1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

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Transylvania eventing team to host first-ever Intercollegiate Spring Jumper Challenge on Saturday

Posted on by John Friedlein

The Transylvania University eventing team will kick off the spring season with the school’s first-ever Intercollegiate Spring Jumper Challenge on Saturday at Antebellum Farm in Lexington. The all-day competition will be open to any college and any level of riders. “Our team will be at the competition all day to help run the show, and we will have six team members jumping in the competition,” coach Tanya Davis said. “This will be a fun local competition to come cheer on and meet some of our Transy eventers.” Transylvania’s team has celebrated tremendous successes since it was established in 2011. For instance, three students placed within the top five of their respective intercollegiate divisions. Most recently, senior Abby Blackburn and her own mount, Dior HH, finished the 2018 season as champions of the Novice Intercollegiate Division. Blackburn is the first Transylvania eventer to hold this title.

Accomplished theater professional to join Transylvania faculty in fall

Posted on by John Friedlein

After working for theater programs throughout the country—from the Utah Shakespeare Festival to The Juilliard School in New York City—Micah Daniel Bennett soon will return to the Bluegrass as the newest addition to Transylvania University’s theater program. Bennett, who was raised in central Kentucky and attended Eastern Kentucky University, will begin this fall as instructor of theater/production and technical coordinator. “His dedication to research in sustainable methods to create theater, and his professional work with companies across the country—along with the connections he made with our students during a campus visit—made quite an impression on all of us,” said Tosha Fowler, who joined the department this school year as Lucille C. Little Chair of Theater and program director. “He not only will have a lot to offer our university, but he also will be an important contributor to the professional Lexington theater industry.” Bennett, a technical director and designer finishing his Master of Fine Arts degree at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, also has worked for the Santa Fe Opera; McLeod Summer Playhouse in Illinois; and The Public Theater and Signature Theatre, both in New York City. “With Daniel joining us, the theater program is going to soar to new heights,” Fowler said.

Call of the wild: Transy alum’s passion is no flight of fancy

Posted on by John Friedlein

As nearby turtle tanks burble, Geoff Roberts pulls a coiled corn snake from an aquarium. Even up close, it’s immediately evident the docile creature with beautiful orange markings is nothing to be afraid of. Roberts explains how encounters in controlled settings like this one in the Salato Wildlife Education Center can help people overcome their snake phobias. That isn’t the main reason Roberts, a conservation educator and 2007 Transylvania University grad, shows animals to visitors. It is, however, an example of how his psychology degree still comes in handy. People often are surprised to learn about his undergraduate major, seeing as how he works for the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Roberts even once pursued a master’s degree in mental health counseling at Eastern Kentucky University. But that’s not where his lifelong passion lies—he discovered a love for wildlife as a young boy during excursions with his grandfather in the countryside near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Thing is, during that time at EKU he felt like he’d already invested a lot of time into psychology, so it would have been a waste to not continue along that path. He changed course, though—maybe in part because of his liberal arts background at Transy, which encourages students not to get stuck in mental ruts, and in part because his mom encouraged him to follow his dream. The turning point was when he switched master’s programs to study recreation and park administration. “I knew

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