for his nearly 50-year career in gastroenterology. He has donated to Trinity at the senior associates level for at least 45 years and, along with his wife, Sandee Marion, recently endowed a scholarship in the name of his parents to help local Bexar County students attend Trinity.
Daniel J. Geddes ’96
Tower Award
Geddes is the group executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. and Frost Bank. Geddes mentors students as a judge for the Louis H. Stumberg Venture Competition and as a panelist for Alpha Kappa Psi. In addition, he serves on the executive committee for Our Time: The Campaign for Trinity University.
Highest award presented by the Trinity University Alumni Association, recognizing alumni who graduated at least 16 years ago and have distinguished themselves through personal or professional achievement
Megan Selmon Kelly ’03
Tower Award
Selmon Kelly co-founded the Shine Foundation, which has provided education, food, and shelter to children in Liberia, West Africa, for almost 20 years. She is also the director of Executive Development at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center for the U.S. Department of State.
Mary Hayden Manning ’13
Fraternity/Sorority Life Alumni Adviser of the Year Award
Eleven alumni honored during October’s Alumni Weekend Know any outstanding Trinity alumni who should be considered for next year’s Alumni Awards? Visit gotu.us/alumniawards.
Manning has served as a formal sorority adviser since 2021 and is currently in her second year as the Gamma Chi Delta Alumnae Association president. She launched a sustaining membership program in 2023 to strengthen alumnae engagement, raise funds, and support the club’s needs. She also donates consistently to Trinity, Greek Council, and her club’s scholarship fund.
Minutaglio is a senior editor at National Geographic, a United Nations Press Fellow, and an award-winning journalist whose reporting has spanned the Olympics, global women’s health, and interviews with icons such as Jane Goodall and Serena Williams. Minutaglio guest lectures and mentors students at Trinity and has also written stories for the University.
Recognizes alumni who embody what it means to be a Trinitonian through their exceptional service to the community or University
Recognizes alumni who have maintained a commitment to connect with and improve their alma mater or have made a significant contribution to their field, profession, or greater community
Rex Smith ’74
Tower Award
Smith is the creator of the Substack newsletter The Upstate American and a longtime commentator and host of The Media Project, a nationally syndicated public radio program. After leading newsrooms in New York for 30 years, he is now engaged in advancing not-for-profit journalism and championing the arts in the community.
Christina Soontornvat ’02
Distinguished Alumni Award
Soontornvat is a New York Times
bestselling author and one of the most celebrated voices in children’s literature today. She made history as the first author since 1954 to receive two Newbery Honors in the same year and is the only author to receive the Newbery Honor for both fiction and nonfiction in a single year.
Tingle is a professor of business administration at Trinity. From launching minors in sport management and arts, letters, and enterprise and launching the Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success to serving as Trinity’s faculty athletic representative for the NCAA, his vast contributions have made a profound impact on the University and beyond.
Recognizes alumni who graduated in the past 10 years whose achievements in their profession or chosen field and/or in service to the community set a standard of excellence
Recognizes outstanding service to a Trinity University fraternity or sorority by alumni who have served in an advisory capacity
Recognizes outstanding leadership and significant contributions to the health services administration field, named in honor of former Trinity Dean Leonard A. Duce
Rick W. Merrill ’84
Merrill has served as president and CEO of Cook Children’s Health Care System since 2007, leading the Fort Worth-based organization at a time of unprecedented growth, including a historic expansion that nearly quadrupled the size of the Cook Children’s Medical Center. Merrill received the Fort Worth Business Press’ Executive of the Year Award in 2013 and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s Susan Halsey Executive Leadership Award in 2017. He actively serves on numerous national, state, and community advisory boards.
Recognizes early careerists ages 40 and younger for outstanding achievements in the field of healthcare management
Kwon serves as the CEO of Methodist Hospital Texsan and has more than 13 years of experience in hospital administration and leadership. Prior to this role, Kwon worked at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin for more than 11 years, including six years as its chief operating officer. At St. David’s, she spearheaded many construction and expansion projects, led 16 hospital departments and services, and played an instrumental role in leading the hospital through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watch videos spotlighting some of the alumni award winners.
