Trinity International University

For other institutions with similar names, see Trinity University (disambiguation) and Trinity College (disambiguation).

Trinity International University

Former names	Swedish Bible Institute of Chicago (1897–1925) Norwegian-Danish Bible Institute and Academy (1910–????) Swedish Evangelical Free Church Bible Institute and Seminary (1925–1949) Trinity Seminary and Bible Institute (????–1949) Trinity Seminary and Bible College (1949–1961) Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity College (1961–1995)
Motto	Entrusted with the Gospel
Type	Private (includes Seminary and Law School)
Established	1897 [1]
Religious affiliation	Evangelical Free Church of America
President	Nicholas Perrin
Students	1,775 [2]
Undergraduates	703 [2]
Address	2065 Half Day Road Deerfield, IL 60015 , Deerfield , Illinois , U.S. [3]
Campus	Suburban [1] , 111 acres (45 ha)
Colors	Blue & White
Website	www.tiu.edu

Trinity International University (TIU) is an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. ^[3] It comprises Trinity College, Trinity Graduate School, a theological seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), a law school (Trinity Law School which is located in Santa Ana, California), and a camp called Timber-lee. ^[4] The university also maintains campuses in North Lauderdale, Florida & Miami, Florida; the camp is located in East Troy, Wisconsin. TIU is the only university affiliated with Evangelical Free Church of America in the United States and enrolls about 2,700 students. On February 17, 2023, TIU announced it was moving the undergraduate program to online modalities only and closed the residential campus at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. ^{[5] [6]}

History

Tracing its roots to 1897, TIU formed in the late 1940s as the result of a merger of two schools:

• A school run by the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, founded in 1897 in Chicago, and incorporated as the Swedish Bible Institute of Chicago, then affiliated with Moody Bible Institute as the Swedish Department until 1925 when it became the Swedish Evangelical Free Church Bible Institute and Seminary.
• A three-year Bible school, the Norwegian-Danish Bible Institute and Academy, founded in 1910 by the Norwegian-Danish Free Church, established in Rushford, Minnesota and later moving to Minneapolis and becoming Trinity Seminary and Bible Institute.

By 1949, the Minneapolis-based school moved to Chicago and the unified schools became known as Trinity Seminary and Bible College. In 1961 the school moved to a new campus in Bannockburn, Illinois, (Deerfield, Illinois postal address) and a year later was renamed Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) and Trinity College. The school grew from an enrollment of 51 in 1961 to 1,400 in 1990. In 1995, TEDS became part of Trinity International University, along with Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, and Trinity College in Miami, (formerly Miami Christian College which was obtained through a merger of the two institutions). In 1997 Trinity Law School, located in Santa Ana, California, was incorporated into Trinity International University and the Trinity Graduate School was founded.

In 2014, David S. Dockery was elected unanimously as the 15th president of Trinity. He was inaugurated in October of that year. ^[7] Nicholas Perrin was elected as the 16th president in June 2019. ^[8]

Approvals, accreditations and memberships

Trinity International University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. ^{[9] [10]} The divinity school is also programmatically accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). ^[11]

TIU's law school, located in Santa Ana, California, is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE) of the State Bar of California (CALBAR). ^[12] The normative nationwide USDE- and CHEA-approved accreditor of law schools is the American Bar Association (ABA). Within the state of California, though, law schools are also accredited by CALBAR CBE, which is neither USDE- or CHEA-approved. Graduates of non-ABA accredited program are not recognized outside of the state of California. ^[13] TIU's Trinity Law School (Santa Ana campus only) is also included as part of TIU's regional accreditation by the USDE- and CHEA-approved NCA-HLC. ^[9]

Trinity International University is exempt ^[14] from the need to be approved to operate in Illinois by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), which lists it as a "private NFP (not-for-profit) institution". ^[15] Its educational programs for K-12 teachers are approved by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) ^[16] so that TIU's graduates from said programs may obtain state-issued teaching credentials. TIU is, further, approved by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) (formerly the Illinois State Scholarship Commission (ISSC)) ^[17] Monetary Award Program (MAP) so that TIU's students may receive Illinois educational grants and scholarships. ^[18]

Prior to 2003, TIU's athletic trainer program was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP); however in 2003 the accreditation of such programs was taken over by the Joint Review Committee on Athletic Training (JRC-AT); and in 2006 JRC-AT became the Committee for Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). TIU's undergraduate athletic training educational program ^[19] claims CAATE accreditation on its website.

