What if - SPRING | SUMMER 2018 - Transylvania University
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SPRING | SUMMER 2018
Volume 4, Issue No. 1
What if ...
THINKING BEYOND OURSELVES
5
Volume 4, Issue No. 1
IN THIS ISSUE
13
FEATURES
3 From the President
5 How We Think
Carrots. Asteroids. Humanity.
10 Learning by Design 16 27
Designing their own majors propelled
students to fulfilling careers.
President
13 The Art of Problem Solving Seamus Carey
Professor Zoé Strecker takes a creative Vice President
approach to big challenges. for Marketing & Communications
Michele Gaither Sparks
Vice President for Advancement
Marty Smith
DEPARTMENTS Director of Alumni Relations Third & Broadway is published by
Natasa Mongiardo ’96 Transylvania University. Located in the heart
16 In Photographs Director of Marketing
of downtown Lexington, Ky., Transylvania
University is ranked in the top 15 percent
of the nation’s four-year colleges by The
Commencement & Communications Princeton Review for its community-driven,
Julie Martinez personalized approach to a liberal arts
education through its 41 majors. Founded in
1780, it is the 16th oldest institution of higher
27 Alumni Weekend Graphic Designers
Sam Cooper
learning in the country, with nearly 1,100
students. Find Third & Broadway and other
Class Photos and Awards Stephanie Wright Transylvania University resources online at
transy.edu or email us for more information at
news@transy.edu.
Writers
19 Campus News 23 Alumni Notes John Friedlein
Robin Hicks
Tyler Young
Photographers
Joseph Rey Au
CJ Cruz
Shaun Ring
2 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018
FROM the PRESIDENT
A MESSAGE
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Zoé Strecker, associate professor of art, spends much of her free time
investigating problems associated with disciplines that may at first seem far
removed from her expertise in pottery and fiber art and photography and
filmmaking. To understand the complexities of issues relating to renewable
energy or forest preservation, for example, she digs deeply into fields like
biology, ecology, geology, physics and engineering. She then plumbs her
creativity and vast experiences to find ways to communicate the urgency
she feels about solving these problems. And because she is an artist and an
educator, she knows how to stimulate sensory experiences and tap into our
human emotions while she engages our intellect and gently instructs us about
the root of the problem.
What she creates is art that speaks directly to each individual who engages
with it. The hope is that those who experience it will be inspired to act, to take
concrete steps to help solve the problems she has identified.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 3
Her recent exhibition in Transylvania’s is essential to learning. Serious inquiry, a
Morlan Gallery, "Lavish!," was an ambitious sincere exploration of the world, leads to an
testament to her holistic approach. The understanding of the ephemeral nature of our
problem? How to preserve the second most discoveries and our own relative insignificance in
biologically diverse temperate forest in the an infinitely complex universe. Humility is what
world—the Pine Mountain corridor in Eastern allows us to entertain the ideas of others, to put
Kentucky. Her solution? Introduce people aside our own preconceptions and consider new
who have never been there to its beauty and possibilities and move closer to what is true. Just
the importance of the diverse species that live as the diaphanous walls of Strecker’s exhibition
there. How? Through art, of course—through allow the world outside Pine Mountain to peer
a multidimensional exhibition, in the heart of in, the sincere learner remains open to the
Kentucky’s second-largest city, that immersed influences of the unfamiliar.
visitors in the sights, sounds In a world dominated
and scents of the natural area. by hardened positions and
According to Strecker, it discourse, the Transylvania
“was an idea that grew from community can take heart in
how do I help other people “Serious inquiry, a sincere the example set by Professor
fall in love with this place… Strecker and avoid the trap
[because] if people fall in love exploration of the world, of premature judgments. We
with something, they’re more fail our students if they do not
likely to take care of it.” leads to an understanding go out into the world open to
To display the embroidered the light diffused by others.
photographs of woodland of the ephemeral nature of We cannot solve the world’s
scenes, Strecker defined a
large circular space within
our discoveries and our own problems if we cannot see
them. We cannot see them if
the gallery by hanging sheets relative insignificance in an we restrict our understanding
of organza—representing the to the narrow pathways defined
walls—between two oversized infinitely complex universe.” by self-interest, walled off to the
embroidery hoops handmade needs and experiences of others.
from layers of plywood. Extremism takes hold where
Strecker also composed a there is a lack of humility and an
woodland soundtrack and attendant inability to learn.
researched commercially The stories in this edition
available scents that would elicit the sensation of Third & Broadway echo Strecker’s
of being in a loamy forest. Carefully positioned accomplishment in "Lavish!" They embody the
vaporizers wafted the scents into the air humility of genuine learners and make manifest
around the installation. the best of a Transylvania education.
