Trinity College (Connecticut) Information

Trinity College is a private liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded as Washington College in 1823 as an alternative to Yale, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut.

Coeducational since 1969, the college enrolls 2,300 students. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. 73.1 percent of classes at the college contain fewer than 20 students. The college is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), informally referred to as the Little Ivies. U.S. News and World Report has ranked Trinity tied for 46th in its 2019 ranking of best national liberal arts colleges in the United States.

Early Connecticut was dominated by Congregationalists. Episcopalians, who had long sought to set up their own college, were provided an opportunity when the Connecticut Constitution disestablished the Congregationalist Church in 1818. It was taken by Bishop Thomas Brownell, who opened Washington College in 1824 to nine students and the vigorous protest of Yale alumni.

A 14-acre site was chosen, at the time about a half-mile from the city of Hartford. Over time Bushnell Park was laid out to the north and the east, creating a beautiful space.

The college was renamed Trinity College in 1845; the original campus consisted of two Greek Revival buildings. One of the Greek Revival buildings housed a chapel, library and lecture rooms. The other was a dormitory for the male students who attended the college.

The site next to Bushnell Park, where Trinity College then stood, was deemed to be an ideal location to build a state house. So the trustees were persuaded to sell the entire campus to the city in 1872 for $600,000. The trustees moved the college to an 80-acre site on a ridge on the western edge of Hartford. Then-president Abner Jackson hired an English architect to draw up plans for an entire campus. Construction of the new campus was begun under the presidency of Thomas Ruggles Pynchon (1874–1883).

In 1872, Trinity College was persuaded by the state to move from its downtown "College Hill" location (now Capitol Hill, site of the state capitol building) to its current 100-acre (40 ha) campus a mile southwest. Although the college sold its land overlooking the Park River and Bushnell Park in 1872, it did not complete its move to its Gallows Hill campus until 1878. The original plans for the Gallows Hill site were drawn by the noted Victorian architect William Burges but were too ambitious and too expensive to be fully realized. Only one section of the proposed campus plan — the Long Walk— was completed.

By 1889 the library contained 30,000 volumes, and the school boasted over 900 graduates. Enrollment reached 122 in 1892. President Remsen Ogilby (1920–43) enlarged the campus, and more than doubled the endowment. The faculty grew from 25 to 62, and the student body from 167 to 530 men. Under President Keith Funston (1943–51), returning veterans expanded the enrollment to 900.

Trinity ended the nineteenth century as an institution primarily serving the Hartford area. The early years of the century were primarily growth years for Trinity. Enrollment was increased to 500 men.

In 1932, under President Remsen Ogilby, the Gothic chapel was completed and became the symbol of Trinity College. It replaced the Seabury chapel which had become too small for the student body.

The founding of the University of Hartford in 1957 allowed Trinity to focus on becoming a regional institution rather than a local one.

In 1962, Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) began its first broadcasts in the Trinity College Public Library, and later in Boardman Hall, a science building on campus.

In 1968, the trustees voted to withdraw from the Association of Episcopal Colleges.

Also in 1968, the trustees of Trinity College voted to make a commitment to enroll more minority students, providing financial aid as needed. This decision was preceded by a siege of the administrative offices in the Downes and Williams Memorial buildings during which Trinity students would not allow the president or trustees to leave until they agreed to the resolution.

Less than one year later, Trinity College became coeducational and admitted its first female students, as transfers from Vassar College and Smith College. Today, women make up about 50 percent of Trinitys student body.

Trinity offers three degrees: the B.A., B.S., and M.A. (in a few subjects). The college offers 41 majors, as well as the options of creating a self-designed major or adding an interdisciplinary or departmental minor. Trinity is part of a small group of liberal arts schools that offer degrees in engineering. Trinity has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1.

Study away is a part of the Trinity experience and is also a component of Trinity’s urban/global focus. Approximately 70 percent of Trinity undergraduates study abroad or in another U.S. city before graduating. In addition to the Trinity College, Rome Campus (TCRC), Trinity has programs in Paris, Barcelona, Vienna, Trinidad and Tobago, Cape Town, and Buenos Aires that are partially staffed by Trinity professors. In 1986, Trinity collaborated with the historic performing arts venue La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and created the Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Program, a fall semester study away program in New York for students interested in studying interdisciplinary art. In addition, there are many other study abroad programs that Trinity students are approved to take part in. In 2012, Trinity established a program in Shanghai through a partnership with Fudan University.

Trinity College, Rome Campus (TCRC), is a study abroad campus of Trinity College. It was established in 1970 and is in a residential area of Rome on the Aventine Hill close to the Basilica of Santa Sabina within the precincts of a convent run by an order of nuns.

The program usually consists of 50–70 students from different American colleges and universities. Students can either attend TCRC for a semester or for their summer program. Each semester, there is usually a range of courses from economics to art history. Most courses make use of the city of Rome by conducting numerous walking tours and trips. Every student enrolled in the program is required to take the appropriate level of study of Italian language. The program also regularly makes trips to other parts of Italy, such as Florence, Venice, and Capri.

Admission to Trinity has been increasingly competitive in recent years; this may be attributed to a large increase in admission applications. In January 2011, Trinitys Dean of Admissions reported a 45 percent application increase. A New York Times article in January 2011 noted a 47 percent increase, the highest increase of the nations most selective colleges.

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