TIU is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), ^[20] the Christian College Consortium (CCC), and the Christian Adult Higher Education Association (CAHEA). ^[21]

Athletics

The Trinity International athletic teams were called the Trojans. ^[22] Prior to the move to an all-online undergraduate academic format in 2023, the university university was a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) for most of its sports since the 1996–97 academic year; while its football program competed in the Mideast League of the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA). ^[22] They were also a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing as an independent in the North Central Region of the Division I level. Trinity International competed in nine intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, soccer and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. ^[23] In 2022, women’s volleyball claimed the NCCAA D1 National Championship, making the title a program first and last.

Notable Faculty

• Carl F H Henry Systematic Theology
• Kenneth Kantzer Theology
• Wilbur M. Smith Bible Exposition
• Gleason Archer Old Testament
• Walter Kaiser Old Testament
• Elmer Towns
• John Warwick Montgomery
• Paul Feinberg
• Norman Geisler Philosophy
• John Woodbridge Church History
• D.A. Carson New Testament
• Douglas Moo New Testament
• William Lane Craig Philosophy
• John Feinberg
• Kevin Vanhoozer Theology
• Wayne Grudem New Testament
• Harold Netland Missions

Notable alumni

• Randall Balmer, Episcopal priest and John Phillips Professor in Religion, Dartmouth College
• Ron Butler, television actor and comedian
• Galen Carey, Vice President for Government Relations, National Association of Evangelicals
• Lazarus Chakwera, sixth president of Malawi
• Herb Coleman, American player of gridiron football
• Paul Copan, Christian theologian, analytic philosopher, apologist, and author. Currently professor at the Palm Beach Atlantic University and holds the endowed Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics.
• Norman Ericson, biblical scholar; Emeritus Professor at the Wheaton College
• W. Kent Fuchs, President, University of Florida
• Brian Hagedorn, attorney and judge; Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Karl Hankton, American player of gridiron football
• Alan Heatherington, orchestra conductor and music director of several Chicago-area choirs and orchestras
• Lincoln Hurst, biblical scholar, film historian; Emeritus Professor, University of California
• Bill Hybels, founder of Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois.
• John Senyonyi, Vice Chancellor, Uganda Christian University
• Jeffrey Neil Steenson, coordinator for Episcopal priests and laypeople seeking to become Roman Catholics within a personal ordinariate
• Danny Yamashiro, chaplain at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researcher on American presidents and childhood trauma, and media talk show host
• Ravi Zacharias, Christian apologist

References

1. "Trinity International University". U.S. News & World Report . Archived from the original on March 2, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
2. "College Navigator – Trinity International University-Illinois".
3. "Deerfield Campus". TIU Website. Trinity International University. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
4. "AboutTrinity International University". Tiu.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
5. "TIU – Reimagining the Future". Reimagining The Future. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
6. McClellan, Hannah. "TIU Announces Plans to Move Undergrad Program Online". News & Reporting. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
7. "Trinity Celebrates the Inauguration of David S. Dockery". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
8. "Nicholas Perrin elected 16th president of Trinity International University". Archived from the original on 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
9. "The Higher Learning Commission Database". Accreditation information page for Trinity International University. Higher Learning Commission . Retrieved October 13, 2012.
10. "The Higher Learning Commission Database". The Trinity Evangelical Divinity School accreditation information page. Higher Learning Commission . Retrieved October 13, 2012.
11. "Database of Member Institutions". The Trinity Evangelical School's accreditation information page. Association of Theological Schools . Retrieved October 13, 2012.
12. "California Law Schools". Schools approved by CALBAR CBE (aka CALS). State Bar of California website. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
13. "Understanding Law School Accreditation". The Princeton Review. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
14. "IBHE Approval & Review Overview". Ibhe.org. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
15. "Illinois Board of Higher Education Institutional Profiles". Profile of Trinity International University. The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) website. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
16. "The Directory of Approved Programs for the Preparation of Educational Personnel in Illinois Institutions of Higher Education (a PDF file)" (PDF). Trinity International University, on page 73. The Illinois State Board of Education. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
17. "State Scholarship Group Is Now Known As Illinois Student Assistance Commission". The Chicago Tribune website. 25 August 1989. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
18. "The "Grants" area of the website". Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) Approved Schools. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) website. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
19. "The Undergraduate Athletic Training Program". Trinity International University website. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
20. "List of Member Institutions". Member Institutions beginning with the letter "T". The CCCU website. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
21. "The CAHEA website database" (PDF). List of Member Institutions (a PDF file). The Christian Higher Education Association (CAHEA) website. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
22. Samuels, Doug (2023-02-20). "A midwest NAIA program is going to online classes, ending football program". Football Scoop. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
23. "Official athletics website". TIU Trojans. Retrieved 20 September 2023.

External links

• Official website

42°11′43.0″N87°52′49.8″W / 42.195278°N 87.880500°W / 42.195278; -87.880500