News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University senior Jake Hawkins has spent the last four years working on The Rambler student newspaper and honing his reporting skills. Now a major newspaper has taken notice. Hawkins has been selected as one of 19 USA Today Collegiate Correspondents for the spring 2013 semester. He will write stories for www.usatodaycollege.com with the chance to be published in the print edition of USA Today. The Princeton, Ky., native is just the second student from Kentucky to be named a collegiate correspondent for the news outlet. Alumni from the program have been from top journalism schools including Syracuse University, Michigan State University, New York University and Northwestern University. A writing, rhetoric and communication major, Hawkins has been working with the Transylvania faculty to cater his curriculum to journalism. He also serves as the editor-in-chief of The Rambler. “I really feel like I’ve gotten a personalized education at Transylvania,” Hawkins said. “Even though we don’t have a formal journalism program, my WRC professors and Rambler advisors have gone out of their way to tailor WRC to journalism for me.” Hawkins found the USA Today application while researching his senior seminar project in which he’s compiling a portfolio of freelance journalism stories. The deadline for the application was just two hours away, so he quickly filled it out and submitted clips. He then wrote an article on the fiscal cliff and how it relates to college students, earning him selection to

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania is expanding its annual Stress Fest from one day to a full week of events designed to help students reduce the pressure of their finals and end-of-term projects. Offerings include a Relaxation Station—with free 10-minute massages from Lexington’s Solar Massage—and a dog petting room, which was suggested by Student Government Association President Charli Fant. “We wanted to give students multiple opportunities, so, if at any point during the high-stress time at the end of the term, they wanted to go out and relieve some of that, they had the chance,” said Amy Jo Gabel, director of student involvement and leadership. Other events include basketball games, a Gift of Holiday concert, an improv comedy show and morning yoga classes. “If students need to blow off some steam, listen to music or just have someone rub your shoulders, we’ve got it,” Gabel said. The full list of Stress Fest events is as follows: Friday, Dec. 7 A Gift of Holiday music concert 7:30 p.m., Haggin Auditorium, Mitchell Fine Arts Center Saturday, Dec. 8 Women’s basketball game 1 p.m., Clive M. Beck Center Men’s basketball game 3 p.m., Clive M. Beck Center ImprompTU improv show 9 p.m., William T. Young Campus Center Sunday, Dec. 9 Relaxation Station with massages 2-6 p.m., William T. Young Campus Center Monday, Dec. 10 Free yoga class 8:15 a.m., Clive M. Beck Center Tumbling gym with trampolines, foam pits, and more (Legacy Gymnastics) Shuttle leaves from

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Jason Whitaker, vice president for information technology LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s rollout of Ellucian’s Business Object Reporting Tool won the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities’ (AIKCU) 2012 Technology Award for Best New Campus Application System. The award is given to the university or college that has implemented a major new application or significantly enhanced an existing system that improves operational performance and/or service for all or part of its students, faculty and staff. Jason Whitaker, vice president for information technology, said that Ellucian’s Business Objects Reporting Tools give staff the ability to quickly build their own reports from the campus enterprise system without IT assistance. “The tools are easy to use with a drag and drop interface to build reports and add charts and graphs,” he said. “Users can even schedule reports to run automatically and be sent to their e-mail inbox. These tools have transformed how we access and use data to report and make decisions.” Whitaker said that while any user friendly reporting tool is a plus, his staff went the extra mile to make the rollout work for Transylvania users. “The IT staff met with each administrative office to introduce the software, provide training and help build some of the first reports. As users began building their own reports and learning the tools, IT followed up with advanced training and additional support.” An important part of the process was the IT staff helping to identify institutional

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