Special to the North San Antonio Times

For the 16th consecutive year, Trinity University has been ranked No. 1 in the U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” guide.  Trinity was awarded the No. 1 spot in the category of institutions that offer a full range of undergraduate programs as well as select master’s programs in the Western part of the United States.

Trinity also received a No. 1 ranking in the publication’s best value category, “Great Schools, Great Prices.”  In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university’s engineering science program No. 31 among the nation’s best schools whose highest degree is a bachelor’s or master’s.

“Trinity is honored to be recognized by U.S. News for this distinction for educational quality and best value,” said Chris Ellertson, Trinity’s dean of admissions and financial aid. “As part of this evaluation, we are pleased that peer institutions have also chosen to endorse Trinity.”

U.S. News & World Report based its rankings on several factors, including academic reputation (assessed by academic peers: presidents, provosts, and deans of admission), graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student/faculty ratio, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving.

“The most important consideration when students select a college is whether it is a good fit.” Ellertson often counsels perspective students to develop their own internal rating system.

Trinity officials caution that one publication’s ranking system should not be the sole factor for a family’s decision on where to send students to college. “We share the concerns of other members of the Annapolis group about the rankings and believe the higher education community should continue to seek multiple ways to report their relative strengths,” said Trinity president John R. Brazil.

“We want to find the best way to serve our students and potential students by providing meaningful information for families to make informed choices about college.”

UIW introduces Red Alert emergency notification system

Recent floods have proven that the Incarnate Word campus is no stranger to severe weather conditions, and UIW has instituted a new emergency text and e-mail messaging service called Red Alert designed to let students, faculty and staff know when unsafe conditions arise.

Red Alert allows the university to communicate with its students and staff quickly in case of an emergency, using text messaging to student and employee cellular phones and Cardinal Mail addresses.

Red Alert is an opt-in program provided to UIW by Rave Wireless, a leading provider of managed mobile phone services for higher education.  “Opt-in” in this case means that students, faculty and staff must sign up to be included when emergency notifications are sent.

The enrollment process may be completed online, at www.getrave. com/login/uiw, using a Cardinal Mail username and password to log on.

“This system will allow us to communicate as quickly as possible, with as many members of the university community as possible,” said Dr. James Parlett, UIW Chief Information Officer.

“The system will only be used to broadcast information about campus emergencies, such as weather-related closings,” he said.

For more information, students may contact the UIW Help Desk at 210-829-2721.