The Trinity Perspective | Fall 2017

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Home Sweet Humanities Academic partnerships lead to success

Rising To The Challenge Trinity alumnus founds autism research clinic In the heart of San Antonio, a colorful macaw flies gracefully, hovering in the clouds. A lone polar bear sits near an ocean teeming with fish, and a zebra competes for shade with a flock of pale pink flamingos. The sky is a radiant sapphire blue.

This picturesque scene is not the San Antonio Zoo, but wall murals at the TEAM Center clinic, located at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The clinic, founded by Lee Mason ’03, serves children with autism and other intellectual disabilities using an applied behavior analysis approach.

Established in 2013, the clinic is a verbal behavior laboratory where student and faculty research teams collaborate to address the many challenges of autism.

Mason, an associate professor of special education at UTSA, directs the clinic and the entire Teacher Education: Autism Model (TEAM) Program.

“The clinic was founded to provide a more authentic learning environment for students,” says Mason, a boardcertified behavior analyst. “Students gain a real-life application of these behavior analytic services, which culminates in innovative practices for more effectively working with children with autism.”

To read more about Lee’s work, visit gotu.us/leemason.

The Trinity Perspective magazine is produced quarterly.

Through these pages, explore the many facets of life at Trinity University and get to know the students, faculty, and staff that call Trinity home. With the vibrant city of San Antonio as a backdrop, discover the many benefits and opportunities our community has to offer. Oh, and we may throw in our favorite restaurants around town for you to check out while visiting our 125-acre campus.

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Home Sweet Humanities

Trinity University debuts the Humanities Collective

By Carlos Anchondo ’14

At Trinity University, the humanities have long stood as a vital part of a liberal arts and sciences education. They now have a new home in the Humanities Collective, an initiative launched in February to support, coordinate, and promote humanities activities, research, and programming. The Humanities Collective highlights the strengths of the humanities at Trinity in a concerted manner, showcasing existing programming while developing new initiatives.

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Those initiatives included a spring 2017 humanities undergraduate research symposium.

Humanities students were invited to a half-day conference to present findings from intensive research they conducted. Another initiative, Humanities Research Fellows, is geared toward rising seniors. Candidates for this fellows program submit proposals for vetting by a panel of Trinity faculty. The program serves as an opportunity to provide support, both advising and monetary, to further facilitate humanities research.

Besides new programming, the Humanities Collective is meant to enhance the University’s connection to San Antonio and community organizations. Rubén Dupertuis, associate professor of religion and co-director of the Humanities Collective, says community connections are plentiful but often “informal” and in need of more support.

“Connecting with the community is crucial for us,” Dupertuis says. “A main contribution of the new program is a website with a humanities calendar, which advertises events to the community and provides access to humanities content.”

Claudia Stokes, professor of English at Trinity and a founding member of the Humanities Collective, also posits that the collective allows San Antonians to better tap into humanities discourse. “The Humanities Collective benefits and enriches the city’s life of the mind,” Stokes says.

The Humanities Collective is purposefully defining the humanities in broad terms, hoping to engage those doing humanities work, even if their academic discipline does not typically align with traditional humanities departments. Stokes references Paul Myers, a computer science professor who is researching the history of computing in the 1970s. Although Myers teaches

science, his research should be included in the Humanities Collective umbrella, argues Stokes.

“The term ‘collective’ signals our collaboration among departments,” says Stokes. “Faculty at Trinity are conducting research on related topics, and I would like to see more intellectual cross-pollination so that Trinity faculty can collaborate and benefit from sharing ideas.

I hope the faculty’s intellectual life will profit from this collective.”

Funding for the Humanities Collective is provided through President Danny Anderson’s office and the Lennox Foundation. Last September, the collective submitted a proposal to Deneese Jones, vice president of Academic Affairs that called for a “vibrant center that celebrates the value of humanistic inquiry.” In addition to Dupertuis and Stokes, professors Stacey Connelly (co-director), Tom Jenkins, and Heather Sullivan are also founders of the Humanities Collective.

The Humanities Collective encourages interested groups to stay updated on humanities programming by using their calendar online at gotu.us/hcevents. The organization is on Facebook and Twitter and can be reached at humanities@trinity.edu.

Connecting with the community is crucial for us. A main contribution of the new program is a website with a humanities calendar, which advertises events to the community and provides access to humanities content.

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Who are You? In Six Words

I believe it is important for students to participate in this activity because we all experience the ills of socially constructed ‘race’ differently, regardless of where we come from.

