Transylvania University celebrates the careers of retiring faculty members Judy Jones and Lisa Contreras. Members of the school community extend their deepest gratitude to the professors and plan to have an in-person Faculty Retirement Luncheon at a later date.
Accounting professor Judy Jones: 40 years of dedicated service to Transylvania
“As a Transy alum, I had Judy as a professor and still remember her fondly as an active faculty member well versed in her discipline. As a junior faculty member, I remember many mentoring conversations with Judy as to navigating the tenure process and fulfilling my own personal responsibilities and needs. As a new division chair, I hoped to instill in my faculty the same confidence and sense of caring that Judy provided to me as my faculty division chair. And as a faculty member trying to infuse more service‑learning pedagogy into many of my own economics classes, I’m continually amazed at the decades Judy has mentored and made possible the VITA experience for her accounting students — providing real‑world connections to the local community in need with student knowledge and expertise. Judy exhibited firsthand to her students how they could professionally and personally impact their own lives and those of other community members through accounting practices. These classes and experiences inspired many of these students to enter accounting careers and so will be positively impacting this profession for decades to come.”
— Economics professor Alan Bartley ’93
Foreign languages professor Lisa Contreras: 20 years of dedicated service to Transylvania
“Lisa has been a tireless and generous colleague. She worked hard to make the learning of Spanish fun and found a way to teach Kentucky kids about the Chicano experience well before Kentucky had anything resembling a sizable population of Mexicans and Central Americans. For years she coordinated the Foreign Language Festival and, in that role, was an advocate for Transylvania and for the study of foreign languages throughout central Kentucky and all the Bluegrass State. Her kindness, her smile, her laugh and her baked goods are things that students routinely praise about her. We will miss her good will and her chocolates, which she always freely shared.”
— Spanish professor Jeremy Paden
“Professor Lisa Contreras is a masterful teacher and a caring and compassionate person. She is always conscious of her role as a mentor and as a model of integrity. Lisa regularly has students in her office to discuss both academic and personal matters, and many have said that she has been their role model at the university. More than a colleague, she has been a friend, generous with her time and someone to approach for advice about life in general. ¡Una bella persona!”
— Spanish professor Veronica Dean-Thacker