Happy New Year!  2016 is dawning with happy anticipation on Trinity’s campus.  A new semester, a new academic center soon to open, a Middle States team to welcome, so many wonderful opportunities to show the world the very best of the work of our students, faculty, staff and graduates.  Let’s seize the moment!

Nothing signifies Trinity’s appreciation for our history while embracing the future boldly as much as the new Trinity Academic Center.  With an architectural style that pays tribute to our grand Main Hall (above, the installation of the red tile roof on the new building in the foreground shows an exact match for the color of Main’s 115-year-old red roof, with the grand dome still dominating the skyline), but filled with the latest technology and science equipment, the new Academic Center is a bold statement about Trinity’s firm commitment to excellence in academic and intellectual attainment.  In an age when colleges that specialize in women’s education are increasingly few, the opening of the Academic Center in mid-2016 will be a clear signal of Trinity’s deep and abiding mission commitment to the education of women, and particularly women and students of color who, historically and even still today, have not had as many opportunities in higher education as others.  Trinity’s animating spirit in social justice, from the Sisters of Notre Dame, compels Trinity to do whatever is necessary and possible to make sure that Trinity students have as much opportunity to realize their potential as students at other universities. Trinity students deserve the most modern learning environments, instructional and research technologies, and we are so grateful to the amazing benefactors who have made the Academic Center possible.

The new building will start opening in late spring, and we will have many festivities for our campus community, neighbors and friends to see the remarkable new labs and classrooms.

We will have the formal dedication on June 4, 2016, during our annual Alumnae Reunion, and we will be sharing more details of that grand moment in the weeks to come.

Of course, long before June, we have many other big events and opportunities on Trinity’s agenda.  Some of the most important moments:

• Winter Graduation, Friday, January 8, 5 pm in the Trinity Center (graduates and their ticketed guests only) — congratulations to all graduates receiving degrees next week!
• Spring 2016 Semester begins in the week of January 18 — check the academic calendar for the exact start date for your classes.
• Campus Events in Spring 2016 include a robust Billiart Center lecture series, athletics events (watch the schedule for basketball, softball and tennis!), Founders Day, and much more.  Stay tuned by checking the website calendar of events each day!
• Middle States Team visit March 20-23, 2016:  every ten years Trinity welcomes a team of academic peers from other institutions to review our work, reflected in a self-study, to make suggestions for improvement; this is all part of the process of Middle States accreditation, which is our primary institutional accreditation.  Accreditation is all about quality assurance and fidelity to our obligations to our students and the public.  We’ll be sharing a lot more with the campus community about the Middle States Self-Study report and team visit.
• Planning the Move:  all semester, we’ll be working on the actual plans for scheduling classes in the new building, moving labs and offices, and many related details.  Most will occur behind-the-scenes, but we will keep the campus informed as major milestones approach.
• Spring Commencement, Saturday, May 21, 4 pm on the front lawn!
• Reunion and Academic Center Dedication:  Saturday, June 4

And oh, by the way, there’s a Presidential Election Campaign going on in case you haven’t noticed!  I hope that Trinity students will be actively engaged in campaign season — whatever your political preferences, this is such an important election, get involved!  More on this when the new semester begins.

So much more to come in this very important year in Trinity’s history.  May 2016 be a year of great fulfillment for each of you, and thank you for sharing in the joy of teaching and learning at Trinity each day!

Happy New Year!