Updates following the Board of Trustees Meeting—October 2023
October 18, 2023
Dear Members of the Trinity College Community,
The academic year is off to a racing start, and as the beauty of a New England fall settles in across Hartford, the campus is once again bustling with our high-performing and talented students, faculty, staff, and coaches.
I write today to continue my tradition of providing updates from our Board of Trustees meetings, one of which took place last weekend during the College’s Bicentennial Fall Weekend. This year we combined the traditions of Homecoming and Family Weekend for an unforgettable celebration of Trinity’s 200th year. While there is much turmoil and strife in our world, it was nice to feel a sense of connection and to see the community support our students, whether at an athletic contest, a performance of JOY!, the Festival of Nations, the 25th anniversary of P.R.I.D.E., or any of the many other events.
The October board meeting is always filled with a renewed energy for setting our priorities for the year, as new board members infuse the meeting with their fresh perspectives, talents, and sense of responsibility for governing this historic College. We’re grateful for their service as we move into Trinity’s third century.
At the start of the meeting, my opening update included the theme of “investing for growth.” Proudly, we led with sound academic and financial planning during the pandemic and in its aftermath. Now is the time to begin to consider new sets of investments to grow our revenues in the future so we may act on many exciting, strategic priorities to improve the College and to enhance the Trinity experience. The College is no stranger to investing in the future. I reminded the board that in 2015, shortly after I began as president, we invested in our students by bolstering our financial aid program. Since then, we’ve seen growth in the academic caliber of our incoming students and increases in student engagement, satisfaction, and postgraduation success rates. I often refer to this investment as having initiated our institutional “spiral up” strategy.
Yet across higher education, we are seeing challenges in growing traditional streams of revenue at a rate that outpaces the increasing cost of living while supporting ambitious plans for the future. Though our spiral up has been considerable through the work of our strategic plan, Summit, it’s important that we remain an organization that continuously plans for the future through investments that we believe will set us on a trajectory of long-term fiscal health. As for the rest of the meeting, I share some highlights below.
Board Action
A significant action of the meeting occurred during the Financial and Physical Resources Committee meeting. Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Dan Hitchell and Director of Athletics Drew Galbraith led a presentation on the Ferris Renovation and Wellness and Recreation Center project, and the board unanimously approved a resolution to begin construction. This new student wellness and recreation center will modernize student fitness and athletic facilities through dramatic, state-of-the-art upgrades in the building’s appearance, services, and uses. Plans to break ground are anticipated for late 2023 or early 2024, and fundraising is continuing for the facility, offering additional naming opportunities and ensuring a maintenance endowment for the future.
Vice President for Library and Information Technology Services Kristen Eshleman presented an update to replace the existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and the board also approved a resolution to move the project forward. The future cloud-based, state-of-the-art ERP system will be more cost-effective and will empower a more data-informed culture at Trinity. The ERP upgrade also will provide a more user-friendly experience for students and alumni and will enhance business continuity at the College.
In my welcome letter to you a few weeks ago, I wrote that we would explore how we can improve upon shared governance in our structures, policies, and processes to benefit the future of our institution. Governance documents are dynamic and evolving, and a well-run organization engages in regular reviews of them. To this end, the Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees put forward a motion to the full board to create an ad hoc subcommittee on shared governance, which was approved. During the 2023–24 academic year, the subcommittee will conduct a formal governance review. It is the intention of this committee to engage with faculty and administrators in the months ahead and to make this a transparent and productive process.
Additional Updates
• Since 2020, Trinity has proudly hired 39 new tenure-track faculty members. During the meeting, three members were introduced to trustees, sharing their research and their passion as teacher-scholars that reverberates throughout our entire faculty. Heather Bennett, assistant professor of biology; David Sterling Brown ’06, associate professor of English; and Dang Do, assistant professor of political science, presented their interests to the board. New Faculty Secretary Eric Galm, professor of music, then provided an overview of his role and goals to the board. An energizing lunch forum also brought together 13 faculty members and 11 students to speak with trustees about faculty-student research at the College.
