Trinity FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my diploma still say "Trinity College"?
Here's an interesting Trinity fact: our undergraduate diplomas say, "Collegium Deo Uni Trinoque Sacrum" which is the Latin inscription over the front entrance of Main Hall. In her history of Trinity, Sr. Columba Mullaley tells us that this inscription means, "A college dedicated to the Trinity." We have translated the inscription on the diplomas to mean, simply, "Trinity College." We anticipate continuing the historic language for students in the future who graduate from Trinity College, which will continue to be the name of the women's college (College of Arts and Sciences). All diplomas of Trinity College will continue to be in Latin.
Currently, Trinity's diplomas for graduate students are in English and say "Trinity College" across the top. Starting with the Commencement in 2005, we will change that name to "Trinity" for both undergraduate and graduate students of the School of Professional Studies and School of Education.
Isn't it confusing to keep the name "Trinity College" around?
Not at all. Georgetown College continues as the College of Arts & Sciences across town, and Harvard College continues as well. In fact, a university is a group of schools and colleges, so most universities do have discrete names for their units, and many have kept the original historic college name on their oldest undergraduate units.
So, when do I say "Trinity" and when do I say "Trinity College?"
Trinity is the name that we will use publicly in marketing and descriptions of our entire institution. This name will be on our catalog, website and letterhead as our primary institutional name.
However, Trinity College will continue to be used in two important ways: first, this will continue as the name of the College of Arts and Sciences, our historic women's college, and so it will always be appropriate to use that name in reference to the women's college.
Also, Trinity College will continue to be our corporate legal name since that's the name on our Congressional Charter and all legal documents filed with the various legal and regulatory entities with whom we do business, so we will continue to use that name for legal matters. We are notifying them, of course, that we are also doing business under the name Trinity, and that name is being registered in the District of Columbia. But there will not be any need to change corporate documents.
Having said all of that, please keep in mind that the most important word is "Trinity." You may notice on our logo and various signs that we have made "Trinity" the prominent word for several years. We want everyone to know us as "Trinity" first.
Why is "Trinity" important to use for marketing and public descriptions?
The principal reason for adopting the name Trinity is to convey to the public the idea that Trinity today has a broad range of academic programs, including graduate programs. All of our market research indicates that prospective students at all age and experience levels believe that a university offers more choice and more services than a college. Graduate and professional students, in particular, are more clearly attracted to the university name. As Trinity moves into the online market, with greater outreach internationally, the university name will have far greater appeal among potential markets who regard 'university' as higher education and 'college' as secondary education.
Does this change mean that Trinity might go coed?
Trinity is already coeducational in two of its three schools, the School of Education and the School of Professional Studies. In a subtle way, this change will communicate a more inclusive university environment to prospective male students who are still not sure whether Trinity will accept them into those programs.
Trinity is deeply committed to its mission to women in all three schools, and that characteristic of our mission will remain the same even as more men enroll in the two professional schools. Trinity continues to believe that the full-time women's college model is a beneficial environment for younger women, and so Trinity is deeply committed to sustaining the College of Arts and Sciences as the historic women's college.
Does becoming a university mean that Trinity will become larger and more impersonal?
Yes to the first, but definitely NO to the second. We do want Trinity to become larger, because meeting our goals for student enrollment growth will make it possible for Trinity to do so much more for students. Economically, the goals we have established—1300 students in SPS, 700 each in CAS and EDU—will provide significant additional revenues to support improved facilities, expanded technology, more services and more curricular options.
Even when Trinity reaches the goal of 2700-3000 students, it will still be a modestly-sized institution compared to the very large universities in our region. Through the survey about the name change, we did hear repeated concern that Trinity must provide assurance that we will sustain the "high touch, high feel" environment that so many students find welcoming. We will do everything possible to be sure that this remains a Trinity hallmark.
The area universities are very expensive. Does this mean that Trinity's price will go up?
Our tuition increases over the last ten years have been very low, well under the area universities, and we see no reason to change that particular distinction for Trinity. We will continue to work hard to keep tuition reasonable while providing the services and programs that students expect.
University faculties spend so much time doing research that students hardly see them. Will Trinity's faculty continue to be available to Trinity students?
Of course! Trinity's faculty have chosen to work here precisely because they enjoy teaching and advising students, and their commitment is firm. Naturally, being a university faculty adds a level of expectation about research and scholarship, but this will only benefit all students as the faculty finds new and more interesting ways to pursue the 'scholarship of integration' by combining their research interests with their classroom pedagogy.
My office has a lot of Trinity College letterhead and business cards. What do we do?
Keep using your existing stock of letterhead and business cards, please. We will be ordering new letterhead and business cards for the marketing and sales teams in admissions and development, but all other offices and personnel should use up existing stock this year. We will probably reach a point by next year when we will convert all remaining letterhead and business cards, as we did in the past with new logos.
As you can see, the new logo is very similar to the "Education for Global Leadership" logo that we have been using recently.
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