ACE celebrates milestone for alumni career support
by Terris Tiller ’00
This September marked the one-year anniversary of Trinity University’s Alumni Career Engagement (ACE) Office. In just 12 months, ACE has made a lasting impact by providing valuable professional development resources and programs to support and empower Trinity alumni.
Through one-on-one career coaching, the inaugural Young Alumni Summit, a professional LinkedIn networking group, career readiness clinics, personal finance education cohorts, and peer-to-peer alumni connections, ACE is equipping Tigers with the tools to thrive beyond their time on campus.
To launch its programming, ACE partnered with Greene and Associates, Inc., an organizational resilience company founded by Barbara A. F. Greene P’10, P’14. Together, ACE and Greene and Associates, Inc., are helping alumni navigate career transitions, whether due to job changes, caregiving responsibilities, or the pursuit of new opportunities.
Alumni are already feeling the impact of ACE’s initial offerings.
After joining ACE’s financial education cohort, Trinity Alumni Association Board Director Tahlar Rowe ’18 shared: “As an alum, this course made me feel valued; it made me feel like the University is still concerned about our well-being. The classes, particularly on budget setting, loans, insurance, and retirement planning, were so helpful for me. Sometimes we assume that we have it all together, but the more you know, the more you can grow!”
ACE is also creating new opportunities for alumni to connect around industry insights and shared identities. In Fall 2025, ACE partnered with business faculty to host the second annual Real Estate Forum as well as a dinner for alumni professionals in finance. These events sparked dialogue about workforce trends, fostered community within these industries, and strengthened learning networks among Tigers.
ACE is currently strengthening its digital presence to expand its reach and impact. The team will soon launch a monthly blog with LinkedIn tips, job search strategies, and program updates, along with a podcast, What Makes a Tiger Roar?, where alumni will share stories of leadership, innovation, learning, and resilience.
With its first milestone year complete, ACE is just getting started. Upcoming initiatives include the second annual Young Alumni Summit on April 11, 2026, additional career readiness clinics with regional alumni clubs, and an expanded partnership with Greene and Associates, Inc. to include group coaching for addressing today’s volatile job market.
Together, ACE’s programs and resources will ensure Trinity alumni remain supported, empowered, and connected at every stage of their careers.
For more information about ACE and career resources for alumni, visit gotu.us/ace.
Earlier this year, former Semmes Scholar Audrey Davis ’24 was selected for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, a highly sought-after award with only about 5% of applicants selected in past years. As part of her fellowship, Davis began a Master of Science in Environmental Science and Engineering this fall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, the nation’s top-ranked public school of public health.
“I really love environmental science because it’s science that helps people and the planet. It explores not only how environmental pollution sources are mechanically happening, but also whom they’re affecting, how they’re affecting them, and how we can help resolve these issues.”
–Audrey Davis ’24
Richard Anderson retired on December 31, 2024, from the Office of College Relations and Marketing after 28 years at Austin Community College (1996-2024). Prior to that, he worked at KTBC, Channel 7 in Austin (1980-95) and KLST, Channel 8 in San Angelo (1976-80).
Beth Bando published her second book, Dare 2B Fair: Embracing the Power in Words Her creative life began in the world of theatre at Trinity, and she has since expanded her work to include writing, eco-art, and personal growth seminars.
1969
Susan Masinter Riley’s piano students delivered standout performances at their annual recital in May. The event marked her 31st year of teaching in San Antonio. Inspired by her own piano teacher at Trinity, Andrew Mihalso, she continues to pass on his joy and enthusiastic love of music.
1971
Sara Appelbee announces with deep sadness the passing of her beloved husband of 53 years, Ronnie Appelbee. In brighter news, she has settled into her new home overlooking Lake Texoma and has retired from her company, Appelbee Interior Designs.
1972
John Burkhart has been a construction consultant for more than 30 years.
Anne Conger celebrated her 14th anniversary of working at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 1.
Eleanor Ayers to Madison (D’Iorio) ’20 and Luke Ayers ’19
May 2025
“We are so thankful for this college that brought us together, and we are starting our new chapter in Houston as I begin child neurology residency.”