In essence, Strecker transported the
experience of being on Pine Mountain to
the Transylvania campus. Through art, she
recreated a place that is unique in the world,
and she introduced its history, its diversity and
its precarious future to everyone who stepped
inside the gallery. The exhibition invited
reflection and contemplation. It evoked a sense
of peace—or a sense of outrage that an area of
such beauty and significance can be in danger.
Similarly, the translucent “walls” defined a
prescribed space while permitting a view of
the outside world, in effect inviting those of us
outside Pine Mountain to glimpse, and then
hopefully embrace and protect, the beauty that
lies within.
Immersing myself in this exhibition was
humbling and reminded me that humility
4 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018
HOW WE
BUSINESS UNUSUAL
AS THINK
HOW WE
C A R R O T S .
Think
A S T E R O I D S . H U M A N I T Y.
It begins with a question or an idea that grips Pioneers ask big, purposeful questions. But, more to the
point, they’re not afraid of jumping in to answer them.
your imagination.
They’re able and willing to take risks and give the marrow of
The challenge might seem insurmountable in themselves as they serve as the catalyst.
scope—an entrenched social injustice, a shortage Where does this come from: this intertwining of deft
of global resources, a citizenry hungry for food. ability to think strategically, creatively and connectedly; the
confidence to take action; a willingness to change with a
Sometimes the question is posed by someone else,
changing world; and the empathy that compels Pioneers to
and you know in your heart the solution will lay think beyond themselves?
dormant without you. Professor Tim Soulis points to the “ability to think
So the question provokes, nags, inspires, becomes metaphorically,” to see new associations, “to link together
ideas that were formerly disconnected and unrelated.” How
an ineluctable presence in your life. It fixes a vision
else can new solutions be found?
in your mind of “What if?” and won’t let go until it Part of the DNA of our liberal arts tradition at Transy
becomes “How?” and “That’s how.” is a curriculum that, as Soulis describes, “requires holistic
thinking.” It frees Pioneers from old patterns of thought by
exploring other disciplines and perspectives and developing
How will we reach that asteroid? an understanding and empathy for others. “Getting outside
our bailiwicks,” he explains, “really encourages people to see
beyond preconceived notions.”
How will we feed the hungry in Kentucky while Meeting the enormous challenges before us demands a
reducing food waste? mutability, a devotion and an often brutal work ethic. No one
said it would be easy. This is no movie-of-the-week scenario
How will we address inequities through public that arrives at redemption after a two-hour struggle. This
is slog. This is fantasy. This is relentless purpose. This is
health initiatives in Chicago? Pioneering to the core.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 5
be fed with anything less than a miracle remnants of their harvest for the good
involving fishes and loaves? How can of the poor, strangers and widows. John
the 40 percent of food that is wasted in Walker approached Erica Horn with the
America be redeemed? idea of engaging the church and other
“I knew nothing about Or, in Pioneer speak, “What are you community gardeners to become active
vegetables. I knew going to do about it?” gleaners and to provide excess produce to
There’s a big difference between people in need.
nothing about growing recognizing two monstrous problems— They began by approaching a farmers
hunger and food waste—and helping to market and organizing volunteers to
anything, but I knew resolve them on a grand scale in your deliver unsold food to shelters and
that I could put a group own community. emergency food services in Lexington.
Throughout Horn’s career and decades By the end of their first year, as their
of people together, of intense community service, she has annual report details, 40 volunteers
learned to respond to giant questions delivered 37,561 pounds to 14 agencies
divide a piece of much as David felled Goliath—with and ministries.
property into squares faith and the right tool. She breaks Just as GleanKY became the link
the challenge down into components, between those producing the food and
and sign people up.” researches elements that worked in those preparing food for the hungry, Horn
other communities, identifies the basic served as the linchpin for John Walker’s
Erica Horn '83 processes and unites the partners needed idea and bringing that idea to fruition.
