Trinity DARE Goal One:
Widening Career Pipelines for Trinity Students and Graduates
Black and Latina persons, and particularly women of color, are acutely under-represented in a broad range of professional occupations and in institutional executive positions in corporations, non-profit organizations and governmental entities. While Trinity graduates have long enjoyed professional success in many occupations, Trinity DARE will create a more systematic focus on specific industries and career opportunities aligned with Trinity programs, ensuring that Trinity graduates have the academic, intellectual and personal preparation necessary to enter these professions and advance into leadership positions especially where women and persons of color have been historically under-represented.
Trinity has the capacity, or seeks to develop the capacity, to influence student access to these career pipelines:
Nursing, Health and Human Services: Fewer than 10% of nurses nationally are African American, and fewer than 5% are Hispanic. Trinity Nursing has made significant inroads in widening the pipeline in the Washington region with Trinity’s Black and Latina graduates eagerly sought by hospitals around the region. 100% of Nursing graduates in 2020 have passed the NCLEX exam on the first try, a significant achievement demonstrating the excellence of Trinity’s program. Trinity’s Nursing program is a model for how the combination of significant scholarship and resource support along with excellent faculty and strong institutional partnerships with hospitals makes it possible for Trinity students to excel and enter the profession.
- Significant scholarship support for Trinity Nursing students from Bill and Joanne Conway through their Bedford Falls Foundation makes it possible for more than 125 students to focus on excellence in their Nursing studies, relieving these students of financial stress and lowering debt burdens.
- A major academic partnership with MedStar ensures that Trinity’s faculty and students work closely with all MedStar hospitals and are responsive to their expectations for quality and specialty preparation. Similar partnerships with Children’s National Hospital and hospitals enlarge long-term career opportunities for Trinity nurses.
- Trinity seeks to widen pipelines in other Health and Human Service fields including executive leadership in health agencies, public health, nursing education, and practice areas where Trinity graduates in Psychology, Counseling, Human Relations and related disciplines can have a greater impact on racial and social equity.
Science and Technology: Trinity DARE focuses more acutely on career pathways from undergraduate science majors into professional positions and graduate study. Development of programs like Environmental Studies where persons of color are critically under-represented will seek partners in the field who can leverage Trinity’s programs to open career opportunities for our graduates. Trinity is also in the early phases of developing a new program in Data Analytics and Information Technology in response to the growing tech sector in the Washington Region.
Education: Teaching, School Leadership: While Trinity has a historic commitment to women’s education, through the coeducational graduate programs in Education Trinity has the capacity to address a critical need to open more pipelines for men of color to enter teaching and school leadership positions in the Washington region. Moreover, through the liberal arts programs in the College of Arts & Sciences, the faculty may also consider a more intentional focus on preparing students who will enter higher education in the academic disciplines, including more explicit focus on access to graduate and doctoral programs that prepare faculty of the future.
Business, Management and Executive Leadership: Trinity has many graduates exerting leadership in for-profit companies, nonprofit associations and government agencies. However, breaking through into the C-suites is a challenge. Trinity DARE will more specifically examine pipelines into leadership in industries and develop strategies to support both students and graduates as they move into and through the pipelines of management.
Law and Policy, Public Service: With a long history of prominent graduates in public service, elected and appointed leadership positions, and particularly the practice of law, Trinity has the stature and experience to ensure an even wider pipeline for today’s students of color to move into positions in law, policy and public service where they can contribute to substantial change.
Global Affairs: Trinity graduates in diplomacy and foreign affairs have had an impact across the decades. With the development of the Mellon-funded Trinity Global Leadership Initiative, Trinity will ensure even stronger preparation of our students for careers in a range of global affairs positions, both public and private.
Communications, Media and Journalism: Trinity graduates have held prominent media positions through the years, but with the changing media environment a more intentional focus on widening the pipeline for Black and Latina journalists is vital, as well as widening the pipeline into corporate communication positions.
Go to Goal Two: Broadening Access and Ensuring Success
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Resource Requirements and Funding Opportunities
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