Campaign News

Sept. 22, 2005

Trinity University Announces $200 Million Capital Campaign

Professor Emeritus Ed Roy (left), President John Brazil, San Antonio Businessman Tom Frost, and James F. Dicke II '68 announce the Campaign for Trinity University at the campus kick-off.

SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University is announcing a $200 million campaign to enrich programs and ensure improvements that uphold and bolster the quality and excellence at one of the nation's premier liberal arts institutions of higher learning. The campaign will benefit nearly every aspect of the University – including student scholarships and financial aid, additional faculty positions, curricular and interdisciplinary enhancements, and technological advances.

The Campaign for Trinity – which is exemplified by the theme, “Dream. Inspire. Achieve.” – will enable Trinity to build upon its reputation as a leading undergraduate university attracting students who take full and creative advantage of Trinity’s educational opportunities, turning them into innovative works of scholarship that lay the foundation for successful lives and careers.

The public phase of the campaign was launched Sept. 22 at the President’s Dinner on the Trinity campus. The dinner featured a video about and presentations by students who have achieved academic and personal milestones in their Trinity education, as well as recognition of major donors, alumni, and friends of the University. The event concluded the “quiet phase” of the campaign, when leadership gifts were made to initiate the campaign. James F. Dicke II '68, co-chair of the campaign steering committee, announced gifts to date of $91.6 million. Traditionally, colleges and universities have a significant amount of gifts and pledges in hand before formally announcing a capital campaign. Numerous presentations are planned for the next several years to continue to articulate the long-range vision of educational distinction that Trinity offers. 

“This is about today. But it is even more so about tomorrow and the day after. We have to think long-term for Trinity,” says John R. Brazil, president of Trinity University.

To maintain and build the quality of Trinity’s distinct faculty, facilities, and programs, the comprehensive goals of the campaign are:

• To broaden the quality and accessibility of the Trinity experience with increases in the financial aid endowment ($70 million), a Top Scholars Program ($15 million), and the Annual Fund ($8 million).
  
• To enhance student-faculty interaction, a Trinity hallmark, with the creation of senior professorships ($5 million), additional junior faculty fellowships ($2 million,) adding strategic new faculty positions ($6 million), and additional support for student and faculty research ($10 million.)
  
• To strengthen Trinity’s innovative curriculum by supporting new and existing cross disciplinary teaching and learning ($47 million) and modernizing the living and learning environments ($37 million). Among the planned innovations are programs that involve multiple academic areas and focus on East Asian and Latin American studies while creating centers for civic engagement, urban studies, and entrepreneurship. Additional resources will boost interdisciplinary science research, student leadership initiatives, and career services programs.

Musicians with La Orquestra Tropicante entertain Trinity University staff, faculty, and students attending the campus kick-off of the Campaign for Trinity University.

“I am constantly impressed by the students who come to Trinity,” Dr. Brazil says. “Their talent, their curiosity, their motivation, their sense of teamwork, leadership, and community, are humbling. We want to continue to attract the most talented students based on their ability to do the work, not their ability to pay.”

A Trinity education should be financially accessible to any qualified student, Dr. Brazil says, adding that the campaign will strengthen Trinity’s ability to recruit the best and brightest students, regardless of their financial circumstances.

University officials believe the Campaign for Trinity is the most important and challenging advancement initiative in the school’s history – one that will have a tremendous and lasting impact.

“This campaign is about our commitment to quality,” says Marc Raney, vice president for advancement, adding that a campaign involves more than fund raising. “It’s a way to tell your story.”

Trinity University, founded in 1869, is one of the nation’s top private undergraduate institutions. Noted for its superior academic quality, outstanding faculty, and exceptional academic and residential resources, Trinity is committed to the intellectual, civic, and professional preparation of its students.

Professor Jorge Gonzalez and his wife Suzie, (left) celebrate the campus campaign kick-off with Professor Mahbub Uddin and his wife Eva, Professor Arturo Madrid, and Professor Angela Breidenstein.