–Madeleine
Heliste ’20
Tonuia Addison Jackson , now retired, spends much of her time driving cross country to visit her children and grandchildren.
Stephen Houser graduated from Trinity with a Bachelor of Music in voice. He then headed off to The University of Texas at Austin ostensibly to study musicology. Unfortunately, that did not work out for him. The good news is that he ended up taking some computer science courses and earned a Bachelor of Arts in computer science in 1980 from UT Austin. During that time, he found a job with UT at a research facility. Houser retired at the end of August after 46 years of service there. After taking time off, he plans to return to the research facility in a part-time capacity.
A new children’s opera composed by violinist Mary Alice Rich with libretto by Claudia Navarro Jameson was performed to a standing ovation at the 2023 Mu Phi Epsilon national convention in Dallas. Since then, the opera has been performed at Dallas public elementary
schools and is now to be performed by the Fort Worth Opera’s community outreach program and as part of Texas Christian University’s regular 2025-26 season. Rich and Navarro Jameson’s 25-minute children’s opera is based on a Mexican folktale. It is complete with overture, arias, recitative, and a quartet finale. The fairytale theme is based on redemption that comes from forgiveness and ends joyfully. Navarro Jameson studied voice with Rosalind Phillips and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity. She performed several ingénue leading roles in musical theatre and opera in San Antonio, Atlanta, and Dallas, and she retired in 2021 as an elementary school teacher. She is active with Mu Phi Epsilon and other music clubs in Dallas.
B.D. Griffin was elected to a second term as county attorney for Montgomery County, Texas.
Raul E. Hinojosa was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution, honoring his ancestor Manuel Hinojosa, who served in the militia and contributed to the American Revolution seven generations ago.
Valerie Shelley enjoys time to herself after retiring in October 2022 from teaching special education in the inner city for 27 years. After
In January 2026, Trinity Master of Science in Accounting graduate Ari Skolnick-Schur ’24, M’25 will begin a prestigious Postgraduate Technical Assistant position at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). He is one of only a few students nationwide to earn this honor this year and the seventh Trinity graduate to do so. During his one-year term, Skolnick-Schur will play an integral role in the standards-setting process that shapes the future of financial reporting in the United States.
“I am excited to use the wide variety of skills I gained from Trinity’s liberal arts curriculum, technical and soft skills alike, to contribute at the FASB.”
–Ari Skolnick-Schur ’24, M’25
earning her second master’s degree, this one in library science, she served as a school librarian before working as a children’s librarian in the public library for 10 years. Her time now is devoted to seeing family and friends, taking classes, and volunteering. Her two granddaughters keep her busy when they visit.
1982
Mary Ann Graham retired from Visa, Inc. after 11 years at the company and more than 40 years as a software engineer. She continues to look forward to new adventures.
Upon completion of Alyson Reim Friedman’s Master of Fine Arts at the Dallas Theater Center, she worked regionally. Reim Friedman moved to New York City in 1987 and established herself with a theatre community, the American Globe Theatre under Artistic Director John Basil. It was a creative home for 25 years. She married Alan Friedman, an attorney, and together they raised two creative and dynamic children in New York City and have run a business, Quick Change Artistry, in the fashion industry since 2006. Reim Friedman remains inspired by Paul Baker’s “integration of abilities” and
looks forward to meeting fellow alumni. “Expanding one’s social network can be intimidating,” she says. She attended her first Trinity alumni event over the holidays and found the people and the experience very enjoyable and rewarding.
John Jones, Ph.D. , is in his fourth year working as a school psychologist in the great state of Washington. He has begun his first year serving students in the South Kitsap School District, located on the peninsula of the Puget Sound area in Washington. He says, “Wonderful people and gorgeous weather. Come see me sometime!”
Paul “Pableaux” Johnson ’88 was posthumously awarded the 2025 Bright Lights Documentary Photographer of the Year award by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH). In September, LEH sponsored an exhibition and program to bring together New Orleans community members to celebrate Johnson’s art and life.
