(March 2010)
In my nearly six years as Trinity’s president, I have traveled thousands of miles and engaged alumni and parents worldwide. In my off-campus work I have two primary goals: to educate members of the Trinity family honestly about the College’s successes, strengths, and challenges; and to convince donors that your philanthropy to Trinity brings multiple benefits—to our students and faculty, to the reputation of the College, and to your own association with Trinity.
My passion for Trinity and its excellence always starts with students. I can attest firsthand that Trinity will change their lives in ways you can understand and imagine, since you have experienced these transformations personally as Trinity students, or watched the metamorphosis of your students as Trinity parents.
Our students arrive as malleable young people—some having had abundant opportunities, and not yet fully aware of the need around them...Others of great need and not fully aware of opportunities open to them. They will learn that need lives right outside their window and that opportunity resides in every corner of the world.
Together, they will travel to places like Africa, China, Rome, Paris, and Barcelona, where they may witness injustice and even crushing poverty, as well as cultural enrichment and intellectual expansion.
Together, they will engage in wide-ranging community service projects with the citizens of Hartford, many of them school-age children, whose own life trajectories are influenced daily by inspiring Trinity undergraduates full of idealism and compassion.
They will leave here as more complete, and more complex, human beings ready to take on the challenge of life with newly opened eyes. They will have been formed into leaders who will take the helm of their chosen careers—as scientists, teachers, financiers, corporate executives, artists, musicians, or environmental and humanitarian advocates. These young and impressive students are the reason I seek your philanthropy and your engagement.
The Cornerstone and Legacy Campaigns each have specific financial aspirations, and they are each daunting for an institution of our size, but the most memorable campaign goals are very personal. Our financial aid goals seek greater opportunities for more students to benefit from the Trinity experience. Our academic goals aim to nurture a faculty of distinction. Our campus goals target an even better physical plant that facilitates learning, in and outside the classroom. Our Trinity Fund goals seek the financial sustenance that powers virtually every element of what brings the Trinity experience to life daily.
I have said repeatedly that colleges do not stand still. They either advance or decline. There is so much at stake—for the world and for our students who will profoundly influence that world—that we must advance, and we will. As we continue to succeed because of what so many of you are willing to invest, Trinity’s impact will expand, its excellence will shine more brightly, and all associated with Trinity will bask in the College’s national prominence.
That is why these campaigns are so important to me, to Trinity, and to you.
I thank you.
Yours very truly,
James F. Jones, Jr.
President and Trinity College
Professor in the Humanities