Initiative Category: Criminal Justice

OPUS,  Trinity’s annual festival of student scholarship, is taking place on Wednesday, April 20.  The word “opus” is Latin for work. Whether it’s the arts & humanities, natural & applied sciences, or social sciences, students from all disciplines can present their work or attend this annual celebratory conference.

We invite you to attend OPUS 2022 and imagine the possibilities of your own OPUS!

OPUS SCHEDULE

12:30-12:45             OPUS Parade

12:45-1:15               Opening Ceremony

1:30-4:15                 Student Presentations

4:30-5:15                 Presentation Showdown

All students are given the opportunity to enter into a competition for all solo and group presentations. Top scorers advance to the Presentation Showdown where they give a 5-minute summary of their presentation in front of their peers and additional judges.

4:30-6:30                 Trinity Trolldown Dinner in the Dining Hall

5:00-6:00                 Dunk Tank Fundraiser for Ukraine

6:00-7:30                 Raffle & Closing Ceremony

7:30-8:30                 Senior Student/OPUS Art Reception

6:30-8:30                 GRUMPUS Graduate OPUS

9:00-10:00               Outcry

Special Thank you!

The Trinity Christian College community is grateful to alumni Yvette Madany (’85) and Peter Madany (’82), who generously provided financial support to underwrite expenses for OPUS 2022.

The OPUS 2022 committee is also grateful for the support of Trinity administration, faculty, and staff, including the departments of admissions, student life, physical plant, audio-visual services, information technology services, marketing and communications, and Creative Dining.

OPUS Committee Members

Brian Cerney

Inglebert Christiansen (Student Graphic Designer)

Sarah Hoeksema (co-chair)

Jeff Nyhoff

Mary LoGalbo

Deb Majewski (co-chair)

Katie Oomkes

Julianna Padilla (Student Government Representative)

Aron Reppmann

Omar Sweiss

Kevin Schenke

Maura Sukamto (Student Graphic Designer)

Join us for the tenure lecture of Dr. Dennis Connelly, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice on March 17 at 3:55 pm in the Grand Lobby of Ozinga Chapel.  Tenure lectures are a celebration of the mature Christian scholarship of our faculty colleagues. When we celebrate these moments, we mark and extend our commitment to our core identity and mission as a College – and we rejoice at the gifted teacher-scholars in our midst!

Connelly’s lecture is entitled “Law Enforcement Reform: A Shared Responsibility.” In his lecture, Connelly will explore successes and failures in the law enforcement “circle of reform.” He will offer both historical perspective and pathways forward for possible reform.

A Bachelor’s Degree from Trinity Christian College prepares students to flourish in their careers and vocations. And our graduates are well-prepared. According to data from Trinity’s Cooper Center for Vocation and Career Development, 97.7 percent of the graduates in the Class of 2021 are employed or in graduate school. That far surpasses the nationwide average of 82.4 percent. 

Each year, Trinity seeks career outcome data from new alumni. For 2020-’21 degree conferrals, 82.1% of graduates are employed, 15.1% are enrolled in graduate school, and one is serving the United States in the military.  

“We are excited to see our students successfully launch into their life after Trinity and continue to make meaningful contributions in the world,” said Director of Vocation and Career Development Jeff Timmer. “This metric is just one way that Trinity demonstrates how it prepares students for positive engagement in their communities and for contributions to the Kingdom.” 

Companies that employ recent Trinity graduates include Amazon, BDO USA, Chicago Public Schools, La Rabida Children’s Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and Topel Forman. 

The class of 2021 has a range of job titles, reflecting the diversity and depth of Trinity’s liberal arts education: medical surgical/oncological nurse; special education teacher; art therapist; communications coordinator; graphic designer; tax associate; internal events coordinator; pastor; business analyst; baseball coach; police officer; and occupational therapy technician, among others. 

Trinity graduates are also pursing further education at the graduate level at institutions such as Duke Divinity School, John Marshall Law School, Northwestern University, Rush University, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  

Avery Johnson ’21, is currently attending Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., and she cited the support she received from Trinity in helping her on her journey.  “I couldn’t have gotten this far without the help of the Trinity’s staff and professors,” said Johnson, who double majored in Biblical Studies and Communication Arts at Trinity and plans to become an ordained minister. 

