News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s Studio 300: Digital Art and Music Festival offers up the cutting edge of art in the digital age with seven exhibitions, three concerts, two lectures and over 20 musicians and artists from  eight countries. The festival, which is free and open to the community, runs Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28 and 29. The mission of the festival is to explore creative manifestations of technology through concerts and exhibitions of digital art and music. Digital art has expanded artistic and musical mediums far beyond paint brushes and pianos. “Studio 300 is an exciting event because all the artists and musicians involved are also technologists that build their own tools, instead of using preexisting tools in traditional ways,” says Timothy Polashek, director of the festival and music professor at Transylvania.   Exhibitions include interactive art, pre-recorded tracks created in electronic music studios and music that is generated by original computer programs. The festival will give Transylvania students and the community “an exclusive front row seat,” Polashek says, to experience the newest developments of international digital art.   Studio 300 begins with an artist’s talk on Friday at 10:30 a.m., an afternoon of open art installations across campus and a concert. Friday night offers two concerts. The first begins at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium and the second at Al’s Bar starting at 11 p.m. Each concert features six different artist-composers offering the audience a wide exposure to unique video,

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Ashley Gutshall and Tristan Fretwell have been named assistant directors of residence life at Transylvania University. They will maintain housing records and the physical condition of the residence halls, lead staff functions, provide program support, and mentor the residence life student staff. In 2008, Gutshall worked through Americorps VISTA in Transylvania’s office of community service and civic engagement. She developed and recruited students for an Alternative Spring Break, established a mentoring program and bridged connections between the campus and the community.  “I am so excited to be back at Transy,” Gutshall said. “I loved my time here with the AmeriCorps VISTA program and I am looking forward to working with our wonderful staff and students.” Gutshall interned with Housing and Dining services at Kansas State University and worked as a graduate assistant for sexual assault and violence intervention and prevention with the University of South Carolina (USC). She has a B.A. in English from James Madison University and an M.A. in higher education and student affairs from USC. Fretwell has been at Transylvania since 2011 as the area coordinator of residence life. He oversaw four upper-class student residence halls, participated in an emergency on-call system, maintained the staff budget, bi-weekly staff meetings and recruited prospective residence life members. “With so many exciting changes to the university this year I cannot wait to start working with our incredible students and amazing staff and faculty,” Fretwell said. Before coming to Transylvania he

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University first-year students are in their final week of the university’s inaugural, three-week August term that is designed to introduce them to the expectations of college work by reading and discussing two books. The 350 students read Come and Go, Molly Snow, a novel by Kentuckian Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, over the summer. Once they arrived on campus Aug. 10, they began reading The Professor and the Madman, a non-fiction work by Simon Winchester that tells the story of two of the key figures in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. The books were chosen by a committee of faculty members who are teaching the three-week First Engagements course. They looked for books that they felt would foster a joy of reading while also providing a wide range of discussion topics. Groups of about 16 students meet for three hours every weekday morning to discuss the books and related materials. “August term scholars”—Transylvania juniors and seniors who serve as mentors both in and out of class—assist the professors. John Svarlien, classics professor and academic director of August term, says choosing these particular books was “a stroke of genius or very good luck” because they complement each other and carry out the theme of the term: Making Sense. “Come and Go, Molly Snow helps students make sense on a personal level by raising issues related to an individual’s past, future and relationships,” he explains. “The Professor and the Madman

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University student Don Combs won a gold medal this summer, but it’s not from the London Olympics. Combs was presented the prestigious Congressional Award Gold Medal by U.S. Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers in recognition of his outstanding public service record and personal development achievements. A senior from Pikeville, Ky., he is the first to receive the award in the 5th Congressional District, which Rogers represents, and is one of only 177 gold medalists in the nation. “I congratulate Don on this accomplishment,” Rogers said. “I’m thrilled to see young people taking initiative in their communities to lend a helping hand, advance their skill sets, strive for healthy living, and take on character-building projects.” The congressional award is given to young Americans aged 14-23 and requires 400 hours of community service, 200 hours of both personal development and physical fitness activities, and a four-night expedition. Combs fulfilled the requirements through his positions as president of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity and southern regional chief for the Boy Scouts’ Order of the Arrow. His expedition consisted of a week-long canoe trip with the Boy Scouts. With a full academic load, Combs traveled 103 days last year for the Boy Scouts, conducting leadership seminars and leading events. When he wasn’t hopping on a plane to mentor young men all around the country, he did the same in his own backyard. Under his leadership, Kappa Alpha Order organized the Transy 500 Race to

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