Trinity University community invited to share their own stories on “The Race Card Project”

By Susie P. Gonzalez

Former National Public Radio journalist Michele Norris brought her “Race Card Project” to Trinity University and left the campus deep in thought about personal identities. Speaking at Laurie Auditorium in the spring, Norris invited the audience to fill out their own “race card.” The idea is to condense “your story” into a sixword sentence that captures something about you as a person and the race(s) with which you identify.

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‘Race’ is a social construction because society has a way of crafting the word into something it is not and allowing it to influence them to believe something about someone else that may not be true.

After Norris’s visit, Trinity was named a “Race Card Project Spotlight School” and a unique web page was created to exemplify the partnership. Race Card entries were submitted to the page through the end of the 2016-17 school year.

President Danny Anderson, who has encouraged the campus to “embrace, appreciate, and celebrate the diversity” of everyone in the Trinity community, has invited all not just to read everyone else’s “race cards,” but to add their own.

Tahlar Rowe, a junior from Houston majoring in political science, is president of the Black Student Union, which invited Norris to meet the group while she was on campus. Rowe also

encouraged Trinity students to take part in the Race Card Project.

“I believe it is important for students to participate in this activity because we all experience the ills of socially constructed ‘race’ differently, regardless of where we come from,” Rowe said. “‘Race’ is a social construction because society has a way of crafting the word into something it is not and allowing it to influence them to believe something about someone else that may not be true.”

Norris was a co-host of National Public Radio’s newsmagazine All Things Considered, public radio’s longest-running national program, from 2002 until 2012. While on a sabbatical during the 2012 presidential campaign, she

developed two successful initiatives, including the Race Card Project and NPR’s Backseat Book Club for “junior brainiacs.” She also released a book in September 2010, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, which focuses on how America talks about race and explores Norris’s own family’s racial legacy. It has been credited with spurring discussions across the country about the history of race relations in the U.S. Norris said she knew people would be uncomfortable when talking about race. Her solution was to offer people a “light touch” by suggesting they condense their story into six words. “By doing that, I have a secret window into their heart,” she said.

The project has taken off, with more than 50,000 race cards submitted online and by mail. She said she has received race cards from all 50 states and from 60 countries—an onslaught that represents a strong level of trust in her and what she will do with such personal stories.

Her Trinity appearance was sponsored

by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in partnership with Texas Public Radio’s “Dare to Listen” campaign.

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A Transnational Partnership

Trinity and Monterrey Tec plan together for a bright future

By Carlos Anchondo ’14

At a taqueria in the heart of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, rapid exchanges of English and Spanish filled the restaurant and echoed off the walls. Students from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, or Tec, and Trinity University became fast friends over food and drinks.

The February dinner kicked off a five-day trip meant to renew Trinity’s relationship with the Mexican university. President Danny Anderson attended the dinner and personally greeted Tec and Trinity students.

“It was an honor, as president, to talk with the group about the importance of collaboration,” says Anderson, a fluent Spanish speaker. “It was a wonderful time to think about our journey to build a shared vision and the connections that Trinity has had in the past with Monterrey.”

Sixteen Trinity students and more than a dozen University faculty flew south to re-energize the exchange partnership between Trinity and the “MIT of Mexico.” First cultivated by Richard Burr, professor emeritus of business administration, and former economics professor Jorge Gonzalez, the alliance had waned in recent years as security concerns made travel to Monterrey problematic. Recent improvements in the security situation have allowed the partnership to be rekindled.

Dante Suarez, associate professor of finance and decision sciences, considers Trinity uniquely positioned to be the best university to study all things Latin American. Suarez teaches a Spanish language course “Doing Business in Latin America,” where Trinity students build an importexport company with Tec counterparts. Spring

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For more information about this trip or the University’s partnership with Monterrey Tec, contact Katsuo Nishikawa at knishika@trinity.edu

2017 was the first semester Suarez had taught the class in five years.

Suarez structures the course using the COIL method, which stands for collaborative, online, and international learning. The Trinity-Tec partnership is distinctive because students meet in-person as well as correspond online. Only a 45-minute flight separates San Antonio and Monterrey.

“Monterrey Tec is one of the best universities in Latin America, where students are engaged and innovative,” says Suarez. “Traveling to Monterrey, the entrepreneurial and industrial capital of Mexico, is an eye-opening experience for students that go there.”

Students enrolled in Suarez’s course used the trip to start crafting a business plan with Tec teammates. Julia Shults ’19, an intended economics major from Austin, participated in the trip. She picked the course to expand her Spanish vocabulary and understanding of Latin American business. Experiences like this originally attracted her to Trinity.

