1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University
KyForward featured our popular mentoring initiative in an article titled “100 Doors to Success: Transylvania University mentoring program fuels students’ career aspirations.” The university’s program pairs students with alumni who share their career and life experiences. Transylvania launched the program in 2014 with a goal of enlisting 100 mentors, but it has grown to include more than 200 volunteers.
LEXINGTON Ky.—Transylvania University students, who lead the nation in the number of Alpha Lambda Delta graduate fellowships, received three more this month. With 280 chapters nationwide, the honor society awards 24 of the competitive fellowships each year for students to pursue postgraduate studies. The most recent Transylvania recipients are seniors: Malory Thelen of Edgewood, Ky., who was awarded the $5,000 Dorothy Anderson Graduate Fellowship; Anna Balassa of Louisville, Ky., who won the $3,000 Adele Hagner Stamp Graduate Fellowship; and Kaitlin Haggard of Florence, Ky., who received the $3,000 Christine Conaway Graduate Fellowship. This is the third consecutive year Transylvania students have been awarded three ALD fellowships, bringing the total to 17. ALD Executive Director Eileen Merberg congratulated the three seniors. “Applicants were strong in both the number of honors received and participation in quality activities, so this is a true testament to the excellence of the Transy recipients.” Transylvania professor Mike Nichols, who is the chapter adviser, also praised their achievements. “This is an incredibly competitive program,” he said. “This is testimony not only about the quality of our students but also to the thoughtful letters of recommendation our faculty write.” These fellowships will help the students achieve their career goals. Thelen plans to pursue an advanced law degree; Balassa will work toward an occupational therapy degree; and Haggard will continue to study clinical psychology. In addition to these fellowships, Transylvania sophomore Megan Wasson of Winchester, Ky., received an ALD James Stemler
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LEXINGTON, Ky.—A breathtaking tale of a young girl gone missing in Depression-era Tennessee has won the second annual Judy Gaines Young Book Award, presented by Transylvania University. “Long Man,” by Tennessee author Amy Greene, has been praised by national reviewers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Set just before the real-life damming of Long Man River, the novel tells the story of a tiny Appalachian town doomed to flooding so that the surrounding area could prosper economically. “In this moving story, traditional ways of being in the world and being bound to a particular place are usurped by the interests of a more modern rendition of economy,” Transylvania writer in residence Maurice Manning said. “The tale of human displacement and wandering around a sense of home, of one kind or another, is fundamental to the very idea of Appalachian literature.” Crystal Wilkinson, a Kentucky writer and founding member of the Affrilacian Poets collective, selected the book for the award. Greene will receive the award at Transylvania on April 5 at 5 p.m. in Cowgill 102, where she will give a free public reading. The award also comes with a $2,500 cash prize, and a signed copy of the novel will be preserved in the Transylvania Special Collections. Greene is from Morristown, Tenn., and was named Tennessee Writer of the Year by the Tennessee Writers Alliance in 2010. Her articles and op-eds have appeared in the
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Four Transylvania University seniors have been named semifinalists for highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants that fund English Teaching Assistantships abroad for the 2016-17 academic year. Samantha Easterling of Wilmore, Ky., McKenzie Gearheart of Pikeville, Ky., Erin Marek of Pataskala, Ohio, and Courtney Smith of Batavia, Ohio, have all been selected based on academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential. In the past 10 years, 17 Transylvania students have received Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships, including four last year who are currently serving in Thailand, India, Malaysia and South Korea. “We’re extremely proud of these students,” President Seamus Carey said. “They follow a long line of recent Transylvanians who have been awarded Fulbright grants. It’s evident they are putting in hard work and are receiving excellent preparation from their professors and staff advisers.” “Being named a semifinalist is a testament to the unmatched education I’ve received at Transylvania as well as a validation of all of my hard work these past four years,” said Smith, who is a semifinalist for the Slovak Republic. “I feel so fortunate to be considered for this prestigious award and sincerely hope that Transylvania is well represented when the final grants are released.” The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 as the flagship international educational exchange program and operates in more than 160 countries. “Knowing I might be spending a year in Mongolia seems like something I could only dream of,” Marek said. “My
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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s theater department has received a $204,769 gift to expand student and faculty opportunities and bolster community engagement. Over the next four years, the Dixon/White Theater Fund will benefit the university in a variety of ways, including travel grants, free theater tickets, conference attendance for students, visiting artist residencies and workshops, faculty development and guest speakers. “These funds offer students co-curricular experiences that complement our work in the classroom and in production,” theater professor Michael Dixon said. “For example, we’re initiating a lecture series to address issues of diversity in world theater. And each year we’ll provide funding for students to travel somewhere in the world to experience theatrical events in other cultures. It’s definitely mind-expanding, and it could be mind-blowing.” The donation—made by Dixon’s family in memory of his mother, Marion—will make it possible for the university to offer free admission to its theater productions, with the goal of making performances accessible to more of the Lexington community. This ties into Transylvania’s broader Project One initiative to promote diversity and inclusion on campus. The grant also will fund an artistic residency, which will begin in May with Lexington theater company Project SEE and its production of “No Spring Chicken” in Little Theater. “Professional theater residency is just one of many projects this gift allows us to pursue, and it adds Transylvania to a prestigious group of colleges with professional companies on campus, including Yale, Harvard and Vassar,” theater
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