to arrive at what, in hindsight, appears “One of the gifts that God has given
to be forehead-smackingly doable. The me,” she acknowledges, “is I can take
efficiency and purity of the construction a really good idea like John’s and, with
begs the question: How is it that we, as a help, make it happen.” She recognized its
civilization, didn’t do this sooner? value and the consequences of not getting
As a lawyer and CPA, Horn says, “It’s involved. “I knew if someone didn’t take
natural for me to create structure. No the lead, it wouldn’t happen.”
one would like that more than me.” But From the very start, GleanKY was
finding solutions demands more than structured to tap into people’s strengths
structure. Horn brings devotion, creativity and to be a collaboration of multiple faith
and generosity, and puts the ego aside. groups. And, as the organization has
On top of a demanding job, currently grown to reach beyond Lexington, its
as associate director of tax services at model consciously adapts to accommodate
Dean Dorton, Horn has led statewide the varying environments of Kentucky
HOW WE TRANSMUTE THE boards and started a learning center counties; not every county has a farmers
INSURMOUNTABLE and a community garden at her church, market or a Costco.
“Are people hungry in Lexington?” Beaumont Presbyterian. The garden Horn is determined to make GleanKY
someone once asked Lexington native became the starting point for Faith Feeds, a sustainable enterprise. Her tenacity,
Erica Horn ’83. the origin of GleanKY. work ethic and talent for strategy,
The question must have seemed “I knew nothing about vegetables,” action and long-range thinking have
rhetorical to the co-founder and past she remembers. “I knew nothing about been acknowledged in an award from
president of GleanKY, a nonprofit growing anything, but I knew that I could the Kentucky Nonprofit Network. And
organization that harvests excess fresh put a group of people together, divide a although the seeds of her motivation
produce to feed the hungry—over one piece of property into squares and sign to serve may have been planted in her
million pounds since its founding in 2010. people up. It’s really a matter then of childhood during Sunday school, she notes
(That’s over one million pounds that did deploying your people, your assets,” she that “Transy was the place to help grow
not end up in a landfill.) says of the flourishing community garden my abilities to execute, lead and learn the
In fact, people are hungry throughout that first drew the attention of a local importance of knowing other people.”
the Commonwealth: One in six of all gardener and gleaner, John Walker. As she assesses the state of the world,
Kentuckians and one in five of children Inspired by the bounty of his own she concludes, “We’re in short supply of
are “food insecure.” According to Feeding garden, which could feed his family, leadership, but at Transy you see a lot of
America, that adds up to 699,590 people, friends and co-workers and still have movers and shakers. These students care
of which 202,050 are children. plenty for others, Walker was also living and want to make a difference.” She adds,
How is such a problem resolved? How out the Old Testament tradition that calls “Transy gives you a place to start and the
can hundreds of thousands of mouths on farmers to leave the edges and viable confidence that you can.”
6 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018
WHY WE ASK “WHAT IF” “I try to see where there are similarities in
As a student at Transy, Lydia Lissanu ’15
was deeply engaged in issues of identity, our experience, and I also try to respect
race and equity. She dreamed of solutions to the differences between us as well.”
HOW WE THINK
the intractable “what ifs” on campus and in
the immediate neighborhood. Unresolved Lydia Lissanu '15
questions of big-picture possibilities
motivated her work as a student researcher
in Kenya and in community service in
Lexington, where she worked on civil rights
issues—hate crimes, mental health advocacy
and the restoration of felon voting rights.
A scholar at Yale’s Summer Institute
in Bioethics, she was invited back to be
a program assistant the summer after
graduation, where she gave a lecture that
raised questions about the women we
don’t see in social justice movements and
the transgender women “erased from
public discourse.” She has an ability to see
what’s missing.
All of this, and her love of sociology, She sees associations and opportunities
biology and political science, drew her to where others might not. She asks patients
a career in public health. She’s devoted with kidney disease, who are often at the end
to the profession that, she says, “looks of their lives, “What would you want to tell students can readily contrast, point by
for novel ways to treat illness from a your younger self before you got diagnosed point, resource by missing resource,
biological and sociological framework” with kidney disease?” She then shares their the day-to-day experience of those who
and “puts science behind our ideas.” messages with her students to help them have financial health and those who do
Lissanu works as a health educator with make the connection between diet and long- not. But Lissanu isn’t cowed by these
people at both ends of the age spectrum: term health. In doing so, she acknowledges monumental challenges or from asking
K-12 students at a public charter school that learning and motivation don’t magically how public policy can help dismantle
and senior citizens at the University of provide access to healthy food. Her students systems of inequality.
