The Schools

In 1995, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity College merged to become Trinity International University. In 1997 the first class entered Trinity Graduate School. In early 1998 Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California (originally founded in 1980 as the Simon Greenleaf School of Law), joined the growing institution. Now, with nearly 100 full-time faculty and 2,700 students, we are committed to the same vision with which we were founded in 1897 and determined to follow in the footsteps of the great universities that were founded on the cornerstone belief that all wisdom lies in Jesus Christ.

As Charles Malik has shown in his illuminating book A Christian Critique of the University (InterVarsity Press, 1982), the university is now the central institution of the modern world. Yet it is far from the university as it was established nearly one thousand years ago. The Christian schools of the past--- including the great American universities of Princeton, Yale, and Harvard---are now largely or entirely secular institutions, built not on a vision of the glory of God, but as temples to the wisdom of this world. As Malik puts it, they have “swerved” from their grounding in Jesus Christ. Our task, if we are able to be salt in the world of our day, is to build institutions where we can think like Christians and learn to live as Christians in a culture in which both have become equally hard. Whether preparing to be pastors or missionaries or attorneys, teachers, counselors, scientists, corporate leaders, homemakers or public servants, whatever our calling under God, we need excellence in education, grounded in the lordship of Jesus Christ. That is the goal and task of Trinity.

“Engaging in God’s redemptive work in the world.” At the heart of Trinity’s mission lies its commitment to engage the culture for Jesus Christ. Trinity’s purpose is to enable its graduates—in all schools and in every discipline—-to think and live like Christians in the twenty-first century. We believe that God calls his people into many kinds of service; Trinity’s calling is to prepare them to serve for His glory.

Trinity International University is a family of our four schools: Trinity College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Trinity Graduate School, and Trinity Law School.

Trinity College (TC)

Dean: Karen A. Wrobbel, EdD

Trinity College Prison Education Program is an initiative that provides a Christian liberal arts education to incarcerated men at the Fox Lake Correctional Facility. Trinity College, together with Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, offers several pathways to ministry including an innovative five-year BA/MDiv program known as ADVANCE; and the Advanced Placement MDiv degree, where qualified students who have completed the prescribed pre-seminary studies may receive advanced placement in the MDiv program at TEDS. The College also offers a three-year degree option.

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS)

Dean: David W. Pao, PhD

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School offers doctoral and masters degree programs in Bannockburn, Illinois, and Miami, Florida (MA/TS). At the heart of the divinity school is the Master of Divinity (MDiv), preparing pastors, teachers, and missionaries for Christian service. TEDS also offers the academic Master of Arts with concentrations in archaeology, church history, intercultural studies, New Testament, Old Testament and Semitic languages, systematic theology, and theological studies as well as the professional Master of Arts with a concentration on chaplaincy and ministry care, mental health counseling (licensure program), and ministry. TEDS offers the Master of Theology, the Doctor of Ministry, and the PhD with concentrations in educational, intercultural, or theological studies. The Master of Arts in Bioethics degree program (MA/BE) capitalizes on the university’s nationally-known Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (CBHD), offering coursework in modular and online formats. Particularly unique options include the availability of the full Master of Arts (Theological Studies) at five extension sites, accelerated Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts and MDiv with Trinity College, and a 72-hour Advanced Placement MDiv for those with an undergraduate ministry degree.

Trinity Law School (TLS)

Dean: Eric Halvorson, JD

Trinity Law School, at the California Regional Center of Trinity International University, is strategically located in the City of Santa Ana, the heart of Southern California. The law school faculty reflects Trinity’s commitment to high educational standards and an active engagement of the culture with the Gospel’s profound and far-reaching implications. Trinity Law School offers a Juris Doctor degree and a Master of Legal Studies degree. The Juris Doctor is a 90-unit degree program that offers students flexible course schedules, affordable tuition, and the unique opportunity to study law from a Christian perspective. Graduates are eligible to sit for the California Bar Examination. The Master of Legal Studies is a 30-unit degree program delivered entirely online, and offers several specialty concentrations including Human Resources Management and Church and Ministry Management.