News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University music professor Larry Barnes has received a composer award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), for his work in 2007 and 2008. Awards are granted based on creative and professional activity, including performances and recordings of original music.   During this period, Barnes’s composition, “Toccata – Act of War,” was released by Capstone Records, on a disc featuring a variety of new work by 11 composers performed by pianist Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi. Fellow Transylvania professor and pianist Gregory Partain also released the piece on his disc, “Gregory Partain, Vol 2.” In summer 2008, the film “Euphoria” was re-released with an entirely new original score by Barnes. The film recently played at the Chesapeake Film Festival. Barnes is a recipient of Transylvania’s Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Howard Hanson Prize, two Kentucky Arts Council Performing Artist awards and numerous ASCAP awards. Barnes is a member of the Music Teachers’ National Association, the Kentucky Music Teachers’ Association, the Society of Composers, Inc. and the Southern Composers’ League. His music has been released on MMC and Nine Winds recordings and published by Southern Music Corporation. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania dedicated its new $5.5 million residence hall Saturday, October 4, at 10:30 a.m. in an outdoor ceremony in front of the building. The 28,000 square-foot facility features 31 suite-style living units, a newly located and expanded 1780 Café, lounges and a large meeting room. The residence hall is named in honor of Joe Thomson and his wife, JoAnn, and features wireless Internet connections and an efficient and environmentally friendly geothermal heating and air conditioning system. Mr. Thomson, a native of Cynthiana, Ky., is a 1966 graduate of Transylvania and is a member of the Transylvania Board of Trustees and a former member of the Board of Visitors.   The Thomsons own Winbak Farm, one of the most successful Standardbred horse operations in the industry. Winbak’s flagship 2,000-plus acres farm is located in Maryland, with operations in Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine and Canada. Mr. Thomson is also a co-owner of the Red Mile racetrack in Lexington.  

LEXINGTON, Ky.—David Courtwright, John A. Delaney presidential professor at the University of Northern Florida, will give a lecture titled “Forces of Habit: Why we make war on some drugs but not others,” at Transylvania University on Thursday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Cowgill Center, room 102. The lecture is free and open to the public. Courtwright is the inaugural speaker in the Drugged America Series, sponsored by the Bingham-Young Fellowship Program at Transylvania. Courtwright has been thinking and writing about the history of drug use and drug policy since the mid-1970s. He is the author of several books, including “Addicts Who Survived,” “Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America” and “Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World.” For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Doctor, humanitarian and global health expert David Walton presented, “Living a Purpose Driven Life,” in Transylvania’s Haggin Auditorium on Sunday, September 14, at 7 p.m. The lecture was free and open to the public. This lecture, Transylvania’s fall convocation, tied in with Transy’s First Engagement’s book choice for 2008-09, Tracy Kidder’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.” Walton, one of Farmer’s protégés, is a staff member at the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequities at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and spends much of his time in Haiti providing medical care to impoverished Haitians.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Lauren Strohmeier ‘08, a political science major and history minor from Owenton, Ky., will pursue a master’s degree in global politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science beginning this fall. When she came to Transylvania, her thoughts centered on domestic political concerns, but a study abroad experience with the Hansard Scholars Program in London and her Transy classes changed her perspective. “I interned with a member of the British Parliament and really enjoyed it,” Strohmeier said. “That experience, and several of my classes with (political science professor) Dr. Freyman, changed my focus to international politics and issues.” Strohmeier is looking forward to her London School of Economics experience as a way of narrowing her interests to a specific career goal. “There’s a whole big spectrum of things I’m interested in right now, including economic issues in third-world countries and the strategizing and marketing of political candidates,” she said. “I also feel very compassionate about world poverty and what the rest of the world can do to help people in difficult situations.”