Vanessa Beasley was named the 20th president of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. When she takes office this summer, she will be the first woman president in the university’s 153-year history.
Trinity University enrolls just over 2,500 undergraduate students and less than 200 graduate students, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. Women make up 52 percent of the undergraduate student body.
“What compelled me to join Trinity is its steadfast commitment to a well-rounded education — one filled with new ideas, interdisciplinary curiosity, and a cultivated sense of empathy and community,” said Dr. Beasley. “It is this energy that has Trinity poised to be recognized as one of the most important liberal arts universities in the country.”
Since 2018, Dr. Beasley has served as vice provost for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She was an associate professor of communication studies at the university and held an affiliate position in political science. Before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt in 2008, Professor Beasley taught at Texas A&M University, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and the University of Georgia.
Dr. Beasley’s areas of academic expertise include the rhetoric of American presidents, political rhetoric on immigration, and media and politics. She is the author of You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric (Texas A&M University Press, 2003).
Dr. Beasley is a 1988 graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she majored in speech communication and theatre arts. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in speech communication from the University of Texas.