Chicago Medical Center. She sees her job still live in the same food desert. What if racism and systems of inequity
not simply as a means of conveying healthy Perhaps even more important didn’t hold our young people back? What if
practices, but of listening, connecting, than teaching health, Lissanu shares public health policy could be that change?
creating and broadening understanding. fundamentals from her own education Her thoughts and questions emerge
She uses her interdisciplinary liberal arts at Transy. “I try to teach them to think large and beyond herself, yet are rooted in
training on a daily basis. structurally,” she says. She encourages her her experience as the daughter of parents
Working in the hospital nephrology students—“whose lives are harder through who emigrated from Ethiopia and made
ward on research funded by the no fault of their own”—to ask questions, a home and productive life in Somerset,
National Institute of Health, her goal is to identify the challenges they face, to link Ky. “Financially, my parents were able to
to help doctors better understand and them back to the source of the problem climb,” she explains. “They came here.
treat patients from the South Side who and to understand the kinds of actions They got an education.” She adds, “I want
are African American. Increasingly, they can take to make their voices heard. to make sure I give that to my kids that I’m
patients in their 30s and 40s have been At a summit on violence, Lissanu working with.”
joining the ranks of elderly as sufferers watched the hands of her students Many of the words, ideas and theories
of kidney disease. repeatedly extend upward in response to a that she uses were developed at Transy,
“The reasons aren’t a secret,” she notes, series of questions: “Have you been jumped she explains, from an awareness of LGBT
“but we’re trying to prove why those by three or more people? Do you know issues to examples of what economic
reasons exist.” Exploring the patients’ someone who has been shot at your age? justice looks like. “For me, a really
paths to the ward, Lissanu finds a lifetime Do you know someone who has died from important part of going to Transy was
of inequity, racism and poverty, and diets being shot?” understanding the diversity of experience
derived from food deserts that lack fresh As students of a public charter in being black.”
produce, offering only fast foods laden school that is just a few blocks from a Not taking anyone’s experience for
with salt and sugar. private charter school, Lissanu and her granted is vital to her ability to interrelate.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 7
“I didn’t grow up in Chicago; I grew up to outer space. Today, Johnson is a by both camps, with three prestigious
in rural Kentucky. My parents aren’t the technology manager for NASA’s Marshall Exceptional Achievement Medals from
descendants of slaves. I try to see where Space Flight Center and the Solar Sail NASA, four space technology patents
there are similarities in our experience, Principal Investigator for the Near-Earth and multiple books of popular science
and I also try to respect the differences Asteroid Scout Mission. After hours, and science fiction in publication.
between us as well.” She thinks a lot about he’s a writer and frequent collaborator Imagine gently propelling a craft
empathy and how to build it. on popular-science and science-fiction through outer space using no rocket
Listening has become as important as books. Fascinatingly, the worlds are thrust, just a solar sail consisting of a
asking the questions, not only because totally intertwined in Johnson, each large, thin sheet of film that reflects
she wants to give voice to people who feeding the other. sunlight. After rocketing through the
are on the margins of society, but also to Looking into the night sky, he says, earth’s atmosphere, the mission relies on
learn. Clinicians, she notes, don’t have beckons big questions about our place reflecting photons—light particles—to
all the answers. “We know the disparities and meaning. “To people who have not reach an asteroid and collect data.
exist, but we don’t all agree on how to experienced the epiphany of a cloudless, Now picture convincing your superiors
make it better. If we knew it all, then we no moon, starry night sky,” he muses, at NASA that this is a viable idea.
would have already fixed the situation,” “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a Professionally, Johnson has been focused
she laughs, undaunted. spiritual, emotional experience for me.” on solar sails for NASA since 1999. “But in
Questions now come at Lissanu from For him, there is something similar to be my imagination,” he says, “it’s much earlier
every angle: patients, doctors, students, found in well-written science fiction that than that.” It’s the idea he convinced
parents, administrators, the public and draws the reader into
herself. “There are times,” she realizes, wondering: “Are we
“that I feel I don’t know enough and I alone in the universe?
still can’t give back enough. I want to
do more.” So her next steps are to earn
an M.D. and then a master’s degree in
public health in order to effectively treat
patients and change public policy. She’s
committed to a life in public health. “I
really love this profession,” she adds.
