Coleen Grissom

Legendary professor has been a part of Trinity life since its move to the Skyline Campus

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

In an apartment off of Heidi Lounge with no air conditioning, a young woman—head resident and English instructor—flicks the lights on and off, on and off. It is 8:30 p.m., time for the “girls” of Heidi to return to their rooms before curfew. The year is 1958, and the 24-year-old with her hand on the switch is Coleen Grissom.

Over the next 60 years (with a brief interruption from ’61-’62), Grissom would move from Heidi to Northrup Hall, transforming Trinity University with her inimitable wit and intellect in the process.

“I continue to do what I love to do. I still find teaching Trinity students challenging, demanding, exhausting, sometimes frustrating, but almost always fun. And I feel like what I do does matter. With each passing year, perhaps the reason I don’t become nostalgic is that I am still doing what brings me the most joy.” – Coleen Grissom, “Avoiding Nostalgia,” The World According to Coleen

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Grissom joined the Trinity ranks in 1958 as head resident and counselor for the McFarlin dormitory complex. Her legacy began in earnest when President Laurie offered her the post of associate dean of Student Life and assistant professor of English at a time when “girls” did not leave campus without “hat, heels, hose, and gloves,” according to Grissom. She progressed to dean of students and was eventually named vice president for Student Affairs.

And progress she did. In fact, if one term is used to define Grissom’s tenure at Trinity, it could be “progress.” (It could also be “momentum,” “disruption,” or “paradigm shift”, depending on which side of the Coleen Fan Club you may sit.) From ending “acceptable attire” regulations for women students to reforming Trinity’s residence hall alcohol policy, Grissom ushered in changes designed to break down an established pattern of dual standards for men and women. She also expanded and refocused the residential life staff, encouraging education through on-campus living. By 1979, Grissom had successfully achieved the goal of integrated campus living, with men and women housed in the same residence halls on different floors.

As part of an administrative restructuring by President Ron Calgaard in the 1980s, Grissom was promoted to vice president for Student Affairs, the first woman at Trinity to attain such status. She remained focused on being a student advocate, often implementing policy change that placed more responsibility and ownership in the hands of students. She also led initiatives to encourage a sense of community and celebrate multiculturalism at Trinity; under her vice presidency, Trinity first celebrated Black History Month, opened community dialogue on the Gulf War, and instituted support for the LGBTQ community. By 2001, when Grissom stepped away from the vice presidency to become a full-time faculty member in the Department of English, Trinity’s student life had changed dramatically—and most would say for the better.

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Grissom in her Northrup Hall office in the early 2000s

The hand that flicked the Heidi Lounge lights on and off is the same hand that points at students during round-table discussions, politely daring them to give thoughtful answers to provoking questions—at least until her retirement at the end of the spring 2019 semester. Grissom’s English courses, especially “Contemporary Literature” and “Literature and the Imagination,” have become fan-favorites of English majors and non-English majors alike. Her personal relationships with some authors she teaches have had profound impact on the campus, perhaps most notably Margaret Atwood: a personal friend of Grissom’s who spent 1989 as a writer-in-residence at Trinity and visited again in 2018 for an evening conversation with Grissom and the University community.

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In a collection of her columns and essays, The World According to Coleen, Grissom cites one of her favorite short story writers, Ann Beattie: “People forget years and remember moments.” And while we all have our favorite (or for some, not-so-favorite) “Coleen moments” to remember, we’d be doing our alma mater a disservice to forget the years—after almost six decades of service to a campus that was barely constructed when she arrived, Coleen Grissom’s years are a huge part of what has made Trinity what it is today.