Weekly Lunch Vanessa Beasley, President of Trinity University

Dr. Vanessa Beasley, president of Trinity University and a nationally recognized expert in communication, will discuss the importance of civil discourse on college campuses. She will highlight her upcoming special topics course titled "Listening," which will be offered in the fall of 2024 at Trinity University. Additionally, she will share her experiences at the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland.

Dr. Beasley is the 20th president of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and the first woman to hold the role in the University’s more than 150-year history. Since beginning her tenure in July 2022, President Beasley has championed Trinity’s mission to provide a transformative undergraduate education rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, strengthened by undergraduate research, internships, and global engagement.

Under her leadership, Trinity continues to be recognized as one of the nation’s top liberal arts universities, consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Niche, and the Wall Street Journal for academic excellence and faculty dedication to teaching and mentorship. President Beasley’s vision is to reinvent the liberal arts for the 21st century—equipping students with the creativity, critical thinking, and ethical grounding necessary to lead in a rapidly evolving world.

An accomplished scholar and educator, Beasley is an expert in U.S. political rhetoric, with particular emphasis on presidential communication and immigration discourse. She is the author of You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, 1885–2000 and editor of Who Belongs in America? Presidents, Rhetoric, and Immigration, as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her commentary on political rhetoric has been featured in national media including Time, Newsweek, USA TODAY, and the Associated Press.

Before joining Trinity, Beasley served as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Dean of Residential Faculty, and Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Vanderbilt University. She has also held faculty positions at Texas A&M University, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Georgia. At Vanderbilt, she was honored with the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award for distinguished service to the university and received national recognition for her mentorship from the National Communication Association.

Beasley earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Vanderbilt and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Speech Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the past president of the Rhetoric Society of America.

Outside of her professional work, President Beasley enjoys traveling, attending live music events, and weightlifting. She and her husband are the proud parents of two adult sons.