News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.—A champion for teaching college students more about poverty and its implications for society spoke on Sept. 7 during Transylvania University’s opening convocation marking the beginning of the academic year. Harlan Beckley’s talk titled “Poverty Studies: A Liberal Arts Vocation?” was free and open to the public. He is the Fletcher Otey Thomas Professor of Religion Emeritus and was an adjunct professor of law at Washington and Lee University, and he currently serves as executive director of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty. During the convocation, Beckley discussed how undergraduate education in the United States has inadequately addressed poverty. “Higher education and think tanks in the United States have provided leadership in research about poverty, but we have not done well preparing our graduates in English, education, the arts, the social sciences and sciences—those headed to professional vocations in law, business, healthcare, education and even social services—to address poverty,” Beckley said. He calls for an interdisciplinary study of poverty that goes beyond reading a textbook—to include community engagement and internships. “When our colleges and universities do more to inform and prepare their students to address poverty as part of their vocations, the graduates will become a force to reduce the persistent poverty that diminishes our wealthy nation,” Beckley said. Beckley earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Illinois and a doctoral degree in Christian Theological Ethics from Vanderbilt University. In 2002, Beckley was

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The first weekend that Transylvania’s first-year students arrive on campus, they are treated to an evening of karaoke with the university’s public safety officers. A little laughter, some gentle ribbing, a relaxed atmosphere—students learn immediately that the officers are approachable and that they care. Soon thereafter they recognize that a particular officer has been assigned to their residence hall to keep an eye on their safety and to get to know them. Officers rotate assignments among the dorms so they learn as many faces and recognize as many individuals as possible. These are just two of the ways that the university’s Department of Public Safety uses a community approach to policing. Reaching outside campus, the officers regularly train with local law enforcement agencies and the fire department. They learn they can rely on local first responders to help with any emergency that might arise on campus. Director of Public Safety Gregg Muravchick—a veteran of city, county, and state law enforcement—encourages officers to develop personal relationships and dedicate themselves to service. With this approach, officers learn to ask, “What can I do for you?” instead of saying, “That’s not my job.” Muravchick stressed the importance of having professional, trained staff to provide service no matter the task—whether it’s unlocking doors or escorting a student to a dorm room late at night. He expects his officers to take ownership in what he refers to as “our university.” It’s the kind of

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Seventeen participants will bring their passion for the liberal arts to Transylvania University this week for the “Twenty-First Century Liberal Education: A Contested Concept” seminar. The ninth annual event will draw participants from top institutions, including Earlham, Skidmore, and Washington and Lee. Beginning Thursday, the four-day seminar will address a range of pressing issues, such as the future and purpose of liberal education. The public is invited to attend free lectures on Thursday and Saturday—at 8 p.m. both nights in the Cowgill Center, room 102. J. Scott Lee, executive director of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, will give the first talk, “Cultural Institutions, Theater, and Humanistic Liberal Arts Education: Rethinking Where We Can Go From Here.” Professor Sarah Stanbury, with College of the Holy Cross, will present the weekend public lecture titled “Things of the Past: Medieval Objects and the Liberal Arts.” Michael Bell, vice president and dean of the college, said: “I am delighted that Transylvania is once again able to bring such a distinguished community of scholars together to engage with the theory and practice of the liberal arts. Those arts and the thinking they sustain are, I think, essential to our ability to function as responsible citizens in a democratic society.” The seminar—sponsored by the university and its Bingham Program for Excellence in Teaching—draws higher education faculty from across the country through an extremely competitive application process. Past participants have come from colleges such

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will present Columbia Records recording artist Home Free on Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center’s Haggin Auditorium. The performance is part of Transylvania’s Dorothy J. and Fred K. Smith Endowed Concert Series. Home Free is a five-member a cappella group with wide appeal. The band is traveling coast-to-coast on its first headlining tour since being crowned champion of Season 4 of NBC’s “The Sing-Off” in December. The tour will celebrate the “Sing-Off” victory, as well as the release of the group’s debut album, Crazy Life. Tickets will be available to the general public beginning Sept. 15. The performance is free, but tickets are required and must be picked up at the information desk in the lobby of the William T. Young Campus Center before the day of the concert. There will be no online ticket reservations and no “will call” accommodations. Each person coming to the Campus Center can secure up to two tickets. Beginning Sept. 8, Transylvania students, faculty, and staff can get tickets by showing their Transylvania ID. Since the “Sing-Off” win, Home Free has performed more than 80 shows in 2014 alone—from theaters and clubs during the 32-city, 36-show Sing-Off Live Tour, to stages and amphitheaters at some of the summer’s biggest events, including the CMA Music Fest in Nashville, Tenn.,  and The Boots & Heart Festival in Ontario, Canada. “This is such an exciting new step in our

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Exactly one hundred years after the completion of the Panama Canal, citizens of the U.S. and Panama have come together again to open up new worlds. Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., and Balboa Academy in Panama City, Panama, have partnered to launch a program that sends up to four education students from Lexington to Panama to teach at the school. Students must complete an application and interview process to be selected. They then do eight to nine weeks of student teaching in Fayette County Schools followed by five to six weeks at Balboa Academy. The collaboration began with an impromptu visit to the academy by Eduardo Nino-Moreno, former director of campus diversity and inclusion at Transylvania. Drawing on his many years of experience in Panama working with the United Nations, Nino-Moreno recognized the potential of a partnership between the two institutions. During March and April the inaugural exchange sent two Transylvania seniors—Melissa Moberg of Grand Prairie, Texas, and Brianna Hill from Lexington—to experience the remarkably different teaching environment at the private school that educates pre-K through 12th graders. The schools are exploring ideas for future collaboration, and there will be a focus on recruiting the gifted Balboa Academy students to Transylvania. But giving Transylvanians a new perspective on education is the main goal of the partnership. “Balboa was inspiring to me,” said Moberg, a history major and education minor who will be teaching at Henry Clay High School this

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