For more information about Trinity’s 98% placement rate, visit Trinity’s Cooper Center for Vocation & Career Development. 

Luke Weston ’18 recently visited Trinity with his K-9 dog Hudson, to talk about his experiences and answer questions from students. Weston, a detective with the Kane County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Office, visited a criminal justice class and provided a demonstration with Hudson, a Dutch shepherd.

Weston talked about his work with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, his experiences as part of the K-9 unit, and his time at Trinity. “I was fortunate to have found the criminal justice program here,” he said. “It was an awesome experience. I truly think law enforcement is a calling. Trinity and the program here helped me a lot.” 

Weston began working for the Kane County Sheriff’s Department soon after graduating from Trinity. In 2019, he was honored for heroism for locating three armed suspects after a robbery. Though the men were all brandishing weapons, Weston was able to subdue them without the use of any lethal force, officials said. For his dedication, Weston received the Employee of the Year Deputy David Stewart Award. 

An education from Trinity Christian College doesn’t just change lives—our graduates go on to change the world. And the life-changing value of a Trinity education has once again been recognized by U.S. New and World Report, which named Trinity to several of its “best” lists for 2022, including among the Top 20 Regional Colleges Midwest and #15 for social mobility. And in U.S. News’ inaugural ranking, Trinity’s nursing program has been ranked among the top 300 of all undergraduate nursing programs in the United States. 

U.S. News uses multiple criteria for its highly regarded rankings. To be named among the “Best Colleges,” Trinity was rated for its graduation and retention rates; social mobility; academic reputation; student selectivity; financial resources; alumni giving; and graduate debt, among other factors. 

“I am confident that, under the tutelage of a talented and dedicated faculty, Trinity students work hard and learn well as they prepare for a lifetime of opportunity and service,” said President Kurt D. Dykstra. “While no one set of data can measure that kind of transformative experience in full, it is gratifying to, once again, be recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top college in the Midwest.” 

Trinity’s performance on social mobility deserved its own category, according to U.S. News, which looked at Trinity’s ability to enroll and graduate students from less-advantaged backgrounds. U.S. News also recognized Trinity’s undergraduate nursing program. (see “U.S. News Recognizes BSN Program among Best in Country”) 

“We are honored and excited to be recognized as an institution that excels at making a college education possible for students from all backgrounds,” said Provost Aaron Kuecker, Ph.D. “This recognition is the result of the significant dedication of an excellent faculty and staff – but, most truly, it is a recognition of the hard work, dedication, and amazing gifts of Trinity’s students. It is such a privilege to serve the students who come to Trinity to learn, to be challenged, to be transformed, and to discover the joy of their vocation.”  

Along with the U.S. News rankings, Trinity is frequently recognized by many organizations for preparing students for a world that needs them. The College’s honors include being named a “College of Distinction;” routinely ranked the best BSN programs in the state of Illinois; part of the “National Strength and Conditioning Association Education Recognition Program;” and a “best value” among special education programs. 

Continuing a years – long tradition of excellence and recognition, Trinity Christian College has been named among the “Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report for 2021.  Trinity was ranked 21st among  Midwestern regional colleges in this year’s survey. Trinity was also named a “Best Value” college and a “Top Performer on Social Mobility.”

“At Trinity Christian College, our community is focused on providing a rigorous, life-changing education, and our graduates go on to find success in their careers and vocations,” said Trinity’s President Kurt D. Dykstra. “We are pleased that U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized how Trinity prepares our students to change the world.”

Said Provost Aaron J. Kuecker, Ph.D., “We are proud of the excellent academic programs that are supported by Trinity’s world class faculty. Rankings like these are a recognition of the top quality, whole-person vision of education that we pursue at Trinity.”

Trinity is frequently recognized for its high academic standards. The College’s honors include being named a “College of Distinction,” a “Best BSN Program in Illinois,” and a “National Strength and Conditioning Association Education Recognition Program,” among others. Trinity, which is a university partner with 1871, the world’s top university-affiliated startup incubator located in downtown Chicago, also has a world-class business department that recently led the State of Illinois with both the highest pass rates and average scores on the most recent certified public accounting (CPA) exam. The Trinity Athletics Department was also recently listed among the Champions of Character Five-Star institutions by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The U.S. News rankings are based on qualitative and quantitative information in several categories, including peer assessments, graduation rates, social mobility, and faculty information. The “Best Value” ranking is determined by a school’s academic quality and the net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The “Social Mobility” ranking is based on how successful a college is at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.

