News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.—As a first-year student at Transylvania University, Olivia Oakley ’15 of London, Ky., knew she wanted to volunteer. She was drawn to the unique dynamic she discovered at College for Living, an on-campus program that places college students and their developmentally delayed neighbors side-by-side in a creative environment. She has since come to recognize how powerful and rewarding volunteering can be. Every fall and winter term, students at Transylvania create a college-like experience for local residents with disabilities. The College for Living program provides a special opportunity for high-functioning individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, age 18 or older, to experience attending classes on a college campus. A program of the university’s Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement, College for Living is largely a student-run enterprise. Classes are organized and taught by students, and at least three student volunteers participate in each class. The ratio of students to community participants helps simulate the experience of working and socializing with college peers. Classes include drawing, language study, dance, singing, sports, and arts and crafts. Participants and their caregivers enjoy the camaraderie and learning that are at the heart of College of Living.   Jason Smitha, a long-time participant, looks forward to each session. “I love the socialization and getting to see my friends again,” he explains. “I love being involved in helping decide what kind of things to do in craft class. It makes me smile and it makes

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LEXINGTON, Ky.―All 39 Transylvania University choir members will soon board a coach bus for an early spring concert tour, performing an eclectic repertoire of sacred music in Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas churches. The vocal tour kicks off March 7 close to campus, at Second Presbyterian Church in Lexington at 7 p.m., and then heads south, eventually landing in Fort Worth, Texas, the farthest destination on the six-day journey. While the tour is regional, the musical offering is global, including songs of worship and adoration from the ancient to the contemporary.  A Lithuanian folk tune, a Nigerian Christmas song, Gregorian melodies and an E.E. Cummings’ poem set to music are all part of the diverse mix of spiritual music offered by the choral group. Transylvania’s a cappella group, TBA, is featured after the intermission. A subset of the choir, TBA will invite the audience to join them in Michael McGlynn’s “Alleluia: Incantations.”  Each of the six concerts concludes with singing the praises of the university as well, with a heart-felt rendition of “Hail, Transylvania.” The homecoming concert is Monday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater on Transylvania’s campus. This concert, like all of the concerts on the tour, is free and open to the public. Carrick Theater is in Transylvania’s Mitchell Fine Arts Center on West Fourth Street, between North Broadway and Upper Streets. Free parking is available in the adjacent parking lot. The Mitchell Fine Arts Center

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LEXINGTON, Ky.―Pianist John Mortensen presents “Off the Cuff,” a recital composed entirely of improvisations in classical, jazz and contemporary music on Wednesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. The concert, in Transylvania University’s Carrick Theater, is free and open to the public. “I will improvise in several different styles and then describe briefly how improvisation works and what to listen for in each style,” explained Mortensen. His concerts may start with music of Bach, venture into improvisation, and end with music from the Canadian indie rock band The Arcade Fire or music composed by Leonard Cohen. Mortensen has performed with artists from different musical worlds, such as Moscow Conservatory professor Mikhail Petukhov and All-Ireland fiddle champion Winifred Horan. He also performs and teaches Irish and American roots music, playing mandolin, octave mandolin, Irish flute, Irish button accordion, five-string banjo, Uilleann pipes and Irish whistle. He created America’s only college-level traditional Irish music session class. After a concert in Eisk, Russia, the Russian press wrote that “… for John Mortensen Russia has always been close musically. He plays with especial passion the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff. ‘I don’t speak Russian, I speak Rachmaninoff,’ was heard from the mouth of the pianist during the concert. And truly, during the performance of the work of the great Russian composer, in the hall peoples of different nationalities disappeared—it seemed from the stage sang and wept the Russian soul. The chords of the next Rachmaninoff prelude

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—When physicist Ronald Mallett was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack. Within a year, inspired by a comic book based on “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells, Mallett began to imagine traveling back in time in the hope of saving his father’s life. The idea became a lifelong quest to make time travel possible. Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee is adapting Mallett’s memoir, “Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality,” for a feature film. Mallett, professor of physics at the University of Connecticut, will share his gripping personal and scientific journey during the Kenan Lecture on Tuesday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m., in Transylvania University’s Haggin Auditorium. A reception and book signing will immediately follow in Carrick Theater. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Designed for a general audience, the lecture—“The Real Science of Time Travel”—will draw from his memoir and also focus on the scientific possibility of time travel based on Einstein’s theories of relativity. It will highlight Mallett’s own current research and consider the problems and paradoxes of time travel. When asked what kept him focused on his lifelong quest, Mallett explained, “My passionate desire to see my father again is what kept me primarily focused on my goal of understanding time travel. When I realized that time travel might be possible based on Einstein’s theories of relativity, I felt that this was a

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