1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

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Transylvania senior Lee Richardson is a Rhodes Scholarship Finalist

Posted on by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University senior Lee Richardson of Nicholasville, Ky., represented the university at the District IX Rhodes Scholarship interview this weekend. Richardson, a biochemistry and Spanish double major, was one of 830 finalists from 299 colleges and universities across the country. Thirty-two Rhodes Scholars are named from the United States each year, two from each district. “We are all very proud of Lee for being selected a Rhodes finalist,” said Transylvania President R. Owen Williams. “Though not selected for this prestigious award, he was one of only 11 finalists in our district of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. We congratulate him on this extraordinary accomplishment and for carrying the Transylvania banner.” Richardson is extremely involved in curricular and extracurricular activities. His commitment to service has taken him to Ecuador as a medical intern, Costa Rica for storm relief and Mexico for construction of sustainable housing for homeless families. Closer to home, he has served as a founding member of T.U.T.O.R.S, an organization of Transylvania students who volunteer at local middle schools on a weekly basis to mentor and tutor newly arrived refugee ESL students; has participated in alternative spring break; and served as fundraising coordinator for Transylvania’s Hope for Haiti efforts to raise money for the Haitian citizens affected by the January 2010 earthquake. An aspiring physician, Richardson has been applying and interviewing at medical schools concurrently with applying for the Rhodes Scholarship. He is also applying for a Fulbright research

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"Beyond Boundaries: New Work by Nana Lampton," runs Nov. 10-Dec. 6 in the Morlan Gallery.

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Nana Lampton LEXINGTON, Ky.—Landscape comes alive when seen through the eyes of painter, poet, business woman and world traveler Nana Lampton. The Morlan Gallery will open an exhibit of Lampton’s work, “Beyond Boundaries: New Work by Nana Lampton,” on November 10. The exhibit will be open through December 6, including for the Lexington Gallery Hop on November 18. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday November 24-25. New paintings of the dramatic Andes Mountains and the flowered fields of Nova Scotia will be shown alongside Kentucky’s own vivid land and riverscapes. Poetry and sketchbooks from Lampton’s travels are included in this premiere exhibition. “We think of its vast dimensions, yet we know only five percent is visible to us,” said Lampton. “The artist thinks about the rest, and its effect on us.” A bonus exhibition is in the Shearer Student Art Gallery. Juried by Lampton, the exhibit brings together the artworks of Transylvania students similarly moved by travel and sense of place. Lampton’s “Dark Energy,” 2011 Lampton earned a B.A. in English literature at Wellesley, and an M.A. at the University of Virginia, and she attended programs at the Harvard Business School. In 2004, she received an M.F.A. in writing from Spalding University. Lampton has also studied drawing and painting at the Corcoran School of Art and the Louisville Visual Art Association. She has written several books of poetry including “Bloom of a Split Board,” “Snowy Owl Gathers

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Transylvania adds equestrian program for 2012-13

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Transylvania University announced today that it will add equestrian as its 23rd varsity sport, beginning in the 2012-13 year. The 2011-12 year will be spent recruiting. The Pioneer equestrian team for women and men will be led by head coach Lorah “Darcy” Wax, who started riding as a child and is a former Pony Clubber with experience showing her horses in Dressage, Eventing and Hunter/Jumpers. Wax has additional experience with top Olympic riders, three-day events, dressage shows, English and Western riding instruction, clinics, horse sales and showing. “Darcy is an accomplished rider and has past experience instructing Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competitors,” said Transylvania athletic director Jack Ebel. “She has done a phenomenal job preparing her farm for our program. We think she is the perfect person to develop what we believe will be a very popular program at Transylvania. Equestrian will go over very well here in the heart of the Bluegrass and horse country.” Transylvania will compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA), which was established in 1967. There are more than 370 college teams in the IHSA representing more than 8,300 riders. Within the IHSA, the Pioneers will compete in English riding, or hunt seat division. There are eight different levels and nine competition classes within the English division, ranging from walk-trot to walk-trot-canter, and including both flat work and work over fences. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Transylvania University,” said Wax.

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Transylvania University on the fitness move again; will launch Fit Fridays on November 4

Posted on by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Dozens of Transylvania employees will don tennis shoes and jeans on Friday, taking business casual to a whole new level. Earlier this year, Transylvania University was one of only 19 colleges in the country to be named a gold level Fit-Friendly Company by the American Heart Association. The AHA highlighted Transylvania’s Wellness Works initiative, which offers various programs to faculty and staff that target physical, financial, emotional, occupational, intellectual and social wellness, and Transylvania’s status as a tobacco-free campus. But the university is not resting on its laurels, and on November 4 will roll out a new program, Fit Fridays, to encourage employees to build more physical activity into their workdays. “When we filled out the Fit-Friendly protocol, one of the questions asked was whether the company encouraged employees to be more active by having casual days or wear your tennis shoes to work days,” said Ashley Hinton-Moncer, director of fitness and wellness. “We didn’t, and we thought that was something we could add.” One-third of Transylvania’s staff members have already signed up to participate, which means they’ll use a portion of an extended lunch period to exercise and will wear a Fit Friday T-shirt and jeans or other casual slacks and tennis shoes. The specially-designed T-shirts will help spread the message to the campus community and visitors that Transylvania is a company focused on fitness and wellness. Last week, Transylvania launched the Big Green Get Around, which combines

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Transylvania named a best value by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University has been named a best value by “Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.” The university ranked 69th in the magazine’s annual list of the top 100 liberal arts colleges that combine outstanding quality with affordability. “College is a significant investment,” said Brad Goan, Transylvania’s vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions. “The four years a student spends at Transylvania are exceptional, but the real value of a Transylvania education is in how it empowers our students and alumni to envision the possibilities in life and provides them with the skills, wisdom and courage to pursue them.” Kiplinger’s assesses quality according to measurable standards, including the percentage of students who are admitted out of those who applied, the test scores of incoming freshmen, the ratio of students to faculty members and the four- and five-year graduation rates. This year, Kiplinger’s adjusted the criteria to better reflect the issues affecting families. Now, the rankings give more weight to the four-year graduation rate—a measure of the college’s ability to deliver academic support and of the overall cost to families—and to colleges that keep student debt down. “We are pleased to see Kiplinger’s confirm what our graduates already know—that a Transylvania education is a great value,” said David Cecil, Transylvania’s associate vice president for financial aid. Ninety-six percent of Transylvania’s graduates are employed or enrolled in graduate programs within six months of graduation, and 93 percent of graduates complete their degree in four

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