News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.―Pianist Mark Valenti will visit Transylvania University Jan. 14 for an event billed as part concert and part music appreciation class. “The Art of Creative Listening” is aimed at a general audience interested in an introduction to the art of piano and the art of listening to classical music. The event is sponsored by Transylvania’s Division of Fine Arts and is free and open to the public. Valenti’s program includes a mix of pieces from various stylistic eras―from Baroque and Classical to Romantic, Impressionist and Modern, including some jazz improvisation. He will walk the audience members through each piece, pointing out what to listen for, defining the musical style and, in general, equipping them to appreciate music at a deeper level. Performing in the United States and Europe, Valenti’s list of notable accomplishments includes playing for former First Lady Barbara Bush in Washington, D.C., giving a live recital on WFMT classical radio and appearing on television with Joe Sudler’s Swing Machine and with singer/actor Christopher Durham. Valenti has also worked extensively in the jazz field, having performed with actor, singer and dancer Gregory Hines, composer Frank Foster and trombonist Al Grey. The seasoned musician received a Master of Music from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music from the Philadelphia Musical Academy. “The Art of Creative Listening” will be in Carrick Theater, located in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center, at 7:30 p.m. Parking is available in the Mitchell Fine

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  LEXINGTON, Ky.—Prostitution and sex trafficking might not be topics we expect to be the focus of a bright young college student. But Bria Parker ’15 is heading to Denmark to learn about policy issues addressing those troublesome social issues, which are universal and timeless—and, unfortunately, commonly in the news. Parker has received a prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study “Prostitution and the Sex Trade in Europe” at the Denmark Institute for International Study, beginning in January. Gilman Scholarships, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, are awarded solely to Pell Grant recipients—academic achievers with financial need. The goal of the scholarship is to diversify the candidates who study and intern abroad and to focus study in countries that are less traveled. Recipients of the grant are required to complete a service component when they return to campus, and Parker hopes to reach out to the Lexington community. Why Denmark? A visit to Transylvania’s annual Study Abroad Fair put Parker across the table from a representative of the Denmark Institute, who described its curricular offerings in sociology and gender studies. It was a eureka moment for Parker and, as Kathryn Simon, director of study abroad at Transylvania, recalls, a logical outcome of a local inspiration: “[Parker] attended the Kentucky Collegiate Leadership Conference last winter where she heard a speaker talk about prostitution and the sex trade. This piqued her interest in wanting to learn

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Should humans use animals to grow new ears? Should we attempt to revive extinct species like the passenger pigeon or the wooly mammoth? How shall we care for our aging human population? What ethical and philosophical challenges are raised by such questions? These are examples of the heady issues confronting participants in the annual Summer Institute offered by Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. Transylvania has awarded Lydia Lissanu ’15 of Somerset, a sociology major with a biology minor, a full scholarship to the program, which brings together undergraduate and graduate students from around the world for two months each summer. Because of the success of previous Transylvania participants, Yale has reserved a spot for a Transylvania student since 2009. Transylvania selects the student from a pool of applicants and covers the enrollment fee. “I feel really blessed,” said Lissanu of being chosen for the Yale seminar. “It’s an honor. I hope that I can make the school proud when I’m there.” Participation in the program will afford Lissanu, who is on a pre-med, pre-public health track with plans to pursue a career in global health, the opportunity to study with an esteemed group of professors from Yale and other institutions. She was drawn to the program’s interdisciplinary focus, which is similar to the approach of several of her Transylvania courses. “She was really an extraordinary candidate,” said Jack Furlong, a Transylvania philosophy professor who’s on the selection committee.

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—You might think the United States has a wide variety of surpluses: fast food restaurants, ineffective politicians, talentless celebrities, overpaid athletes, insipid tweets. But chimpanzees? You bet, says April Truitt, executive director of the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville. She will give a talk titled “The Chimpanzee Paradox: Too Few in the Wild, Too Many in the U.S.” at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5, in Transylvania University’s Cowgill Center, room 102. Truitt will discuss what the future holds for the more than 800 captive chimpanzees in U.S. research facilities and why there are so many here. Plus, she’ll address the question of who is responsible for the future care of these long-lived creatures. The United States and the tiny African nation of Gabon are the only two countries still using chimpanzees in biomedical research. More than 100,000 non-human primates are in U.S. laboratories, whether for breeding or experimentation, according to Truitt’s website. “Those apes and monkeys kept for [experiments] are subjected to everything from psychological deprivation to repeated surgeries and other invasive procedures.” Truitt’s center is home to more than 50 primates, including 11 chimpanzees. Some came from research facilities, and some were pets: “Individuals pay dealers hefty fees for cute, cuddly, and easy-to-handle babies, only to find they’ve made a terrible mistake when their aging pets become stronger, wilder, and potentially dangerous,” according to the center. The 30-acre facility, which is funded by private donations, is meant

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