IMPACT Highlights From 2025

Welcome to the dedicated space that features scholarship, creativity, community engagement, and accomplishments of faculty and staff at Trinity University. These entries were submitted from March through September 2025.

Vanessa B. Beasley, Ph.D. | Trinity University President was recognized by Women We Admire as the most influential female leader in the Top 50 Women Leaders of San Antonio and as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Education for 2025. Beasley also was elected as an at-large board member to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which focuses on student aid, tax policy, and government regulation issues, protecting the independence of private, nonprofit institutions and ensuring that all students have access to higher education.

Kenneth Caruthers ’15 | Alumni Relations won a 2025 Bronze Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education for the Move-In Day video he created featuring LeeRoy.

Jane Childers, Ph.D. | Psychology had two papers accepted for publication. The papers, co-authored by Trinity undergraduate researchers, examine how children learn verbs in different cultures.

Andrew Kania, Ph.D. | Philosophy published a new essay, “Musical Meaning and Authentic Work Performance” in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism as the culmination of a project he began during his 2022-23 academic leave. Kania also published a post about cover versions (including, but not limited to, Taylor’s Versions!) on the Blog of the American Philosophical Association. The post is a shorter version of a paper Kania presented as a keynote address at the inaugural Lisbon Meetings on the Philosophy of Music at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

Tahir Naqvi, Ph.D. | Sociology and Anthropology published a book, Questioning Migrants: Ethnic Nationalism at the Limits of Pakistan, with Cambridge University Press in November 2024.

Andrew Porter, MFA | English had his short story “Angelo” selected by Celeste Ng for the 2025 Best American Short Stories, an annual anthology for the 20 best short stories published in a given year. In addition, Porter’s novel, The Imagined Life, was included in The New Yorker’s “Best Books We’ve Read This Week.”

James Shinkle, Ph.D. | Biology received the Texas Association of Advisors for the Health Professions Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his excellence in health professions advising and notable expertise.

Jacob Tingle ’95, Ed.D. | Business Administration received the 2025 Sarah Fain Distinguished Service Award from NIRSA (formerly National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association) in recognition of his exceptional impact on the NIRSA Championship series and collegiate recreation and well-being. Tingle was also featured in a NIRSA research spotlight article about his recent co-publication, “NIRSA Student Referees: Exploring the Connection Between Sense of Community and Positive Health and Wellbeing Outcomes.”

Adam Urbach, Ph.D. | Chemistry received a $300,000 grant from the Welch Foundation to support three years of research on developing new methods for protein modification, working with Trinity students.

Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, Ph.D. | Modern Languages and Literatures received the prestigious 2025 Catrióna Rueda Esquibel Recognition Award from the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies for her co-authored book Writing That Matters: A Handbook for Chicanx & Latinx Studies.

Kathryn Vomero Santos, Ph.D. | English had a brief excerpt of her new book, Shakespeare in Tongues, featured on the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare & Beyond blog.

Group Achievements:

Cabral Balreira, Ph.D. (Mathematics), Jorge Colazo, Ph.D. (Finance and Business Analytics), Laura Hunsicker-Wang, Ph.D. (Chemistry), Jennifer Mathews, Ph.D. (Sociology and Anthropology), and Judith Norman, Ph.D. (Philosophy) had their co-authored article, “Using Force Field Analysis to Facilitate Conversations That Chairs Need to Have About Change in Faculty Evaluation,” featured in the summer 2025 issue of The Department Chair.

The Center for Educational Leadership | Education published the third issue of The Trinity Leadership Forum, in which every article features Trinity students, alumni, and programs and their impact in the city, nation, and world.