Trinity University and San Antonio

Trinity University invests in the San Antonio community in a number of ways. An estimated 6,925 Trinity graduates remain in the metropolitan area after graduating to live and work, enriching the business and cultural climates. Here are some other highlights of Trinity’s impact on San Antonio:

• Trinity University is an economic engine for the city – employing 700 San Antonians with an annual payroll of about $40 million. Those workers spend another $25 million in local goods and services.
  
  
• Visitors to campus and students spend an estimated $2.5 million on hotels, restaurants, and related expenses every year.
  
  
• The Education Department has graduated more than 600 students with master’s degrees in education in the 16 years of offering a five-year Master of Arts in Teaching degree. Many of those teachers are hired by San Antonio-area school districts.
  
  
• The University’s Center for Education Leadership brings together the resources of Trinity, surrounding 21-member school districts, and corporate and civic partners in a comprehensive collaboration to improve schools in the San Antonio community. The Center initiates and supports extensive outreach efforts to area schools and educators, the newest of which is a math and science initiative designed to strengthen the capacities and volume of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers.
  
  
• Education programs beyond the curriculum include Trinity’s Principals Center, which offers principals and other supervisors in surrounding school districts professional development and encouragement; the annual Trinity Prize for outstanding K-12 teachers; Saturday Morning Experience for K-8 enrichment opportunities; the Critical Friends Group to help teachers; and summer curriculum writing institutes.
  
  
• Trinity enlivens the civic, cultural, and intellectual landscape of San Antonio by bringing national and world leaders to campus for free programs. These include the Trinity University Distinguished Lecture Series, the Distinguished Scientists Lecture Series, the Nobel Economists Series, the Cameron Lecture on Politics and Public Affairs, and the Stieren Arts Enrichment Series. Distinguished lecturers and Stieren guests have included Vicente Fox, John Cleese, George H.W. Bush, Benazir Bhutto, Queen Noor of Jordan, John Glenn, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Michael Moore.   
  
  
• Laurie Auditorium sits at the hub of cultural and intellectual activities on campus, offering numerous concerts and lectures every year. The auditorium is often the first point of contact the San Antonio community has with Trinity.
  
  
• The state-of-the art Stieren Theater and Ruth Taylor Recital Hall are home to a robust yearly drama and musical concert series.
  
  
• The campus radio station, KRTU 91.7-FM is the only jazz format station in the city. The station recently approved an agreement on a second high definition channel to broadcast community based programming through KROV-FM. The Growing Jazz initiative in the schools provides jazz education and music to the community.
  
  
• Rackspace, a Web hosting firm that occupies the former site of Windsor Park Mall, was founded by alumnus Dirk Elmendorf ’97, and former Trinity students Richard Yoo and Patrick Condon. They founded the company in 1998?  
  
  
• The Lion Fund, a money management fund, was founded by Sardar Biglari ’99, after he experienced the thrill of investing in Trinity’s Student Managed Fund, a $1 million segment of the University’s endowment that undergraduate students maintain.
   
• The Denim Group, another Internet technology start-up with a Fortune 500 base, was founded in 2001 by alumni Sheridan Chambers ’97, Dan Cornell ’98 and John Dickson, who received a Masters of Urban Administration in 1995 .
  
  
•   Many former San Antonio policy makers who have had a positive and influential impact on the city’s civic and public life are alumni of Trinity’s Urban Studies program, Among them are former city managers Alex Briseño ’71, ’73 and Rolando Bono ’97, and former assistant or deputy city managers Jelynne LeBlanc Burley ’88, Frances Gonzalez ’89, and Erik Walsh, ’91, ’94.     
  
  
• Trinity students, through the Trinity University Volunteer Action Community, or TUVAC, perform thousands of hours of community service in the greater San Antonio community. Their motto is “Give Back, TUVAC” and their activities help children, women affected by domestic violence, the elderly, the disabled, and many more. In early 2009, after Trinity students completed more than 16,000 hours of community service, the University was placed on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, affirming the University’s long-standing commitment to social responsibility.
  
  
• Trinity University Press sparks the creative and intellectual imagination of the city by publishing thoughtful, provocative, and enduring books. The press regularly brings nationally recognized authors to San Antonio for public readings and lectures.