–Oct. 10, 2018

Trinity hosted the Restorative Justice and Practice in a Fragmented World conference on October 6, sponsored by the Criminal Justice Department and funded by the Andrew Elliott Rusticus Foundation.

It occurred at the end of a week of a high-profile trial and final verdict in Chicago involving Jason Van Dyke, a police officer who shot and killed a young suspect, Laquan McDonald, as a dashcam appeared to show McDonald walking away – a version challenged by the defense. A murder verdict on the officer came down Friday afternoon, hours before the conference. Three of the conference’s presenters were on duty, with leaves cancelled, including Cook County, Ill., Sheriff Tom Dart. According to one of the conference’s organizers, Brad Breems, an emeritus Trinity professor, it was still unclear on Friday evening if those presenters would be able to attend. This event sharpened the salience of restorative justice (RJ), an emerging community-based approach to treating lawbreaking, adjudicating, and sentencing, Breems noted.

Along with Dart, other speakers included Restorative Strategies CEO Robert Spicer; Al Ferreira, a lead Chicago Police Department (CPD) procedural justice trainer; and Professor John Marshall Law School’s Michael Seng.

“The conference brought influential people in the field to our campus,” said one organizer, Brad Breems, an emeritus Trinity professor, “and embodies the spirit of Andrew Rusticus ’03, who exemplified restorative justice practices as a police officer before he died in training for a new position.”

The conference began with a welcome by Trinity President Kurt Dykstra, and included remarks by Roland Rusticus for the Andrew Elliott Rusticus Foundation.

Dart’s keynote address, “Restorative Justice in Criminal Justice Diversion Programs,” captured the audience with his sharp critique and stark alternatives to unequal and ineffective incarceration practices. Dart challenged systems that merely pass people on to another facility or back into society, no better than when they came entered. He enlivened his speech with poignant first-person videos, followed by a lively Q & A. “The end of his part of the program came palpably too soon for the audience,” said Breems.

Participants then broke to hear and discuss topics like murder victim families’ encounters with restorative justice in separate workshops by Gail Rice and Bill Jenkins; new restorative police-community relations by CPD’s Vanessa Westley; and retired Judge Sheila Murphy’s recount of her judicial enlightenment through restorative lenses. An insightful panel moderated by Sara Balgoyen, Director of Illinois Balanced and Restorative Justice concluded the morning sessions.

After lunch, another round of concurrent sessions highlighted RJ in schools and in legislation to govern restorative justice courts that will replace traditional courts when appropriate. Ferreira, a leading CPD and U.S. Department of Justice tactical and implicit bias trainer, stimulated conferees and linked to the current climate of tense, sometimes tragic, law enforcement-and-community interactions.

In his closing address, “Aspirational Justice: A New Paradigm for Healing and Radical Justice in a Fragmented World” Spicer offered a careful study of three centuries of slavery and another century of repressive slave codes and Jim Crow laws. He contrasted that to his range of proposals based on the U.S. Constitution and other seminal U.S. laws and documents. In response to America’s misappropriation of African Americans, he challenged and charged our society to apply principles of restorative justice to the underlying problem of social inequality.

In his closing, Breems remarked, “Trinity Christian College and its criminal justice program assert that the restorative justice perspective is essential as a progressive approach to social norms, law enforcement, peace-making, and peace-keeping. This conference and Robert Spicer’s innovative model show a way to a more just and peaceful America.”

When a Trinity student wanted to skip class for the Cubs’ World Series parade, Dr. Dennis Connelly’s response made national news.

Congratulations to Nate Smith ’16, on his graduation from the Chicago Police Department Training Academy and his assignment as a probationary officer to the 007 District.

Smith asked Dennis Connelly, Ed.D., assistant professor of criminal justice; criminal justice program coordinator; and department chair, to pin his Chicago Police Star during the Aug. 31 ceremony.

“Dr. Connelly was such a friend to me, and one the main reasons I applied for CPD was the positive influence he had on me,” said Smith, who served as president of Trinity’s Criminal Justice Club.