Hugh Coleman retired after 18 years as the municipal prosecutor and five years as the city attorney of the City of Sanger, Texas. He now practices law in Denton, Texas, just north
the annual Law Day Celebration hosted by the Galveston County Bar Association on April 17. United States District Judge Eskridge provided the keynote, presenting on the symbolism of the eight historical panels on the bronze doors of the United States Supreme Court.
In April, Trinity alumni enjoyed a networking event with the University’s Student Managed Fund in New York City, where they got to celebrate and support the next generation of finance professionals.
of the historic square, from a restored Sears Roebuck catalog house on Elm Street that has been converted into offices.
Tom Spencer has taken a position as executive director of the Honors College and International Affairs and professor of history at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Steven Tannen has clocked 200,000 miles in a trusty minivan in Minnesota while supporting two out of three of his daughters through college and sharing life with his accomplished doctor wife. Despite a lifelong limp from Army service, he embraces his journey with humor and gratitude, embodying what it means to be #Winning.
Gustavo Guzman, Ph.D., transitioned from a parttime role that spanned from 2007 to 2022 to a full-time assistant professorship at St. Mary’s University College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in 2022. He specializes in criminal law, constitutional law, and criminal procedure within the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.
Tanya Spencer retired from a career in public service in September 2024. She spent more than 20 years with the U.S. Department of State as an economic-focused foreign service officer, with tours in Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Haiti, and Canada, as well as time in Washington, D.C. In 2022, she received a presidential appointment to the Senior Foreign Service. Spencer now resides in the Texas Hill Country, focusing on volunteer work.
Katy Butterwick started a new job as the executive director of the Cullen Trust for Health Care in September 2024. Founded in 1978, the Trust supports nonprofit organizations that advance health and health care in the greater Houston area.
Ben Mesches assumed the role of general counsel of Haynes and Boone, LLP on January 1.
Mike Roberts entered his framework dresser in the 25th Annual Texas Furniture Makers Show in Kerrville, Texas, in November 2024. The rift-sawn white oak dresser was chosen as Best in Show out of more than 50 custom furniture entries, all made by Texas artists.
Violeta Garza’s debut poetry collection, Brava, was published in September by an independent press based in Portland, Oregon. Her former Trinity English professor, Arturo Madrid, Ph.D., praised the book as “deeply personal poems that give exquisite voice to the cares, desires, pleasures, and regrets we share as sentient beings. Subtle yet accessible, serious yet humorous, Garza’s creations are profoundly moving.”
Justin Arthrell returned to San Antonio after a period of time in New Mexico and has begun a new role with Methodist Healthcare.
Ashleigh Vaughan Scott is the executive communications manager for the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Beth Angell Collins earned her educational specialist degree in educational leadership and special education administration in 2023 from the University of Northern Colorado. She now serves as the special education mental health coordinator for Jefferson County Public Schools in Golden, Colorado.
Warren Yehl was made chairman of the New Mexico Hospital Association for 2024-25, helping navigate state and federal advocacy efforts for rural health care.
In April, Trinity students took an inside look at the world of sports with the Spurs Sports & Entertainment marketing team, thanks to the support of alumni, staff, and the University’s American Marketing Association chapter. In addition to touring the Victory Capital Performance Center at The Rock at La Cantera, these students heard from a panel of accomplished Trinity alumni working for the San Antonio Spurs: Vice President of Communications Tom James ’90, Vice President of Corporate Development Joe Donnelly ’01, Director of Toyota Field/San Antonio FC Jose Lizardo ’05, and Director of Marketing Veronica Oviedo ’13
Takei Pipkins accepted a promotion to director of infection prevention for the south region at CommonSpirit Health (CSH). CSH is one of the nation’s largest healthcare organizations and seeks to ensure all patients are kept safe and free from infection whenever they are cared for or treated in any of their organizations.
Kendra (Doshier) Arciniega, a graduate of Trinity’s communication program, was recently featured in the premiere episode of the new PBS docuseries Pati Jinich Explores PanAmericana In her segment, which begins around the 27:45 mark, she discusses her small business, her community work in Alaska, and her deep family roots as a descendant of some of San Antonio’s founders.
Jessie Burch Doody and her husband, Adam, welcomed their new daughter in March. She is their first child, and they are over the moon.
