{"id":1460,"date":"2014-10-06T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T17:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/ebuckhor\/?page_id=1155"},"modified":"2020-01-31T17:22:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T17:22:36","slug":"for-new-board-president-community-is-key","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/features\/for-new-board-president-community-is-key\/","title":{"rendered":"For new board president, ‘Community’ is key"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mary Howard<\/i><\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>
New Trinity College Board of Trustees Chair Cornelia Parsons Thornburgh \u201980<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cornelia Parsons Thornburgh \u201980 believes that community\u2013\u201cwith a capital \u2018C\u2019 \u201d\u2013is Trinity\u2019s biggest asset. \u201cThe College cannot move forward without participation from all its members,\u201d she says. A nine-year veteran of the Board of Trustees with an extraordinary record of service, Thornburgh took over as board chair on July 1. Her goal is for Trinity to be recognized as the nation\u2019s premier liberal arts college in an urban center.<\/p>\n

Thornburgh has a reputation as an excellent communicator, but her first order of business is to listen. She has been busy meeting with students, alumni, staff, faculty, and local neighborhood organizations, and she\u2019ll use their input to help build \u201ca community of scholars, who will become activists for a better future,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cCornie has a capacity to listen with seemingly endless patience,\u201d says Brownell Professor of Philosophy Dan Lloyd. He worked with Thornburgh on the Charter Committee for Building Community at Trinity and describes her as an inclusive leader. \u201cShe is a tireless seeker of consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornburgh is also a gifted fundraiser. The former political science major earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University and spent several years working on Wall Street. She served as tri-chair of Trinity\u2019s Cornerstone Campaign and was national chair of the Trinity Annual Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancially, we face challenges common to every other liberal arts school. We need to find a way to make college accessible to all who want to attend and are capable of performing well at an elite institution.\u201d Raising scholarship funds is a top priority, she says. So is paying faculty and staff fair compensation and ensuring that the College\u2019s programs and physical plant match the standards of a top liberal arts institution.<\/p>\n

Thornburgh chaired the Presidential Search Committee, and she and President Joanne Berger-Sweeney see eye to eye on community building. \u201cWherever she goes, Dr. Berger-Sweeney builds highly functioning communities,\u201d says Thornburgh. \u201cShe is focused on relying on all<\/i> of the College\u2019s constituents to support the core mission of a Trinity education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she is realistic about the challenges ahead, Thornburgh is confident about the future. She cites Trinity\u2019s Hartford location, its dedicated alumni, and its dynamic new president as central to the College\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrinity is the place I want to direct my time, talent, and treasure,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel I can help this incredible community of talented educators, students, and alumni move our College forward to realizing its ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mary Howard Cornelia Parsons Thornburgh \u201980 believes that community\u2013\u201cwith a capital \u2018C\u2019 \u201d\u2013is Trinity\u2019s biggest asset. \u201cThe College cannot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":1464,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1460\/revisions\/1554"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}