1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Academics

Community grows alongside corn in Transy Garden

Posted on by John Friedlein

The fruits of Transylvania University’s May term are many — from interdisciplinary insights to wisdom gained through travel. More literal May term fruits (mostly vegetables, actually) are ripening behind Poole Residence Hall. The Garden of Transylvania class planted this produce in the spring while learning not only about gardening but also about biology, exercise science, nutrition, etc. And while the results of their efforts soak up the sun and rain, members of the Transy community who are on campus during the summer can use the garden as a place to have a meeting, eat lunch or just relax (while weeding, if they’re so inclined). “The porch of the shed, or the grape arbor are ideal places for contemplation,” said Professor of Chemistry Eva Csuhai, who teaches the May term class. Csuhai, along with retired professor Anthony Vital and Karen Anderson, former coordinator of community service and civic engagement, started the garden and the Transy Community Garden Association in 2009. While students, faculty and staff have come and go over the years, Csuhai’s May term classes have been a constant over the past decade. The university’s AmeriCorps VISTA garden outreach coordinator, Margaux Crider, also helps maintain the Transy Garden. She said that along with the students, several professors tend plots there. Crider, like Csuhai, sees a variety of opportunities. “I see the garden as more than just a place to grow food. It is a cultural space, a community space, a

Read “Community grows alongside corn in Transy Garden”

Michael Cairo to continue as interim VP for academic affairs and dean of the university

Posted on by Office of Marketing and Communications

Transylvania University President Seamus Carey on Monday announced that Professor of Political Science Michael Cairo will continue as interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the university through the 2019-20 academic year. Cairo has served in the role since February 2019. For the three previous years, he was the associate dean for academic affairs. With the upcoming departure of President Carey and a national search for his replacement to soon begin, the selection of a permanent dean will be deferred until a new president is appointed. “I am delighted to continue to serve Transylvania during this transition,” Cairo said. Cairo holds both a Ph.D. and master’s degree from the University of Virginia, in addition to a bachelor’s degree from S.U.N.Y. College at Geneseo. At Transylvania, he teaches courses on the politics of the Middle East, international politics and law and human rights. He has authored several books on American foreign policy and the role of the presidency in foreign policy, and has received the Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching and a Gerald R. Ford Foundation Presidential Grant (2015).

Published alumni find inspiration in liberal arts background

Posted on by John Friedlein

The following feature article appears in the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of Third + Broadway magazine. Billy Reed’s path seemed clear right out of high school. The future Hall of Fame sports writer already was covering games for two daily newspapers, and he had a journalism scholarship in hand to the University of Kentucky. Reed instead chose Transylvania University, which didn’t even offer a journalism class at the time. The reason was pretty trivial: It would have been a hassle for him to drive across town from work to UK, not to mention find a place to park. But the impact of his broad-based Transy education was anything but trivial. Being so busy, Reed wasn’t exactly a great student. But the breadth of what he learned helped him become a great writer. “I did learn a little bit about a lot of things,” says the 1966 graduate. That’s the result of Transylvania being steeped in the liberal arts tradition, which forces students out of well-worn ruts, helping them make unexpected connections between far-flung subjects. It also develops the whole person through a range of enriching activities — from mentorships to cultivation of self-expression and discovery. “I became a big believer in the liberal arts,” Reed says. In fact, one of this courtside scribe’s favorite classes at Transy was Philosophy, Religion and Life. “If you read good sports writers, they will have various allusions — literary allusions, historical allusions,” he says. “It’s because

Read “Published alumni find inspiration in liberal arts background”

Moving the field forward: the role of writing in science at Transylvania

Posted on by Robin Hicks

The following feature article appears in the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of Third + Broadway magazine, scheduled for delivery in June. Mark Sirianno ’19 remembers his eureka moment. Alone in the lab one evening, a few years into his work with Associate Professor of Biology Paul Duffin, he opened the incubator and found that the Neisseria sicca bacteria, which scientists heretofore had deemed immutable, had, in fact, transformed. They had, Sirianno explains, “taken up DNA from their environment and incorporated it into their genome.”  In a world in which Neisseria gonorrhoeae is becoming resistant to antibiotics, portending catastrophic epidemics, any new light on Neisseria bacteria could be helpful — particularly, as Sirianno notes, when 75% of the human population carries non-pathogenic Neisseria in their nasopharynx (the cavity behind the nose). “Every time you take antibiotics,” Sirianno explains, “it makes those Neisseria (in the nasopharynx) antibiotic resistant. If they can exchange DNA with the pathogenic version, it’s no wonder gonorrhoeae is becoming resistant so quickly and so efficiently.” Sirianno is helping to prove that Duffin’s thesis is correct, that this nonpathogenic strain is subject to “inter-species genetic transfer.” Yet who would know about the discovery or the broader implications if the researchers failed to write up their work clearly and concisely, and, ultimately, craft an abstract compelling enough to be accepted for presentation at a conference among peers? “The process of science isn’t done until you’ve communicated it,” says Sarah Bray, professor of

Read “Moving the field forward: the role of writing in science at Transylvania”