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.[3] (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.[5]

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.[5]

Trinity enrolls more than 1,800 students. In 2020, the student body includes 95% persons of color, including about 65% Black/African American and 30% Latina/Hispanic. 94% of Trinity students are women, reflecting the university’s historic and ongoing commitment to women’s education.  About 80% of full-time undergraduates are eligible for Pell Grants, with a median family income of just about $25,000. Slightly more than 100 Trinity students are undocumented immigrants.[8]

For 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Trinity had a 97% acceptance rate with 35% of students graduating, 33% transferring, 30% withdrawing, and 2% still enrolled, and with 63% of graduates earning more than a high school graduate.[4]

Trinity is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Minority Serving Institution and is the only university in the D.C. region, and one of only a few in the nation, designated as both a Predominantly Black Institution and Hispanic Serving Institution.

Trinity's 2020–21 tuition for a full-time undergraduate is $24,860 for a full year. All full-time undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences receive a scholarship between $10,000 and $15,000. About 80% of the undergraduate students receive Pell Grants and most D.C. students receive D.C. TAG (D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant). With additional grants and loans, the average student pays $1,000 to $2,000 out-of-pocket for tuition.[5]

The Trinity Washington athletic teams are called the Tigers. The university is a member in the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing as an NCAA D-III Independent since the 2015–16 academic year (which they were in a previous stint from 2007–08 to 2011–12). The Tigers previously competed in these defunct conferences: the Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) from 2012–13 to 2014–15; and the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference (AWCC) as a founding member from 1995–96 to 2006–07.

Trinity Washington competes in five intercollegiate varsity sports: basketball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Trinity Washington University

Main Hall, designed by Edwin Forrest Durang.

The campus includes the following buildings:

• Main Hall, which houses most of the administrative offices on campus, many faculty offices and classrooms, as well as the university's admissions office, O'Connor Auditorium, and bookstore.
• Payden Academic Center, opened in 2016, is a LEED-certified learning center that features state-of-the-art nursing and science labs, classrooms for all disciplines and Trinity's technology hub.[9]
• Trinity Center for Women and Girls in Sports is an athletic, recreational and educational complex located in the heart of Trinity's campus.
• Sister Helen Sheehan Library holds more than 200,000 volumes.
• Alumnae Hall, the university's dining hall, serves three meals a day throughout the academic year and is also a residence hall.
• Cuvilly Hall is a residence hall primarily for first-year students.
• Kerby Hall is a residence hall. 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 hosts many of Trinity's traditions, including Academic Convocation, Freshman Medal Ceremony, Cap and Gown Mass, and Baccalaureate Mass. Dedicated in 1924, it was designed by the architectural firm Maginnis and Walsh and won a national architecture award for ecclesiastical architecture from the American Institute of Architects. It was restored in 1997 and features Guastavino tiles, stained glass windows by Charles Jay Connick and a mosaic by Bancel LaFarge. The chapel hosted the pope during his 1979 visit to the United States.

• 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

Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, class of 1962[10]

• Joy Ford Austin, former executive director of Humanities DC
• Cathie Black, former chairman of Hearst Magazines[11]
• Rosemary M. Collyer, Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; former Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court[12]
• Kellyanne Conway, former Counselor to the President to Donald Trump, and campaign strategist during his 2016 presidential campaign[13]
• Claire Eagan, Chief Judge on United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma[14]
• Cynthia Eagle Russett, American intellectual historian at Yale University[15]
• Regina Flannery Herzfeld, anthropologist
• Sister Joan Frances Gormley, consecrated virgin who was a noted biblical scholar and translator[16]
• Barbara B. Kennelly, former U.S. Representative from Connecticut[17]
• Maria Leavey, political strategist[18]
• Jane Dammen McAuliffe, former President, Bryn Mawr College[19]
• Patricia McGuire, current President, Trinity Washington University
• Caryle Murphy, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, The Washington Post[20]
• Eileen Niedfield, Medical Mission Sister, physician, and medical missionary.
• Nancy Pelosi (Class of 1962), former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives[21]
• Noris Salazar Allen, Panamanian bryologist
• Kathleen Sebelius, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; former Governor of Kansas[20]
• M. Patricia Smith, former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor[22]
• Maggie Williams, former campaign manager to Hillary Clinton[23]
• Alanna Fields, multimedia artist and archivist[24]

• Official website
• Official athletics website

38.9275°N 77.004872°W / 38.9275; -77.004872