Inaugural Greetings




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Updated 3-29-00 by Office of Public Relations

Inaugural Greetings

Representatives from the higher education community, the University faculty and staff, the Trinity student body, the alumni, and the Presbyterian Church offered greetings to Dr. John Brazil on the occasion of his inauguration ceremony, February 12, 2000, in Trinity's Laurie Auditorium.

Dr. Sarah Burke

President John Brazil, on behalf of the 607 members of Trinity University's faculty and staff I welcome you officially. In these transitional months, we have applauded your efforts to meet with academic departments and administrative offices. We have engaged in a fruitful exchange of ideas with you. We now challenge you to keep communication open and to make use of the considerable talent's of your faculty and staff. We also applaud your desire to strengthen and expand Trinity's reputation. We challenge you to apply your leadership and creativity to finding the resources that will guide us to a new august position among institutions of higher education. We are a community of diverse individuals, President Brazil. Get to know us and all that we can do. Finally we applaud your understanding of and commitment to university community and we challenge you to build on Trinity's legacy of community to foster a greater sense of collegiality among us, there by you will motivate each and every one of us to take on the task of building an even better Trinity. President Brazil, the faculty and staff welcome you.

Charlie Manzanares

Dr. Brazil, it is a great honor for me to welcome formally to the Trinity University community. Since last June I have had the opportunity to meet with you and see you in action. Trinity students were especially pleased and surprised to see you at the top of Trinity's tower kicking off the new academic year. We'd like to think that this gesture symbolizes your wish to take us to new heights. In addition, we appreciate the help on various projects you have given us so far. As proven by our recent curriculum discussions, Trinity students are eager to have a voice in their education. We're bright. And I think we have proven that we can be logical and practical too. Additionally, in light of your inauguration we want you to know that we wish to rededicate ourselves to certain key ideals, therefore as students and with your leadership, we now commit ourselves to living and learning with vigor and passion. We now commit ourselves to a continued enthusiasm for diversity. We now commit ourselves to the fine ideals of a liberal education knowing that we will graduate with the confidence that we can help make the world or at least our small part of that world a better place. With these commitments in mind, Trinity students now ask you to lead us to new heights and to continue to build the Trinity of tomorrow with the students of today.

Lowell Keig

Dr. Brazil, it is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Alumni Association of Trinity University. You have already met many of us in your visits to alumni chapters across the country. Our memberships as Jim Dickey mentioned are 22,000 strong and include graduates covering an eighty-year span of Trinity history, from the class of 1919 to the class of 1999. Although our campus experiences are diverse, some of us having graduated from the Waxahachie campus others from the Woodlawn campus and many of us from the present Skyline campus. We are proud of our university and what it represents. We offer our cooperation in goodwill to you and pledge our support for your vision of Trinity. We stand ready to be a partner in developing new initiatives to make Trinity a premier institution of higher learning. Our very best wishes to you as you officially assume the presidency and lead Trinity University into this new century.

Reverend Judy R. Fletcher

Dr. John Brazil, I bring you greetings on behalf of the Synod of the Sun and its Presbyterians. And that means you have just been greeted by over 213,000 Presbyterians from the four great states of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. We want all of us to remember that our covenant relationship with this institution is important for it reflects Presbyterians longstanding commitment to higher education in general and this institution in particular. Years ago I was talking with a young woman who was attending a Presbyterian college and her comment to me was, "I have no idea what I will be doing when I graduate from this college, but that doesn't matter because I came here for an education and not job training." And it is my delight and yours I'm sure too that this is an institution of education in its fullest sense. And we Presbyterians celebrate this and want you to know of our continued commitment to academic freedom and scholastic excellence which are such vital parts of quality education. We share the excitement of this wonderful day and want you to know that you and this institution are in our prayers this day and in the days to come.

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