Mayor to Mentor

The mayor will take your questions.

Ron Nirenberg ’99, four-term mayor of San Antonio and two-term District 8 city councilman, has returned to Trinity University to try out a new type of podium, at the head of a classroom.

As the Calgaard Distinguished Professor of Practice in the Department of Communication, Nirenberg is teaching “How a Modern City Works: the People and Systems of San Antonio.” Through this course, he hopes to impart Trinity students with some “functional know-how” on the topics of leadership, public service, and running a major city.

“Trinity was the place that allowed me to launch into the world,” Nirenberg says. “It was also the place that cultivated my love of San Antonio. I have served now for a dozen years in elected office, and I feel a responsibility to bring that experience back and share it with students who are also looking for that spark of inspiration.”

A Homecoming with Purpose

 After eight years leading a city of 1.5 million people, Nirenberg describes public office as “controlled chaos” and “a little bit of a merry-go-round.” Returning to Trinity, he says, has been grounding.

Nirenberg says he can’t help but feel a comforting continuity between his undergraduate years and today: a spark of curiosity that animates the University.  “It always feels like home when you come back,” Nirenberg says. “The energy of Trinity hasn’t changed.”

While he describes a “surreal” sense of being back on campus, Nirenberg says his eyes are also caught by what’s remained consistent: the serene presence of architect O’Neil Ford, the sound of the bell tower, and the smell of the mountain laurels.

And, perhaps most importantly, Nirenberg is proud to find a familiar feeling that isn’t visible at all.

“There’s still this buzz—this excitement about learning and exploring the world. The world is different from what it was 30 years ago, but that electricity, that drive to solve problems, is still here. That’s what I’m excited about.”

Nirenberg, who recalls coming to San Antonio and Trinity’s campus as a “fresh-faced, impressionable 18-year-old,” still counts Trinity as the formative point that made a life of leadership possible.

Here, he majored in communication with minors in business and management and served as the editor-in-chief of the Trinitonian as a senior. Before being elected mayor in 2017 and District 8’s council representative in 2013, he also spent a career at the Annenberg Public Policy Center doing public policy research. And Nirenberg says, “Sandwiched right in between that, I was the general manager of KRTU FM 91.7.” He grins as he sits in the KRTU jockey chair, surrounded by a comforting array of records and radio equipment for a quick interview before his class starts.

A Practical Passion

Though he is returning to the classroom with the same confidence and drive that you’d see at a Council A session, press conference, or stump speech on the campaign trail, Nirenberg says he isn’t just lecturing about policy mechanics or campaign stories—he’s helping students grapple with the meeting point of idealized values and practical systems.

“As a student here, you’re discovering the world and developing your own belief system and values. Those are extremely important to bring into the world,” Nirenberg says. “At the same time, it’s the functional awareness of how institutions and systems actually work that allows you to become a real actor in shaping the future. So, one of the primary hopes that I have for this class is really finding the intersection of students’ personal values with real-world awareness.”

And that’s the driving force behind Trinity’s “professor of practice” model - a concept you’ll see reflected across multiple majors and disciplines on campus. Here, Trinity complements their nationally-acclaimed faculty (who open up doors to hands-on learning through research, internships and personalized mentorship) with an emphasis on practical experience. The result? Tigers keep their passions, but discover the best ways to translate them into lives of impact.

Nirenberg sees his role as adding a unique dimension to the on-campus journey for Trinity students. “I’m contributing my experience, access to people and networks, and a knowledge base of how one of the top-10 cities of the United States functions,” he says. “That combination of idealism with real, practical know-how prepares students to not just be voices in the future, but also actors in shaping it.”

John De Hoyos ’28, a prospective Urban Studies and Business major, says he took Nirenberg’s class to get a clearer picture of how his passion for public service could play out in the real world.

“I would never have imagined my professor being the former mayor of San Antonio. He has great connections, and not a lot of universities offer students that type of opportunity,” De Hoyos says. “And one of the first things Professor Nirenberg told us is that ‘the city is going to be our textbook,’ which is a pretty big textbook.”

Each week, the group has been taking field trips: to visit city manager Erik Walsh ’91, M’94 at city hall, to agencies like the San Antonio River Authority, and to visit other former mayors and luminaries. “We’re reading and talking about what makes up a city.”

And this type of hands-on experience is giving De Hoyos something more than a foot in the door to public service: he’s getting more chances to walk through it.

“Before Trinity, I kind of saw a future in public service as impossible for me. But since I've been at Trinity, and I've become more involved, I've had multiple jobs already, multiple connections, and now I get to know Professor Nirenberg,” De Hoyos says. “I feel like becoming a public servant, getting more involved in the city and its inner workings, has become a lot more possible for me.”

Building Leaders of all Stripes

Nirenberg can be quite a motivator. He won every San Antonio election he ran. But he’s just as inspired by what he’s seeing from the next generation of Tigers who are preparing for their own leadership opportunities.

“Part of my motive here is to give back—but also to gain the kind of inspiration I know Trinity fosters,” Nirenberg says. 

Returning to Trinity, Nirenberg says he’s pleased to find a University that remains connected to the outside world but also pushes students to find new ways to thrive in leadership roles within the San Antonio community. 

Trinity offers a host of resources that directly connect students to San Antonio. Here, students conduct research on the natural and man-made urban environments, making discoveries on topics ranging from the city’s water supply and rivers to the design and positioning of our houses, neighborhoods and businesses. Tigers head out into the world for internships in city, state, and federal government, as well as the private sector, but they also connect to opportunities in the non-profit world through resources such as our Arts, Letters and Enterprise program. They commit to regular service events through Greek Life, and represent the school at cultural and civic events like Fiesta, the annual MLK March, and more. And they do so in partnership with a nationally-acclaimed faculty who have positioned Trinity itself as a thought-leader and resource for the city to draw upon as it continues to grow.

That exchange between the University and the city, in Nirenberg’s eyes, is one of Trinity’s greatest strengths.

“Trinity has such an important place in San Antonio’s history and landscape,” he says. “Every major city would love to have a premier liberal arts institution like this. Today, as San Antonio grows and diversifies, Trinity has an expanding role in that trajectory.”

Nirenberg credits Trinity’s leadership, especially under President Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D., for “bursting the bubble” and drawing the University closer into partnership with its hometown. That’s a change Nirenberg notices in the students he meets today. “The facilities and resources are incredible, but what really excites me is seeing more students from San Antonio here on campus. You get a sense that San Antonio has really embraced Trinity.“

A Strong Vision for the Future

Inspiration abounds in Nirenberg’s outlook on all things Trinity: the promise of the students here, the potential of its ideal position in a dynamic, vibrant, and fast-growing city, and Trinity’s enduring reputation as a place that cultivates leaders.

If Trinity has a knack for producing leaders, Nirenberg believes it’s because leadership here isn’t restricted to conventional boundaries.

“When I say ‘leaders,’ I’m not just referring to people in C-suites,” he explains. “It’s people who contribute to their community through whatever sphere of influence they have.”

At Trinity, Nirenberg says he found his voice while keeping his curiosity; he kept his ideals, while learning to build consensus; and he hopes that future Tigers, regardless of belief, background or opinion, will keep learning the most valuable skill there is: to think for themselves.

“Trinity trains you to be a critical thinker, to be open to different perspectives, and that makes for better citizens. And better citizens make better leaders, in whatever capacity they serve.”