1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Delta Delta Delta hosts Women of the Bluegrass: Women in Environmental Jobs event for Transy community

Ann Stone, Elmwood Stock Farm LEXINGTON, Ky.—“By supporting local farmers today, you can help ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow, and that future generations will have access to nourishing food.” This was the message delivered by Ann Stone of Elmwood Stock Farm in Scott County, Ky., to the Transy community during Delta Delta Delta’s semi-annual Women of the Bluegrass event in April. In keeping with Transylvania’s commitment to creating a sustainable campus, the event focused on women with careers relating to the environment and sustainability. Stone spoke about her family’s diversified operation: the certified organic farm provides quality foods to local restaurants and the Lexington Farmer’s Market, and offers a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which allows members to participate in their own food supply by committing to share in the harvest of the farm. CSA members purchase shares in early spring and then enjoy the bounty of the harvesting season with a weekly basket of fresh vegetables. Stone, an advocate of the slow food movement, also spoke of the nutritional differences between organic and non-organic foods and the importance of supporting local agriculture. Jennifer E. Drust, an environmental lawyer with Stites and Harbison, PLLC, and Karen Thompson, a geologist with Smith Management Group, also spoke at the event. The three women answered questions from the audience, addressing topics such as climate change legislation, “clean” coal and the cost of organic produce.

Lost and Found: Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery closes season with senior exhibition, May 12-19

Clay: Play Time’s Over, 2007, Toy sculpture and shadow LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery ends the 2008-09 year with Lost and Found, an exhibition of work by three senior art majors. The work of Kaci Clay, David Kenton Kring and Corey Washburn opens May 12 and runs through May 19. A reception honoring the artists will be Thursday, May 14, from 6-8 p.m., with special musical guests “The Tillers.” The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Clay presents a variety of her most critical work, including ceramics, paintings, drawings and sculptures. Clay’s work gives a nod to the humorous, while addressing issues of contemporary importance. Kring: Angel Band, 2008, Ceramic with feathers Kring’s incarcerated ceramic figures soar through Morlan Gallery, buoyantly carrying the hope and the heaviness of Southern culture. Strongly influenced by Southern music, Kring says his hand-built and painted figures are created with surfaces that are extremely worked; often built up in layers, then stripped away and built back up again. Washburn’s room-sized installation is a mystery waiting to be solved. Cluttered with ephemera, furniture and the melancholy, compulsion leads to discovery in a room with a story. For more information go to: www.transy.edu/morlan/exh.asp?e=senior2009 or contact Morlan Gallery director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142.

Juried student exhibition opens April 29 in Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery

LEXINGTON, Ky.—A juried student exhibition opens Wednesday, April 29, in Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery.  All students who made art during the 2008-09 academic year were invited to show their work in the Juried Student Exhibition, which runs through 2 p.m., May 6.   A public reception honoring the artists will be Friday, May 1, from 5-6 p.m., Jurors’ awards will be presented at 5:30 p.m. William Pollard, dean of the college, will select one piece to receive the Dean’s Purchase Award. The award-winning piece will become part of Transylvania’s permanent collection. Morlan Gallery is open weekdays, noon to 5 p.m., and the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public. For more information contact Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142.

Transylvania professor collaborates to bring Spanish writers to Kentucky Foreign Language Conference April 16-18

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C., have collaborated with Transylvania University and Davidson College to bring three Spanish writers to Lexington to participate in the 62nd annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference this week. Two conference sessions are dedicated to literature from the region of León, Spain. Authors from this area have received many prestigious national and international literary prizes. Essayist and journalist Pedro García Trapiello (Diario de León), journalist Susana Martín García (El Mundo) and poet/artist Juan Carlos Mestre will speak about contemporary Spanish literature and journalism at Transylvania’s Jazzman’s Café in the Glenn Building on Friday, April 17, at 11 a.m.  Transylvania received a generous gift from alumna Katie C. Bolin to help sponsor the event. At 7:30 p.m. the writers will conduct a roundtable discussion on literature and journalism by Leonese writers in the University of Kentucky’s Gaines Center, Bingham Davis House, 218 E. Maxwell Street. Both events are free and open to the public.Spanish professors Veronica Dean-Thacker (Transylvania University), Shelby Thacker (Asbury College) and Mary S. Vásquez (Davidson College) have organized these sessions to highlight the quality and variety of the literary production from Leonese writers, such as Andrés Trapiello (who, in 2004, published his sequel to Cervantes’ Spanish masterpiece, Don Quijote), Julio Llamazares, Josefina Aldecoa, José Maríá Merino, Margarita Merino, Luis Mateo Díéz, Antonio Gamoneda, Juan Carlos Mestre and Juan Pedro Aparicio. The Kentucky Foreign Language Conference is the

Lecturer sees hope in research aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease

Dr. Charles D. Smith LEXINGTON, Ky.—Combating Alzheimer’s disease through early detection and preventive therapy may prove to be a more successful strategy than attempting to cure the disease in its more advanced stages, said University of Kentucky professor Dr. Charles D. Smith in an April 7 presentation that was part of the Alltech Lecture Series at Transylvania University. “We don’t need a silver bullet to cure Alzheimer’s where it is already present, we need to help a person stay ahead of the pathology that causes the disease,” Smith said. “Instead of turning around and shooting it, we should outrun it.” Smith is Robert P. and Mildred Moore’s Professor in Alzheimer’s Research in the department of neurology at UK’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. He spoke to a near-capacity crowd in Transylvania’s Carrick Theater. Smith told his audience that no significant breakthroughs in the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease had occurred from the time German physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the disorder in 1906 until 1978, but that more recent research offers the hope of effective treatment. “Clinical trials for practical, preventive measures for Alzheimer’s disease are within immediate view,” he said. “The goal is to devise treatment for people who are at high risk for the disease.” Alzheimer’s is a progressive and fatal brain disease that affects as many as 5.3 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The disease destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior that