News from Transy Archives

Lexington author wins Transylvania’s Judy Gaines Young Book Award

Posted on March 7, 2017July 14, 2020 by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Local author Crystal Wilkinson has won Transylvania University’s 2017 Judy Gaines Young Book Award for her novel, “The Birds of Opulence.” Wilkinson is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets collective, the Appalachian Writer in Residence at Berea College and co-owner of Wild Fig Books & Coffee in Lexington. Wilkinson will receive the award on Tuesday, March 21, at 5 p.m. in Transylvania’s Carrick Theater. The event, which will be free and open to the public, will include a reading and book signing. This is the third year for the Judy Gaines Young Book Award, which honors recent works by writers in the Appalachian region. The University of Kentucky Press—the publisher of this year’s winner—describes the novel as “a lyrical exploration of love and loss that centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness.” Wilkinson is an “extraordinary storyteller,” said Transylvania English professor Kremena Todorova. “Her characters in ‘The Birds of Opulence’ are ordinary people dealing with everyday events like birth, postpartum depression, illness and the fast-spreading gossip of small-town folks. Yet, Wilkinson asks us to care about her people. Using language that is irresistibly beautiful, Wilkinson beckons us to enter her characters’ lives, to begin to do what the novel’s opening word asks us to do: ‘Imagine.’” “The Birds of Opulence” has won several other honors, including the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Transylvania’s award is funded by

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Transylvania launches Summer Academic Program for high schoolers

Posted on February 23, 2017July 14, 2020 by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Beginning this summer, Transylvania University will offer area high school students the opportunity to get a head start on their college careers in its new Summer Academic Program. Rising high school juniors and seniors can take courses on campus, taught by Transy faculty, that can earn them college credit and potentially count toward their high school curriculum requirements. They will learn alongside current and entering Transylvania students and will get all the benefits of being a Pioneer, including personal attention from professors and access to the library and its resources. Students will pay approximately half the price of standard tuition rates, and those fees can be earned back in the form of a scholarship to Transylvania. “We look forward to working with some of the brightest young minds in the area, preparing them for success in their college careers while showing them the tremendous value of a Transylvania education,” said Laura Bryan, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the university. The Summer Academic Program has 10 classes available in its first year, with subjects including politics, public speaking, economics and environmental science. It is open to rising high school juniors and seniors, as well as current high school seniors who have been admitted to Transy, and students from other institutions. For class information and registration, which is open until May 15, go here.

Award-winning poet to deliver Transylvania’s Kenan Lecture

Posted on February 9, 2017July 14, 2020 by Office of Marketing and Communications

Renowned poet Claudia Rankine will present Transylvania University’s 2017 Kenan Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater. The event is free and open to the public, and tickets can be reserved here. Her five poetry collections include “Citizen: An American Lyric,” which is the only poetry book to make the non-fiction category of the New York Times bestseller list. At Transylvania she will discuss making the book and the question of creative imagination and race. Rankine—who also is a playwright, essayist and editor of several anthologies—is the Aerol Arnold Chair at the University of Southern California, the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. “Citizen” has won numerous honors, including the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award in 2014. It also was a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry. “This collection of lyrical essays or poetic prose bears witness to the experience of everyday encounters with racism,” Transylvania professor Jeremy Paden said. “It moves in and through the feelings and thought processes of the person trying to understand the experience of these injustices. ‘Citizen’ names and narrates these experiences. And in reading and listening to the poems, in learning from them, our world is enlarged.” Transylvania’s William R. Kenan Jr. Lecture Series is funded by a grant from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust. Previous speakers have included: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an

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Recent Transylvania grad awarded prestigious scholarship to study archaeology

Posted on January 25, 2017July 14, 2020 by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Amber Noelle “Elle” Woolery, a recent graduate from Transylvania University, has been awarded the highly competitive Davies-Jackson Scholarship to study in the archaeology program at St. John’s College, Cambridge. The scholarship will cover her full fees, plus living expenses for two years as she studies for a Cambridge B.A.—the equivalent of a U.S. graduate degree. “I know that many students dream of educational opportunities such as this, so I’m honored and privileged to receive the Davies-Jackson Scholarship,” said Woolery, who is a preservation associate for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. “I’m truly grateful for the support of my family, professors and the Transylvania Study Abroad staff.” Woolery, who is from Lawrenceburg, graduated summa cum laude from Transylvania in December. As a Transylvania student, she gained practical experience through fieldwork, including an excavation at Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park in Jessamine County. To qualify for a Davies-Jackson Scholarship, applicants must be a first-generation student with a minimum 3.7 GPA. Woolery was interviewed via Skype by a group of St. John’s tutors from the faculty in Human, Social, and Political Sciences and received recommendations from Transylvania professors. “It’s a great honor for Elle, and I’m very proud of her,” anthropology professor Chris Begley said. “She joins Transy students and students from our field schools studying maritime archaeology at Oxford, Cambridge, Southampton, East Carolina University and Florida State University. I’m glad Elle is joining the growing list of Transylvania students making an impact

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Transylvania to open Confucius Classroom for Chinese studies

Posted on January 18, 2017July 14, 2020 by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University has been selected to be the site of a Confucius Classroom to raise awareness and interest for Chinese language and culture. Through the program, Transylvania will be entitled to a start-up fund of $30,000 to buy tech equipment, books and digital teaching material on Chinese studies, and to set up an office space. The university also will be eligible for annual funds of $10,000 after the first year to promote the learning of Chinese language and other China studies both on campus and in the surrounding community. Also, Transylvania students could receive travel scholarships and internships in that country—including an opportunity to attend summer academic camps in China. “I am very excited about the Confucius Classroom, especially about all the great scholarship opportunities that the program is going to bring to Transy students for going to China, to study or engage in internship opportunities,” said Qian Gao, associate professor of Chinese language and culture. “And the Classroom entitles not only Chinese-learning students, but all Transy students to such great opportunities.” The Confucius Classroom—which will operate in conjunction with the University of Kentucky’s Confucius Institute—also will assist faculty members with opportunities to teach in China. The Classroom will be funded through Hanban, the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Transylvania will have an opening reception for the Classroom on Monday, Jan. 30, at 4:30 p.m. on the second floor of Old Morrison. The event will include Chinese music

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