1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

African-American History Month celebration event – Author and scholar Allan G. Johnson to speak at Transylvania Tuesday, February 5 at 7 p.m.; free and open to the public

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Allan G. Johnson, noted author and expert on issues of privilege, oppression and social inequality, will speak at Transylvania University’s Haggin Auditorium Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. The lecture, “Beyond Privilege, Power, and Difference,” is free and open to the public.  Johnson addresses controversial issues with compassion and clarity in ways that people can relate to on a personal level. His blend of life experience, humor, social reality and clear analysis opens windows to new ways of thinking and living. Johnson’s books include “The Forest and the Trees: Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise,” “The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User’s Guide to Sociological Language,” “The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy” and “Privilege, Power, and Difference.” Since receiving his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan in 1972, he has worked with more than 160 schools and organizations in 34 states and Europe. His work has been translated into several languages and excerpted in numerous anthologies. A part of Transylvania’s African-American History Month celebration, this lecture is sponsored by the Lilly Project at Transylvania and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or the Lilly Program at (859) 281-3569.

The Faun runs Jan. 14 through Feb. 22 at Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery; exhibit features installation and dance performances based on Greek mythology

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Kentucky artist Dan Dutton transforms the Morlan Gallery into an environmental installation, The Faun, based on the Greek myths of Pan and the nymphs, Jan. 14 – Feb. 22. In conjunction with the exhibit, dance performances will be held in the gallery on Thursday, Jan. 24, from 12:20-1:15 and 6:30-7:25 p.m. The dancers’ movements will enact the myths and are guided, in part, with performance methods adapted from the Japanese tea ceremony and Noh theater. Noh, the oldest existing form of theater, grew out of a combination of Chinese forming arts and traditional Japanese dance. The lyric texts of The Faun are derived from Nonnus, Ovid, the Homeric hymns, Sappho, Mallarme and Cherokee chant. The music is dance electronica featuring field recordings of native Kentucky insects, birds, and amphibians. Gallery hours are weekdays noon-5 p.m. The gallery will also be open for the Lexington Gallery Hop Friday, Feb. 15, from 5-8 p.m. The Morlan Gallery will be closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Monday, January 21. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher at (859) 233-8142.

Transylvania University choir to perform at conclusion of winter tour

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The 38-member Transylvania University Choir will perform at Transylvania at the conclusion of their winter tour. The performance, which is free and open to the public, is Friday, January 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater. The choir will perform in four cities in four days on their winter tour, including Raceland, Kentucky; Baltimore, Maryland; Falls Church, Virginia and Williamsburg, Virginia. Selections for the performance will include Go Where I Send Thee, a gospel spiritual; Let Me Be Like Mary; Samuel Adler’s Seasons of Time, as well as classic pieces O Magnum Mysterium and Gloria tibi, Domine. The members of the choir who perform in Transylvania’s annual Madrigal dinner will also present a selection of music from the Christmas season in Medieval England. Under the direction of Gary Anderson, Transylvania professor of music and director of choral ensembles, the choir toured Austria, Hungary and the Transylvania region of Romania in May 2006 as part of Transylvania’s innovative May term. They gave concerts in Vienna and Krems, Austria, Budapest and Szentendre, Hungary and Sibiu, Romania, in the Transylvania region. In 2003, the choir toured Russia, Finland and Sweden. Continental tours are scheduled during the years when the choir does not travel abroad. For more information, contact Gary Anderson at (859) 281-3546 or the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

Lexington children participate in Transylvania’s Crimson Christmas

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania students, faculty and staff made the holidays a little brighter for some Lexington children. About 60 boys and girls, from Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Bluegrass, visited campus to participate in Transy’s 16th annual Crimson Christmas on Sunday, December 9. Transylvania students and the children made crafts, played games and participated in face painting and storytelling in the Beck Center from 4-5 p.m., then moved to the Rafskeller for dinner. After dinner, the children opened gifts, received stockings and got to meet the jolly elf himself, Santa Claus, who made his annual appearance at Transylvania. Transylvania students, faculty and staff sponsored the children by volunteering their time and money for games, gifts and stockings. Sodexho Marriot provided dinner for the children and Transylvania student volunteers.

Transylvania speech and debate team continues success at home tournament

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania’s speech and debate team walked away from its home tournament with numerous awards, continuing the success it has enjoyed all semester. Senior Liz Sills and junior Marshall Jolly’s team placed first in the parliamentary debate tournament, winning every ballot of the competition. The team of sophomores Chase Bannister and Tyler Murphy, who were competing in their first tournament, placed second in the same event. In overall speaker points, Jolly placed first, Sills placed third and Murphy placed ninth. Freshman Katrina Mineo also competed and was awarded fifth place in the After Dinner Speaking category. The team has also done well in previous tournaments this semester. At the University of the Cumberlands and Berea College tournaments at Berea in October, freshman Raven Mineo took first in novice impromptu speaking, first in novice extemporaneous speaking, second in open extemporaneous speaking, sixth in impromptu speaking and was an impromptu semifinalist. Sills was also an impromptu semifinalist and placed sixth in open debate speaking, and Jolly placed tenth in open debate. The team placed third overall in the small college division. In November the team competed in Owensboro. Raven Mineo placed first in novice impromptu counseling, second in novice extemporaneous speaking and third in novice impromptu speaking. Freshman Justine Croy placed first in dramatic interpretation and fifth in prose. Jolly placed second in impromptu speaking, third in impromptu counseling and sixth in extemporaneous speaking. Katrina Mineo placed fourth in novice impromptu counseling.