Isaiah Mora earned his master’s degree in public administration and a certificate in nonprofit administration and leadership from The University of Texas at San Antonio in December 2024.
Carlo Tolentino recently got married and works at the San Antonio Area Foundation as the philanthropic adviser.
Maddie King began the master’s program in clinical psychology at Pepperdine University this fall.
Elizabeth Chamblee Ploger ’48
May 7, 2025
Joe Bernal ’50
January 25, 2025
Robert Argentero ’52
June 5, 2025
David Gulley ’53
December 27, 2024
Delbert Rowland ’54
July 18, 2022
Charles Bender ’55
February 13, 2025
Cathryn Caskey ’55
October 26, 2024
Harris Kimbell ’56
September 4, 2024
Charles Teykl ’57
October 31, 2024
Helen Bremer Hulen ’58
October 14, 2024
Mikey Stoner Ruddock ’58
November 6, 2024
Judith Douglas Dobkins ’59
January 31, 2025
James Herrington ’59
December 28, 2024
John H. Moore III ’60
June 7, 2025
Malouf Abraham Jr. ’61
May 5, 2025
Glen Poteet ’61
May 10, 2025
Frederick Stebbins Hipple ’62
June 11, 2024
Penelope Lakich
Miekow ’62
December 20, 2024
Rosemarie Fontana O’Keefe ’62
February 10, 2025
Douglas Conner III ’63
May 16, 2024
Mickey McGall Meyers ’63
February 1, 2025
Winfred Baggett ’64
February 18, 2025
Nancy Friday Denning ’64
February 10, 2025
Betty McDowell Helmer ’64
January 30, 2025
Davey Johnson ’64
September 5, 2025
William Morrow ’64
December 18, 2024
Loretta Jackson Betts ’65
January 27, 2025
William Orrison ’65
January 15, 2025
Karl Springer ’66
February 23, 2025
Thomas Taylor ’66
January 8, 2025
James Jones ’67
December 11, 2024
Suzan Schendel Pezzoli ’67
January 25, 2025
Walter Wallis ’67
January 2, 2025
Dale Bench ’68
December 30, 2024
Lawrence Buntin ’68
December 16, 2024
Shirley Crane ’68
December 11, 2024
Charles Labbo ’68 November 20, 2024
Corbin Yellott
Dowling ’69
July 27, 2024
Betty Rider ’69
February 1, 2025
Cindy Holden O’Neill ’71
February 27, 2025
Joan Carlson ’72
February 24, 2025
Victoria Carr ’72
December 28, 2024
Stanley Craig ’72
November 16, 2024
Priscilla Graham Kirkwood ’72
September 13, 2024
John Schwartz Jr. ’72
June 5, 2025
Katherine Gambs Warmack ’72
December 15, 2024
Jimmy Bevis ’73
December 22, 2024
Alfred Toerne ’73
February 13, 2025
Jane Copeland Bach ’74
December 17, 2024
Constance Benson ’74
April 23, 2024
Bernetta Haden ’75
August 29, 2024
Melissa Berry ’76
May 15, 2025
James Gibson ’77
September 6, 2024
Charles Gregory ’77
January 2, 2025
Margaret Dickson Griffin ’80
January 2, 2025
Elizabeth Wilson ’83
July 11, 2025
Louise Ryder Ackerman ’84
January 30, 2025
Eleanor Langworthy Carnes ’85
February 9, 2025
Willie Norris ’87
January 31, 2025
John Thornton ’87
March 29, 2025
Paul “Pableaux”
Johnson ’88
January 26, 2025
Nancy Watson Kock ’88
January 18, 2025
John Ward ’88
December 10, 2024
James Underwood ’90
February 21, 2025
Susan Cook ’91
May 17, 2025
Rockne Demler ’92
February 18, 2025
Melissa Devore Gauvain ’97
January 15, 2025
Allison Jenkins ’01
June 7, 2025
Wilson Hamilton ’21
January 10, 2025
Elijah Woods ’23, M’25
July 27, 2025
Aidan Heartfield ’26
July 4, 2025
Legendary Mets manager leaves a lasting mark on Major League Baseball
Davey Johnson ’64, one of baseball’s most accomplished and forward-thinking figures, died on September 5. He was 82. A standout second baseman during his professional playing career, Johnson appeared in four World Series with the Baltimore Orioles before making his mark as a manager. Using his mathematics degree from Trinity University, Johnson was among the first managers to use computer-generated statistical analysis to support his managerial decisions. He’s best known for leading the New York Mets to their unforgettable 1986 World Series championship using his innovative statistical analysis long before sabermetrics became mainstream. Across 17 seasons managing five different teams, Johnson accumulated a won-lost career record of 1,372–1,071, ranking among the winningest managers in Major League Baseball history. His legacy as both a player and a manager has been remembered nationally, including in a New York Times obituary.
