The Trinity College Fund
Goal: $50 million over six years

Its impact on all things academic

A conversation with Rena Fraden, dean of the faculty, vice president for academic affairs, and G. Keith Funston Professor of English and American Studies. We asked Dean Fraden to share some specific ways that support from the Trinity College Fund helps the College meet its academic mission.

Could you talk about some of the academic programs supported by the Trinity Fund?

There are a number of programs that strengthen the foundation of our intellectual community at Trinity.

An excellent example is our Common Hour, which was launched in the fall at the recommendation of the President’s Council on Campus Climate. With the Common Hour, our academic schedule is arranged so that no classes are held between noon and 1:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, enabling us to schedule programs of wide interest. Common Hour programs include talks by faculty on their research and timely topics such as a series on Abraham Lincoln that coincided with Lincoln’s 200th birthday. Also, we stage student presentations and performances, and invite outside speakers who appeal to a big crowd. Our students–as well as faculty and staff–have flocked to the Common Hour gatherings, with topics as divergent as the political crisis in Zimbabwe, the costs and benefits of regionalism in Connecticut, Dante’s Inferno, and abstract mathematical symmetries.

Another program we have come to consider essential is the first-year seminar program, now a requirement for all students in their first semester, through which students explore an intellectually challenging topic with about a dozen of their classmates. The seminars provide an introduction to College academic life, with instructors serving as the academic adviser until a student declares a major. Students are trained to write, discuss, and think critically. We also designate funds to enrich the experience. Some professors use the money to take field trips, visiting museums and theaters. Upperclass peer mentors—who attend all the classes and are a resource for the first-year students—are given money to help pay for pizza during study sessions.

Another example would be Trinity Days in the fall—a two-day break from the academic schedule—when faculty members organize conferences, inviting outside speakers on a particular topic. Last year, Professor Johannes Evelein (associate professor of language and culture studies) orchestrated a group of international scholars who came to speak on the topic of exile and he is editing a book from papers given here at Trinity. Without resources from the Trinity Fund, we would have fewer opportunities to organize these provocative, intellectually engaging conferences on campus.

What else might it surprise people to learn the Trinity Fund supports?

I think there is an awareness of Trinity Fund dollars going to support student financial aid, but people may not realize that these resources make a difference in terms of students being able to participate in study abroad or academic internship opportunities. Library books and technology are another area where the Trinity Fund is instrumental in covering costs. Perhaps most important are discretionary funds that give us the flexibility to address unexpected needs. They enable us to respond with agility when expenses pop up that could not be anticipated several months in advance when we were preparing our budgets.

What are a few examples of unexpected needs that the Trinity Fund helps address?

If one semester a particular subject is in great demand such that we need to add an extra section, the Trinity Fund fills that gap. We can make short-term hires when necessary, and thus maintain a good faculty-to-student ratio, and provide a robust and demanding curriculum for our students.