🔒From first-gen college grad to higher-ed president: Lugo takes helm at Trinity College

Daniel G. Lugo’s journey from first-generation college graduate to entertainment attorney to higher-education leader has landed him at the helm of a top liberal arts college in Connecticut. Lugo became Trinity College’s 23rd president on July 1, succeeding former President Joanne Berger-Sweeney, who concluded an 11-year tenure at the school. Lugo said Hartford-based Trinity has been on his radar since he was applying to colleges in the 1980s. He said he’s impressed with the school’s faculty, who excel in both scholarship and teaching, its bright student body, small classroom environments and an athletics program that punches above its weight. “It’s a community that I’m drawn to because of the balance of excellence that we have across the curriculum, rooted in the traditional humanities and social sciences, but we have an incredibly impressive array of hard sciences, quantitative disciplines, including engineering, which is a standout offering from any of our peers in the traditional liberal arts, small-college environment,” Lugo said. Born and raised in New York, Lugo’s path to academic leadership began in an unexpected place. After earning his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School, Lugo spent nearly a decade as an intellectual property and entertainment attorney. He ultimately found that the entertainment industry didn’t align with his values “and personality particularly well,” prompting a career pivot. “Apparently, I’m really motivated by making a significant social contribution to communities, to young people and to the world, and that previous law work just wasn’t doing that for me,” Lugo said. “It wasn’t waking me up in the morning feeling like I had found my purpose, and I thought back about what were the most important environments and institutions that made the biggest impact on my life, and it was my undergraduate college. It was Carleton College.”

‘Most admired’ CEO

Lugo’s transition into academia began at his alma mater, the small liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1991. Carleton tapped Lugo to serve as its assistant dean of admissions in 2004. He worked there for seven years, before taking new leadership roles at other colleges. From 2011 to 2015, he served as vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Then he became vice president of advancement at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. In 2019, Lugo began his first role as president at Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. “I’m not going to be surprised by as many things as I was in my first tenure as a president, now that I’m here at Trinity in my second role as a president,” he said with a laugh. In 2021, Lugo was selected as one of Charlotte’s “Most Admired CEOs” by the Charlotte Business Journal.

Lugo had a successful run at Queens, where he helped increase undergraduate applications by 50%, led a $25 million capital improvement plan and transitioned the university’s 25 NCAA sports teams to Division I. In selecting Lugo for his new role, Trinity’s board of trustees praised his “track record of accomplishments” and “deep commitment to the value of a liberal arts education,” noting his “ability to steer institutions toward enduring financial strength while amplifying their brand and deepening campus pride.”

Liberal arts focus

As Trinity enters its third century, Lugo said its work in the liberal arts realm is as important as ever. “I’m an evangelist for the liberal arts and liberal arts colleges, and for folks to get this type of education, because it is still the most agile way to approach problem-solving,” Lugo said. “It will be the currency of the 21st century.” Lugo supports Hartford’s aspirations of being a college city, noting it has a plethora of cultural offerings like museums, theaters, restaurants and entertainment venues. “Hartford gives us tremendous advantages for our students to take full advantage of a capital city: a thriving cultural scene, an amazing business capital, and then to have a one-seat, one-train experience to both Boston and New York, all of the highway systems intersecting here, and Bradley International Airport in our backyard,” he said. Lugo has already begun making his presence known in Hartford, having met with Gov. Ned Lamont at the Capitol. He said he’s eager to engage deeper with the community, hoping to harness opportunities for students and faculty by partnering with downtown Hartford business leaders and developers. He also wants to encourage students to stay in the area when they graduate. “I really want to … be a convener that brings our faculty, staff and students together with those organizations that are thinking about new investment opportunities,” Lugo said. “How can we elevate economic development here? How can we be a partner in ensuring that talent sees that this is a great place to raise families? How can we elevate the arts together?”

‘Revenge of the English majors’

He’s especially interested in getting involved with the artificial intelligence innovation center proposed for downtown Hartford — at 150 Windsor St., adjacent to Dunkin’ Park — which aims to position the city as a technology hub. Also, he wants to expand Trinity’s downtown Hartford presence and is exploring the possibility of opening additional space. The school currently has its Trinity Innovation Center located on the third floor of 1 Constitution Plaza. The 13,000-square-foot facility serves as a space for cross-disciplinary collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship. In addition, Trinity’s Liberal Arts Action Lab is located at 1 Constitution Plaza. Lugo said the innovation and entrepreneurship center, which is relatively new, gives students and faculty access to resources that allow them to “incubate ideas” and learn to “use their creativity to think about what’s needed in society, and how we create businesses to solve those problems and solve those needs.”

Lugo believes a liberal arts education equips students with knowledge that teaches them to think critically about a range of topics. “The multidisciplinary approach gives you not just one insight into a problem, or a challenge or an opportunity, but you get this full spectrum of ideas that help you influence the choices that you can make,” he said. While generative AI may displace some workers in the technology industry — such as coders — people with wide-ranging skills, like those with liberal arts degrees, will have an advantage as the economy evolves, he believes. “I think we’re coming to a point where it’s going to be ‘Revenge of the English majors,’” Lugo said. “All of artificial intelligence is language based. You might notice that it actually isn’t math based. It’s actually asking questions. And who’s going to be the best at thinking of the best prompts, and the best questions, and the best ways to use artificial intelligence to solve problems?”

Initial goals

At Trinity, Lugo said one of his top priorities is to build a leadership team that combines new with old. His first appointment was Athletic Director Gavin Viano, who previously held the same role at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He will oversee Trinity’s competitive Division III sports, including its squash program that is widely considered the best in the country. Lugo also recently appointed a new chief financial officer and vice president for administration, Scott Jordan, who comes from Harvard and will start in the middle of August. Jordan was formerly UConn’s CFO. Most recently, he appointed Ben Anderson as vice president of advancement. He has 25 years of experience and previously worked in advancement at Boston College. “We’ve got this wonderful mix of carrying over leaders and new leadership,” Lugo said. “Getting that group to really function as a highly collaborative, highly strategic team will be mission critical to our success.” His administration will focus on the school’s financial operations and enrollment numbers, which influence the bottom line. While college enrollments in the United States have been declining significantly over the past decade, Trinity’s enrollment has remained steady, with an average of about 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students annually between 2014 and 2024, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The college currently has 2,100 undergraduate students. Lugo also plans to go on a listening tour, asking how the school is serving faculty and students to do their best work, and what should be prioritized for the “next era of capital improvements.” Trinity recently concluded the largest and most successful fundraising campaign in its history — called “ALL IN” — which raised more than $425 million to fund a range of investments. The school’s endowment now stands in the ballpark of $850 million, he said. In February, credit rating agency Moody’s described Trinity’s debt portfolio as modest in comparison to its endowment, affirming its A2 stable credit rating. The college’s total adjusted debt was about $158 million. “I have inherited an institution that has a strong financial footing and platform, that has the ability to think strategically about growth, and you know what, we can enhance and develop anew for the future,” Lugo said.