Campaign News

April 2008

Dream. Inspire. Achieve. The Campaign for Trinity University reaches $152.4 million

Dr. Stephen Field

Dr. Don Clark,

Dr. Dick Burr

EAST program gains two new professorships

Major gifts to Trinity’s capital campaign Dream. Inspire. Achieve. will have a profound impact on Trinity’s East Asian Studies program. EAST (East Asian Studies at Trinity) will soon have two new faculty positions to bring additional expertise in Chinese language and literature and business, enabling Trinity to expand its curricular offerings in East Asian studies.

Trinity Trustee and alumnus Oliver Lee ’93 and his family have endowed a senior faculty position in Chinese language and literature. The $2-million gift will establish the J.K. and Ingrid Lee Professorship named in honor of his mother and late father, who was a chemistry professor at the University of Kansas. Stephen Field, professor of Chinese and chair of Trinity’s department of modern languages and literatures, has been named as the inaugural Lee Professor effective June 1, 2008. According to Michael Fischer, vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the faculty, the appointment recognizes Dr. Field’s major contributions to Trinity’s Chinese program through his research, teaching, and administrative work. Dr. Field is a specialist in Pre-Qin Chinese literature (before 221 B.C.) and an authority on early Chinese cosmology as it pertains to the ancient art of feng shui.

A second senior faculty position in international business with an emphasis on East Asia and China has been endowed as a result of a $1.25 million anonymous gift from a Trinity alumna and her husband. The professorship will be named in honor of Trinity professors Richard Burr and Don Clark, who encouraged the alumna when she was a student and sparked her interest in China and business. Dr. Clark, a professor of history, is co-director of the EAST program and manages the initiative’s participation in the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, a program funded by the Freeman Foundation under which he runs a seminar for San Antonio area teachers. Dr. Burr, a professor in the department of Business Administration, has been on the Trinity faculty for 32 years, sharing his expertise in the area of statistical analysis, consumer behavior, and international relations. A search will be launched for applications to the Richard M. Burr and Donald N. Clark Professorship, which is expected to be filled by fall 2009.

The Trinity’s East Asian program is grooming future leaders in business, government, and science to understand and function comfortably in the global environment. The EAST initiative is also strengthening Trinity’s national leadership role among American liberal arts colleges with East Asia programs. Trinity counts several nationally and internationally known experts in various aspects of East Asia among its faculty. Trinity is one of only two universities in Texas presently offering an undergraduate degree in Mandarin Chinese and one of only a very few premier liberal arts universities offering it as a major.

Dream. Inspire. Achieve. The Campaign for Trinity University was launched on Sept. 22, 2005, and is the most important and challenging advancement initiative in Trinity’s 139 year history. Gifts and pledges raised to date total $152,412,000 toward the Campaign’s $200 million goal. A major focus of the Campaign is building endowment for scholarships and financial aid so Trinity can continue to recruit the best and brightest students, regardless of their financial circumstances. In addition, the campaign is supporting innovative academic programs, creating additional faculty positions, and providing current faculty support including opportunities for research and scholarship. Campaign gifts are also financing enhancements to Trinity’s technology infrastructure, laboratories, athletic and recreation programs and facilities, and residence halls.