• In September, we welcomed another strong class of Bantams. With the fall student census finalized, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Matthew Hyde provided an update on the newest cohort of students. This year, Trinity welcomed 588 new first-year students and 37 transfer students, all of whom look to contribute to our community of bold, independent thinkers. We also were pleased to report that our student retention rate is 91 percent, which is increased from our already strong rate of 90 percent for 2022.
• Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Anita Davis shared that Trinity is the only higher education institution from Connecticut this year to receive the national 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. The award was based on our excellence in activities and initiatives that included student efforts, hiring of faculty and staff, and committee accountability among trustees. Earlier in the meeting, the board learned that Trinity has increased its tenure-line faculty of color from 21 percent in 2020 to 35 percent in 2023. And, for the first time in the College’s history, our faculty ranks have reached gender parity, with 50 percent identifying as other than male.
• While we continue to miss our friend and colleague Vice President for Advancement Michael Casey, the board was formally introduced to Carrie Pelzel ’74, who has graciously agreed to take on the role of executive director of the All In Campaign, the College’s comprehensive campaign. Carrie previously served as senior vice president for advancement at Dartmouth College, and her willingness to come out of retirement to support her alma mater is proof of the power of our connected community. The College will benefit from her expertise as she strategically advances Trinity through its fundraising efforts.
• Addressing the campaign, Board Chair Lisa Bisaccia recognized and thanked Kathryn George Tyree ’86 and Peter Duncan ’81, P’13, ’14, co-chairs of the campaign’s quiet phase, for their leadership in raising more than $320 million for the Trinity community since the campaign’s inception. In anticipation of the public launch of the campaign on November 27 in New York, Lisa announced the co-chairs of the campaign’s public phase: Trustees Henry Mallari-D’Auria ’83 and Dave Schnadig ’86 and former Trustee and Board Chair Cornie Thornburgh ’80, who will work with the Campaign Executive Committee and the Advancement team to prepare for the launch and the final 20 months of the campaign.
• The Wall of Honor, located in the heart of the Long Walk at the Fuller Arch at Northam Towers, celebrates lifetimes of philanthropy and recognizes those who have shown uncommon support for Trinity. Friday evening, we took time to honor and to celebrate those individuals who have made significant financial contributions to the College. The 2023 Wall of Honor inductees include current Board Chair Lisa Bisaccia ’78 and husband Robert Naparstek, Guy Dove III ’61, Jeanne Ruddy Keen and Victor Keen ’63, Taryn and Mark Leavitt ’80, Patricia and Charles McGill III ’63, and Amanda and N. Louis Shipley ’85. Cynthia and Irving Hamilton ’51 were inducted posthumously. You may view former Wall of Honor induction classes here.
We have accomplished much as a community, but more work is to be done to continue the “spiral up” of Trinity’s profile as a first-destination college. We also have more to do to broaden the College’s reach as a preeminent leader in the liberal arts. This year, we will work to refine our marketing and communications plans to ensure our traditional source of revenues continue to thrive and grow, an effort led and supported by Vice President for Strategic Marketing and Communications Hellen Hom-Diamond.
Lastly, we discussed why the Bicentennial’s theme is “Committed to the Future since 1823” and how we all can impact Trinity’s future. We invited trustees to think long and hard about the quality of a commitment when followed by articulated action. As such, we produced cards that will be distributed on Tuesday, November 14, at the Bicentennial Fall Symposium, “Memory, Presence, and Possibility.” By the Bicentennial’s end, we would like our community to make collective commitments to the future of Trinity College. Stay tuned for more information about commitments. To learn more about the Bicentennial schedule, please visit the events page of our Bicentennial website.
The 2023–24 academic year is off to a promising start, and the board’s commitment to our future is strong. It’s hard to believe that we are already at the halfway point in the fall semester. I look forward to more opportunities to engage with you in this historic year.
Onward,
Joanne Berger-Sweeney
President and Trinity College Professor of Neuroscience
