News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky., – Central Kentucky residents are invited to enroll in a summer term class at Transylvania to fulfill an academic degree requirement for another university or simply to pursue a subject area of interest. Seventeen courses are offered, ranging from Underwater Archaeology to Principles of Macroeconomics to Public Speaking. “This is a fantastic opportunity for individuals in Lexington or the surrounding area to take a class with one of Transylvania’s esteemed faculty members and enjoy our distinctive academic experience,” said Michelle Rawlings, university registrar. “Whether you’re a student at another university home for the summer and need to fill a fine arts general education requirement or prepare to take organic chemistry in the fall-or if you’ve just always wanted to know more about Greek mythology-we have a course this summer that may interest you.” Summer term begins June 10 and ends July 12. Transylvania classes are open to any area resident with a high school diploma. Details about the courses offered, tuition, and registering as a non-degree student are available here. For more information, contact Rawlings at registrar@transy.edu or (859) 233-8116.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Baseball players in America have come to evoke visions of gods with enormous athletic abilities and even higher salaries, heroes in a sport that draws tens of millions of fans each year to see these figures hit towering home runs while staying respectfully stoic until the long season ends. Transylvania University senior Cory Collins sets out to show a forgotten side of baseball in his new book, “Bats That Won’t Break.” The book chronicles the stories of eight members of the Louisville Bats, a minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, as they spend time middling in the lower levels of baseball, traveling by bus rather than private jet and making a fraction of what the typical big leaguer earns. Some of those players, like Dominican outfielder Denis Phipps, came from humble roots and are waiting their turn to break in to the Major Leagues. Others, such as catcher Corky Miller, will spend their entire careers in the minors with virtually no shot at The Big Show. Bats manager David Bell had an 11-year MLB career and now spends his time coaching up the next round of hopefuls, and even groundskeeper Tom Nielsen hopes for a shot to curate a big league diamond, a skill he taught himself by mowing freshly cut lines in his backyard as a child. “All of these guys started with a boyhood dream, and I wanted to look at how they transformed from having

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University has been named a Fit-Friendly Company at the Gold Level by the American Heart Association, which recognizes workplaces that champion the health of employees. To make the cut, Transylvania had to demonstrate participation in areas outlined by the American Heart Association to promote physical activity, nutritional well-being and an overall organizational culture of health consciousness. Transylvania demonstrated its commitment to being a healthy place to work through its Wellness Works initiative, which offers various programs to faculty and staff that target physical, financial, emotional, occupational, intellectual and social wellness. Ashley Hinton-Moncer, director of health and wellness and chair of the Wellness Works committee, said committee members have worked hard this year to continue to improve wellness on campus. “One of our newest initiatives this past year was games on the lawn.  Throughout the summer we provided a variety of lawn games to encourage employees to step outside during lunch and engage in some friendly competition.  We continue to improve our health and wellness efforts and are extremely excited about the future.” This past year Transylvania also implemented “Fit Friday” where every Friday faculty and staff are encouraged to be active for a minimum of 20 minutes.  Those who participate receive a free “Fit Friday” T-shirt they can wear with jeans and tennis shoes. They also get 15 extra minutes during lunch to work out. Transylvania also requires all vending machines to have healthy snacks selected from a

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University philosophy professor Peter Fosl has been named the first recipient of the David Hume Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. From September 2013 until February 2014, he’ll pursue his own research at the university, present his findings, and engage with other international scholars in the university’s academic community. The fellowship was established as part of the university’s year-long celebration of the tercentenary of the birth of David Hume (April 22, 1711). Applications were accepted from Hume scholars around the world. “The appointment as David Hume Fellow with the IASH is a dream come true for me,” said Fosl.  “Students at Transylvania know that Hume is an intellectual hero of mine, and they endure sitting beneath a rather large portrait of him I’ve hung in our principal philosophy classroom—a copy of the portrait that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. It’s dizzying to think I’ll be working among some of the world’s best philosophers in the town where he lived and the university he attended.” Fosl studied at the University of Edinburgh once before, as a Fulbright student working on his dissertation in 1990-91. He received the more recent fellowship on the strength of his research titled “The Promise of Philosophy: Skepticism and Naturalism in Hume.” “It’s a perfect circle to my intellectual career,” Fosl added. “A number of Transylvania students have recently enrolled

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