“I chose Trinity for opportunities with this kind of international collaboration,” says Shults. “Traveling to Monterrey was important not only for working on our projects and to identify potential obstacles, but also for cultural exchange and to break down stereotypes in a current political climate full of tension.”

Tec students hosted Trinity undergraduates in

Traveling to Monterrey was important not only for working on our projects and to identify potential obstacles, but also for cultural exchange and to break down stereotypes in a current political climate full of tension. their dorms for a greater appreciation of college life in a foreign country. Tec’s flagship campus is in Monterrey, with satellite campuses across Mexico. In addition to working meetings and a campus tour, students had the opportunity to tour Monterrey’s historic downtown, travel to the Las Grutas caverns, and present their proposed companies in a 20-minute lecture to professors.

In late March, Tec students reunited with their Trinity teammates in San Antonio to pitch their companies at the Louis H. Stumberg Venture Plan Competition. The seed round offered teams the chance to earn $5,000 toward launching startups.

According to Katsuo Nishikawa, director of the Trinity Center for International Engagement (CIE) and associate professor of political science, these opportunities for collaboration broaden students’ worldview and prepare them for an interconnected and global business landscape.

“At Trinity, we want students to graduate knowing they can be effective anywhere they work, whether that’s Europe, Asia, Africa, or Latin America,” says Nishikawa. “The idea is that they graduate and have a 360-degree vision of where to go and the aptitude and skills to be successful.”

In addition to Suarez’s students, Trinity professors also had the opportunity to learn and

share with Tec professors. Faculty members were impressed with Tec’s problem-based approach to learning, where faculty work with students from different majors to collaborate together to solve community problems. Tec’s urban location caused Trinity to evaluate its own position in San Antonio and opportunities for deeper community engagement.

Beyond business coursework, Trinity faculty from modern languages and literatures, political science, and other disciplines looked for opportunities for future partnerships. Anderson says the trip energized him with “opportunities to be a strong team working together.”

On the Monterrey trip, Anderson shared with students and faculty about his experiences studying abroad in Puebla, Mexico, and the impact that had on his career trajectory.

“When you study abroad,” Anderson says, “you cross not only physical boundaries, but also linguistic and cultural boundaries, and this changes the way you see the world.”

While in Monterrey, Anderson signed a reaffirmation resolution to acknowledge Trinity’s past relationship with Tec and to signify a rejuvenated partnership. Students of all majors have the opportunity to study abroad and are encouraged to explore programs at Tec.

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Choose 47 5 59 your own path

GRAD

MAJORS

MINORS

Major

Accounting African American Studies American Intercultural Studies Ancient Mediterranean Studies Anthropology Art Art History Arts, Letters, & Enterprise Astronomy Biochemistry Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Biology Biomathematics Business Administration Business Analytics and Technology Business Administration Legal Studies Chemistry Chinese and Chinese Studies Classical Languages Classical Studies Communication Communication Management Comparative Literature Computer Science Computing as a Second Major Creative Writing East Asian Studies Economics Engineering Science Education English Entrepreneurship Environmental Studies Ethics Film Studies

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Minor

PROGRAMS

2

ADVISING PROGRAMS

Grad Program

Major

Finance & Decision Sciences French Geosciences German Studies Greek Health Care Administration History History of Philosophy Human Communication International Business International Studies Latin Linguistics Logic and Philosophy of Cognition Management Information Systems Mathematical Finance Mathematics Medieval & Renaissance Studies Music Neuroscience New Media Philosophy Philosophy of Art Physics Political Science Psychology Religion Russian Scientific Computing Sociology Spanish Sport Management Theatre Urban Studies Women’s & Gender Studies

an option to create your own major

Minor

Grad Program

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The College Search: A journey for the whole family The college search is a fun and exciting time for students and families. Students get to celebrate their academic and co-curricular accomplishments and reflect upon their experiences as they chart their journeys forward. Here at Trinity, we appreciate the significance of the

college search experience, and it centers on you.

Throughout this process, we encourage future Tigers to discover new interests, grow existing passions, and become empowered citizens of the global community. Seek support from your friends, family, and parents

along the way. They can help you with your essays, be another set of eyes, ears, or taste buds on a campus visit, and guide you through the tough decisions that come along with the many opportunities in your future.

Resources for parents and families are available online at gotu.us/parents.

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Visit Campus For a Trinity In Focus Program Trinity In Focus open house programs, hosted on Saturdays, are open to all prospective students and their families. It is an excellent chance to discover the many opportunities available to students who live and study at Trinity University.

UPCOMING DATES: Sept. 23, 2017 Nov. 11, 2017 Jan. 20, 2018

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