Campus Master Plan Options Unveiled During Open House

About 150 faculty, staff, and students filled the Skyline Room in the Coates Student Center April 22 to provide input on options for Trinity University’s Campus Master Plan.

“Trinity is focused on revitalizing the Campus Master Plan to improve accessibility, connect upper and lower campus through the utilization of outdoor spaces and multi-functional buildings, and set an implementation strategy that stewards the University’s financial, physical, and digital assets,” said Ben Kindt, who joined Trinity in January as the senior director of capital improvements. 

“The purpose of the master plan is to establish a prioritized, long-term plan for developing the spaces on the campus, considering a multitude of factors that make up the campus environment, from where students congregate, walking patterns, and parking,” Kindt added. “There have been different iterations of the plan for the past 10 years, but the current efforts, endorsed by the university trustees, have been under development in earnest for about eight months with project consultants from Stantec, a team with global urban and higher education planning expertise.” 

Kindt is shepherding the master plan and preparing his team to execute the plan once approved. He encouraged everyone to give input on posters around the room or to go online here.

Trinity University President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., encouraged everyone to think boldly about how the plan’s form will follow the campus’s functions, supporting teaching, learning, and discovery as well as student, faculty, and staff life. 

The process, she said, will be iterative, and everyone’s comments will be considered.

 Three areas have surfaced as priorities for the design:

1. Creating a “hill connector” to link upper and lower campus and support gathering spaces 
2. Evaluating dining locations, including potential expansion of the Coates Student Center
3. Strengthening connections between academic, residential, and athletics areas

“We are so fortunate to inherit the vision of a distinctive mid-century modern design and O’Neil Ford’s vision for our campus,” Beasley said. “We want to make sure that the thoughtfulness originally put into this campus is extended as we consider better ways to serve all members of our community.” 

The next step is to incorporate feedback from the Trinity community into the master plan development effort and narrow the plan’s focus on specific options to be pursued. Trinity plans to have another feedback-gathering event for Trinity stakeholders in the fall, make final adjustments, and then press forward towards approval and publication of the plan in early 2027, Kindt said.