Campaign News

October 2006

Campaign Initiatives Meeting Success
by Sharon Jones Schweitzer ’75

Campaign donors endow new scholarships, launch the Center for Entrepreneurship, and support new tennis facility

Dream. Inspire. Achieve. The Campaign for Trinity University has now netted $119 million in gifts and pledges, moving the University another step closer to its $200-million goal.  A majority of the funds being raised for the Campaign will be directed toward scholarship and financial aid, so Trinity can continue to recruit the best and brightest students regardless of their financial circumstances. “We firmly believe that a Trinity education should be available to any student with the drive and ability to benefit from it,” said President John R. Brazil. Alumni, parents, and friends are responding to this important campaign message by committing a minimum of $100,000 to establish new endowed scholarship funds or adding to existing scholarship funds. Among the new endowed scholarship funds established within the past few months are:

• The Penny Walzel Dwyer Scholarship, established by Jim and Pat Walzel in honor of their daughter who graduated from Trinity University in 1986 with a degree in engineering science.
• The Dennis Family Scholarship, established by Doug and Debbie Dennis of Littleton, Colo., and their children Michael ’00 and Kendall Dennis ’01 Slutzky and Travis Dennis.
• The Oxley Foundation Scholarship, established by the Oxley Foundation based in Tulsa, Okla. Tom Rains, foundation executive, and his wife Betty are parents of a Trinity senior.
• The Love Family Scholarship, established by Greg Love ’84, a member of Trinity’s Board of Visitors, through his family’s business, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores based in Oklahoma City, Okla.

In addition to scholarships, the Campaign will also support innovative new academic programs that capitalize on Trinity’s strengths and meet the demands of the global society in which our students must thrive. One of the five Re-envisioning Trinity initiatives incorporated into the campaign is the Center for Entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurship initiative will cultivate and integrate Trinity’s diverse offerings, such as the arts, the humanities, the sciences, and the professional programs, for the development of more creative entrepreneurial behavior and achievement. A leadership gift from Roger and Francy Rowsey Collins ’79, through the George and Jennie Collins Foundation, will launch the program. The gift supports the development a first-year seminar on Creativity and Entrepreneurial Behavior to open next fall. “It also allows us to establish and support the projects of four student E-Teams that will remain together as a functional group through the end of their Trinity experience,” said Mahbub Uddin, program co-chair, and professor and chair of the engineering science department.

Trinity’s athletic programs and recreational facilities will also be strengthened by campaign gifts. An initiative spearheaded by alumni of Trinity’s tennis program has raised $392,000 toward a goal of $500,000 for a new tennis pavilion that will serve as a tournament headquarters and press box at the varsity tennis stadium. The tennis alumni are also interested in raising another $500,000 to further support the tennis program. The tennis pavilion will be named in honor of former coach Clarence Mabry, who retired from Trinity in 1974. Trinity rose to national prominence with outstanding teams and individual performances under the direction of Mabry. “He’s the patriarch of our Trinity tennis family and has been not only a coach, but a mentor and friend to all of us,” said Jim Timmins ’76, a Trinity tennis standout, in his appeal letter to alumni.

For more information about the campaign, visit the Dream. Inspire. Achieve. Web site at www.trinity.edu and click on the campaign icon.