Albuquerque Alumni Club members stayed active with a food bank volunteer project (pictured), a club leader gathering with Trinity University President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., and a fun night cheering on the Isotopes Triple-A baseball team.
Austin Alumni Club members helped beautify their city through the nonprofit Keep Austin Beautiful (pictured), reconnected at a summer happy hour, and boosted career connections through a career readiness clinic and networking event.
Denver Alumni Club members gathered for a curated wine tasting experience and spent a meaningful morning together planting trees at City Park (pictured).
Houston Alumni Club members served at the Houston Food Bank by inspecting, sorting, and packing food for those in need.
New York City Alumni Club members connected with fellow alumni by hosting a Young Alumni Happy Hour (pictured), a rooftop brunch, a Yankees baseball game outing, and a spirited trivia night competing against alumni from other colleges. Students and families were welcomed by regional alumni at the Summer Festival/ Student Send-Off. Club members also gave back by distributing food at Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries.
North Texas Alumni Club members gathered for a happy hour (pictured) and hosted President Beasley at their club leader gathering.
San Antonio Alumni Club members hosted a variety of events, including an alumni Night at the Symphony, Avocados and Academia (a dinner and lecture with Trinity Professor Jennifer Mathews, Ph.D.), and the Alumni Trinity Baseball Bash tailgate (pictured). Tigers also came together for a Back-to-School Happy Hour, pitched in at Team Trinity Move-In Day, and cheered on the Missions baseball team.
Seattle Alumni Club members combined service and fun with a volunteer day at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, complete with arts and crafts and a guided tour. Members also explored the newly expanded Seattle Aquarium (pictured) and hosted a lively Garden Party send-off to celebrate current and incoming students.
St. Louis Alumni Club members gathered at the home of Mike Henges ’78 for a fall cocktail party.
Washington, D.C. Alumni Club members celebrated Earth Day by helping remove invasive honeysuckle on the Mount Vernon Trail (pictured). They also came together for a social gathering at Dacha Beer Garden.
This year, alumni clubs across the country partnered with the Office of Alumni Relations to launch the inaugural Skyline Scholars Welcome Note initiative. Alumni sent thoughtful letters to some of our newest Tigers, offering warm welcomes and valuable insights from their own experiences.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all the alumni who joined us for these regional club events and helped make them a success. If you’d like to get involved with a regional club near you, please contact Amanda Wise ’06, M’08, associate director of alumni regional programs, at amartin1@trinity.edu or 210-999-7235
“Serving as young alumni chair for the NYC Trinity Alumni chapter has been a real pleasure. It’s helped me stay connected to the Trinity community in ways that can be hard to find after graduation—whether that’s by catching up with fellow alumni, welcoming new grads and incoming students, or staying in the loop with what’s happening back on campus. Even years later, staying involved makes Trinity feel like an active part of my life.”
– Mia Yammine ’18 Young
Alumni Chair
New York City Alumni Club
TUAAB president reflects on reconnecting with his alma mater
by Paul Hensley
‘87
I graduated from Trinity University in 1987 and, like most of our graduates, headed out into the world to make my way with a career and family. As many of you know, life happens to you, and you may wake up many years later and discover that you now have the time, energy, and desire to give back to the world that helped make you who you are today.
