Today's Commencement 2026 ceremony will proceed outdoors as scheduled.

1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Commencement

Transylvania graduate earns Al Smith Fellowship for poetry

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Affrilachian poet and 2003 Transylvania University graduate Bianca Spriggs has received a 2012 Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship for excellence and creativity. The fellowship awards are named after retired Kentucky journalist Al Smith, who is a past arts council board chair. The program recognizes and supports Kentucky artists producing high-quality work. Artists can apply for the fellowship just once, and Spriggs was chosen along with eight other literary artists and one composer from a pool of 56 applicants. The award also comes with $7,500 that is unrestricted for any use. Spriggs will use hers to travel and present her poetry and her recent short film Waterbody, which was adapted from one of her poems about a woman discovering a sickly mermaid and nursing her back to health. She will be featured at Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore, an exhibition and festival in Charleston, S.C. in September, and in October she will travel to New York City to read at the Nuyorican Café and The New School. She hopes both trips will further her exposure as a poet. “The fellowship allows me to travel and get a chance to hit a couple new places,” Spriggs said. “I can show my work, and I can represent Kentucky around the country.” Spriggs graduated from Transylvania with a history degree and studio art minor, and she earned an M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky, where she is

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Affrilachian poet Bianca Spriggs gives Transylvania graduates address to remember

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Poet Bianca Spriggs ’03 speaks to the Class of 2012. LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University President R. Owen Williams conferred the Bachelor of Arts degree to 241 students Saturday in a commencement ceremony on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Bianca Spriggs, a renowned Affrilachian poet and 2003 Transylvania graduate, gave a unique commencement address in front of hundreds of spectators, presenting a poetry reading accompanied by graduating senior Caleb Ritchie on keyboard. Spriggs put out a call to seniors to submit responses to questions about their four years at Transylvania—what they would take with them to their careers and how they’ve grown as people. She used some of those responses in her presentation. Spriggs, a history major and studio art minor at Transylvania, is in the doctoral program for creative writing at the University of Kentucky and has had an active career including writing, teaching, performance art and filmmaking. She earned a master’s of arts in English composition/creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She was named one of the Top 30 Performance Poets by TheRoot.com, a daily online magazine providing commentary on the news from black perspectives. She is recognized as a Cave Canem Fellow from the Brooklyn-based national writer’s center that focuses on African American poets and writers, and she is the creator of The Swallowtail Project, a traveling creative writing workshop designed for incarcerated women throughout Kentucky. Spriggs talked to the students about measuring time not in minutes

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Award-winning poet Bianca Spriggs to deliver Transylvania University commencement address on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m.

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Affrilachian poet, multidisciplinary artist and Cave Canem Fellow Bianca Spriggs will deliver the commencement address at Transylvania University on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Spriggs, a 2003 graduate of Transylvania, was named as one of the Top 30 Performance Poets by TheRoot.com, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a recipient of multiple Artist Enrichment Grants and an Art Meets Activism Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In partnership with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, she is the creator of “The Swallowtale Project,” a creative writing workshop dedicated to the women inmates at the Federal Prison Camp, and the creator and artistic director of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. She has taught poetry and creative writing classes at Lexington’s Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and is currently in the doctoral program for creative writing at the University of Kentucky. She was visiting writer and instructor in Foundations of the Liberal Arts at Transylvania from 2008-09. She is the writer, producer, editor and director of the film “Waterbody” and the author of poetry books “Kaffir Lily” and “How Swallowtails Become Dragons.” Her work may also be found in the anthologies “New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings” and “America! What’s My Name?,” and in the journals “Union Station Magazine,” “Tidal Basin Review,” “Muzzle,” “Caduceus,” “Alehouse,” “Reverie,” and  Appalachian Heritage Magazine, among others. Spriggs currently serves on

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Transylvania graduates largest class in its 231-year history

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University sent 263 graduates into the world Saturday, the most in the school’s 231-year history, during the first commencement ceremony under President R. Owen Williams, who completed his first academic year at the helm. The previous record of 260 graduates was set in 2009. President Williams presents a diploma to Holly Milburn. On the steps of historic Old Morrison, Aris Candris, president and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company, urged graduates to work hard and take risks while making sure to find a vocation that will fulfill them and bring them happiness, drawing from his experience in nuclear power and environmental issues. “We have an energy crisis on our hands, and global warming is a very real issue,” Candris said. “And if we don’t do something about it now, we will place future generations at risk. As a society and as a planet, we must get past short-term thinking, and start long-term planning…Every day that I go to work, I sincerely believe that I’m playing a part in leaving this earth better than I found it.” Aris Candris ’73 delivers the commencement address. Candris, a 1973 graduate of Transylvania, a member of the board of trustees, and uncle of graduating senior Stamatios Kandris completed his bachelor of arts in three years with three majors—mathematics, physics and pre-engineering, and he earned an M.S. and a Ph.D., both in nuclear engineering, at Carnegie-Mellon University. His 36-year career with Westinghouse has included

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Transylvania University to graduate largest class in its 231-year history on Saturday; president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse Electric Company to give keynote address

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will graduate the largest class in its 231-year history on Saturday, May 28, at 10 a.m. on the front lawn of historic Old Morrison. This will be the first Transylvania commencement for newly inaugurated president R. Owen Williams.   Aris Candris, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse Electric Company, a world leader in the commercial nuclear power industry, will give the commencement address. Candris, a 1973 graduate of Transylvania and a member of the board of trustees, became the first member of his immediate family to leave his native Greece and attend college in America. His nephew, Stamatios Kandris, is a member of the class of 2011. Continuing the tradition of a graduating senior speaking at commencement on behalf of the students, Virginia Gentry Hamilton, of Bardstown, Ky., will represent the class of 2011. Candris completed his Transylvania degree in three years with three majors—mathematics, physics and pre-engineering. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in nuclear engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. He began his 36-year career with Westinghouse as a senior engineer and has progressed through increasingly responsible positions on both the engineering and management sides of the company. He was appointed president and CEO in 2008. Today, Candris is among the world’s leading experts on energy and nuclear power. He serves on the board of directors of the World Nuclear Association and is a member of the Nuclear Energy Institute. He has been involved in

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