Trinity Washington University

Trinity College was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1897 as the nation's first Catholic liberal arts college for women.

Queen Mary of Belgium visiting in the early 1900s

For more than 70 years, Trinity educated middle-class Catholic women, who were underrepresented in America's colleges.[2] (For more background on women's higher education, see Origins and types of Women's colleges in the United States.)

When many all-male colleges became co-ed, Trinity's full-time enrollment dropped - from 1,000 in 1969 to 300 in 1989. The school's 12th president, Sister Donna Jurick, responded in the early 1980s by opening a weekend college for working women from the District of Columbia, a racially diverse population the school had previously not served. The first such program in Washington, it became very popular; within three years, it had more students than the undergraduate program.[3]

Under Patricia McGuire, a Trinity alumna, who became president of the college in 1989, Trinity became a multifaceted university that reached out to the Black and Hispanic women of Washington. McGuire split the college into three schools: the historic women's college became the College of Arts and Sciences; the higher-revenue teacher college became the School of Education; and the continuing education classes were folded into a School of Professional Studies. Trinity began recruiting at D.C. high schools. She expanded the professional schools, whose combined enrollment rose from 639 in 1989 to 974 in 1999. By the school's 1997 centennial, it had become the private college of choice for the women of D.C. public schools.[3]

As of early 2010, school enrollment was 67 percent African American, 21 percent Hispanic, 6 percent white and 6 percent international. Men made up 8 percent of total enrollment in all programs.[3]

Trinity's annual tuition as of 2016 was $22,390, with the average student contributing $1,000 to $2,000 and the remainder coming from federal and local grants.[3]

Playing as the Trinity Tigers, Trinity competes in the NCAA Division III, in basketball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and volleyball.

The Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports was completed in 2003. It features a basketball arena; walking track; swimming pool and spa; fitness center with weight machines, free weights and cardio equipment and dance studio, tennis courts, and an athletic field. It is free for Trinity students and offers memberships to local residents.

Main Hall, designed by Edwin Forrest Durang.

The campus includes the following buildings:

• Main Hall, which houses most of the classrooms, faculty offices and administrative offices on campus, as well as the University's art gallery, auditorium, and Admissions Office.
• Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports, an athletic, recreational and educational complex located in the heart of Trinity's campus.
• Sister Helen Sheehan Library, which holds more than 200,000 volumes.
• Alumnae Hall, the university's dining hall, also houses students on its upper floors. In addition to a snack bar/deli, Trinity's Alumnae Hall serves three meals a day throughout the academic year.
• Cuvilly Hall, a residence hall for first year students.
• Kerby Hall, a residence hall for all first-year students and some sophomores. In the 1980s, it was a residence hall for graduate students of other colleges in Washington, D.C., including Robert Casey, who studied law at Catholic University of America and later became a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.
• Notre Dame Chapel, which hosts many of Trinity's traditions, including Academic Convocation, Freshman Medal Ceremony, Cap and Gown Mass, and Baccalaureate Mass. It was built in 1924 and won a national architecture award for ecclesiastical architecture. The Chapel hosted the Pope during his 1979 visit to the United States. It was restored in 1997.
• Payden Academic Center, features science and nursing labs as well as classrooms.

• Phi Beta Kappa, chapter established in 1971
• Sigma Iota Rho
• Alpha Sigma Lambda
• Beta Kappa Chi
• Lambda Pi Eta
• Psi Chi
• Pi Sigma Alpha
• Phi Alpha Theta

• Cathie Black, publisher (Hearst Magazines)[6]
• Rosemary M. Collyer, Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; currently Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court[7]
• Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to President Donald Trump, and campaign strategist during his 2016 presidential campaign[8]
• Claire Eagan, Chief Judge on United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma[9]
• Cynthia Eagle Russett, American intellectual historian at Yale University[10]
• Sister Joan Frances Gormley, consecrated virgin who was a noted biblical scholar and translator[11]
• Barbara B. Kennelly, member of the U.S. House Representatives from Connecticut[12]
• Maria Leavey, political strategist[13]
• Jane Dammen McAuliffe, former President of Bryn Mawr College[14]
• Caryle Murphy, Pulitzer Prize Winning Author[15]
• Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives[16]
• Kathleen Sebelius, former Secretary of Health and Human Services; former Governor of Kansas[15]
• M. Patricia Smith, Commissioner of Labor for the State of New York[17]
• Maggie Williams, campaign manager to Hillary Clinton[18]
• Patricia Q. Sheehan, first woman mayor of New Brunswick, NJ 1967–74[19]

• Official website