In my case, I have made a fairly successful career in San Antonio, having worked in accounting and finance for both private and public companies. I worked the last 20 years or so for the Holt family, helping build the Holt companies into one of the largest Caterpillar dealerships in the United States and their related companies into an industrial juggernaut in the Southwest United States. I have also raised my family by successfully co-parenting with my ex-wife, Lisa Sassano Westergard ’85, a former All-American tennis star at Trinity, to raise two awesome young men to adulthood, one as a commercial banker in San Antonio and the other as an actor in New York City. So, it was time to give back.
Jill ’85, P’16 and John Grace ’85, P’16, who sat on the Trinity University Alumni Association Board (TUAAB), asked me to get involved, as they said the University needed good people to be engaged. James Sanders ’98, who was a past chair of TUAAB, had also talked to me about being involved in the Board. The point here is that I was asked to be involved, so I responded to the call.
I also got involved as an alumni adviser for the Bengal Lancers. This came about through a request from John Grace and from Karla Phillips ’92, who at the time was working with the alumni advisers through her role with the University. I have been totally fulfilled working with the young men of the Bengal Lancers. Man, have times changed since my sons went through college 10 years ago! The adviser role has not only kept me close to the challenges that our young people face in these times today but has also kept my faith in the opportunities our country has ahead of it.
I came to Trinity as a student because I wanted to be involved in a community that was much like the high
Paul Hensley ’87 (back right, second to the end) stands with the Bengal Lancers in a photo from the 1987 Mirage
school I attended, Boerne High School. I was intimidated by the big universities with class sizes as large as my graduating class of 152 students. My high school guidance counselor actually knew the folks at Trinity and insisted that I talk to them rather than just go to one of the big schools in Texas. I was basically a first-generation college student, since both of my parents attended college while in the Army and did not have a traditional college experience. I was lucky that I got to experience the Trinity way. I lived at home for my first two years at Trinity, but I integrated into the school community by playing basketball and joining a fraternity, the Bengal Lancers.
I’m not sure why I got disconnected from Trinity for all these years. I wish someone had asked me a lot earlier in my career to engage with the University. I think I would have had a lot more to impart to our students, especially when I was closer to their age. Now, I’m more like a grandfather to them than a father or even a mentor, but I really enjoy helping them in any way I can. I can tell you this: They are super smart, and I learn a lot from them, so I highly recommend getting to know them. They are our next judges, leaders, doctors, etc. You will be extremely impressed by engaging with them!
So, here I am today, president of the Trinity University Alumni Association Board, asking our alumni, “How can you get involved? How can you give back?” Because it’s not too late. It’s never too late. Our time is now, and we need you! We would love for you to engage in any way you feel comfortable, whether it’s by serving on the Alumni Association Board or the Board of Visitors, attending alumni events, or mentoring our students. Let us know by contacting Alumni Relations and Development at alumni@trinity.edu!
Paul Hensley ’87 is the president of the Trinity University Alumni Association Board and the senior vice president and chief financial officer for HOLT CAT and its affiliates.
jumps above defenders in a photo from the 1985 Mirage
What brings these students to Trinity in the first place? What makes our campus a special place to study and grow?
I think the beauty that Trinity has to offer is this sense of family that you have with the people that you strive for greatness with, and it really just makes you feel at home. And the faculty at Trinity are very understanding, and they’re very kind. They care about you as a person. More schools need professors like the ones Trinity has.”
“I was really surprised to hear that a liberal arts school had such a strong pre-med track. About 90% of Trinity students with a GPA of 3.6 or higher get accepted into medical school. I think some things that help with that are the small class sizes and how one-on-one professors are with students, especially as students are getting ready to apply to medical school.”
We want to hear from our alumni, donors, and Trinity family. Scan to tell us why you chose to be a Tiger. Your response may be featured in the next Trinity magazine issue!
1 Trinity Place San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Before the front doors of Northrup Hall lies the Trinity University seal. Reminiscent of the University’s Presbyterian roots, the seal includes Trinity’s motto E Tribus Unum, meaning “From Three, One,” and the image of sunshine beaming from a book. For decades, students have avoided stepping on the seal to prevent bad luck and as a sign of respect toward the University. You may recall first hearing about this tradition from admissions tour guides (like the ones pictured here). Have you stepped on the seal?
photo by Christian Naranjo