Lissanu may worry about her students,
but she’s also excited for them. She knows
their potential and that their ability to
impact the future is within their reach,
whether it’s on the school level or by
voting in the next election cycle. “I have a What
lot of hope for this generation,” she says. would it
“They’re way smarter than I could ever be. be like to visit these other
They just need a proper education to gain places?” He says he gets the same NASA to use, so the responsibility is his
the tools that will take them further and “sense of awe and wonder of nature and to make it work.
amplify their voice.” the universe” from science fiction and The solar sail that he first read about
physics. “And now, I get it in my day job. in 1970s science fiction is now the
HOW WE INTEGRATE THE PARTS I’m very lucky.” propulsion system for the Near-Earth
Asteroids and Eastern Kentucky. At NASA, Johnson is considered by Asteroid Scout mission that will be
Hard science and science fiction. Outer some to be “on the edge” in terms of launched next year. Yes, it’s rocket science,
space and Earth’s resources. These technologies because of his imagination but for Johnson, it’s also the interplay
dimensions—seemingly incongruent and enthusiastic propensity to convince. between hard science and the imagination
on the surface—are integrated in the “I want to push the envelope,” he says. that fuels his love of science fiction.
working imagination of Les Johnson ’84. And at sci-fi conventions—where he was “This is the first flight of a solar sail that
His liberal arts way of thinking is the welcomed as a teen fan and, later, as a I have led and the first one that NASA
bridge. His intellect, wide-eyed wonder post-Transy critical thinker with a keen or anyone in the United States has flown
and evangelical enthusiasm for deep ability to explain physics—he’s thought beyond Earth and into deep space,” he
space are the clinchers. to be a tad corporate; he represents explains with equal measures of glee and
From the time he was a boy in NASA’s scientific protocol of peer- sober realism.
Ashland, Ky., watching Neil Armstrong reviewed science, rigor and due diligence. “Nature is trying to stop you at
walk on the moon, he has been in thrall But he is highly successful and respected every turn. So, when you propose to do
8 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018
something new, it’s very difficult to get could conceivably go wrong: “The rocket chosen a strictly engineering education,
that through the system because of the can fail. The communications antenna can that they spend summers taking
inherent risks—and expense—of doing fail. The power supply goes out. You get a humanities courses, creative writing and
something no one’s done before.” But cosmic ray that causes your computer to public speaking. “I guarantee you it will
HOW WE THINK
he harped on the benefits of the new malfunction. There are a gazillion things help you be better in your field,” he tells
capability and successfully made his case. that can go wrong,” he explains. them. (His daughter recently graduated
According to the NASA website, 1,409 One day, several weeks into the from Transy.)
near-Earth asteroids (having orbits that relentless meetings, the person Ultimately, he describes what he does
pass nearby the Earth) pose a potential responsible for creating the flight plan as a moral obligation. “I see some real
hazard to our world. We need to know from Earth to the asteroid introduced a problems facing us as a world, with energy
more about them. But for Johnson, less-than-one-percent chance that the and the environment. I think things we’re
asteroids also present an opportunity. asteroid could, in fact, be an old Saturn doing in space can help solve some of those
As a native of Eastern Kentucky, he 5 rocket that had been captured in orbit problems. And if we don’t start working
advocates the idea of mining asteroids to around the sun. on them now, then the solution gets
protect our planet. It’s why he co-wrote “We all turned around and looked at postponed. We’d better start now.”
“Harvesting Space for a Greener Earth” him and chuckled,” Johnson recalls. But
and, more recently, a sci-fi novel. the idea, however fleeting, was enough to WE THINK, THEREFORE WE CAN
“Mission to Methone,” set in 2068, grab Johnson’s imagination. For a moment Whether through produce, policy or
begins with an asteroid mining company he zoned out and thought, “Wow, what if spacecraft propulsion, Pioneers use their
it is an old space liberal arts way of thinking to move beyond
ship and it’s not the status quo, the head-scratching and
“I see some real problems facing us as a from Earth? What inertia that come of not knowing how or
if it’s been there for where to begin. How else can the world’s
world, with energy and the environment. 50,000 years?” He exceptional challenges be met?
I think things we’re doing in space can plotted the novel Solutions require an ability to look
that night. “Mission beyond oneself to see the vast scope of a
help solve some of those problems.” to Methone” was problem: the creativity to see unexpected
published last connections; the intellect to structure
Les Johnson '84 February. the action; an empathy that drives
“So that’s how motivation; a freedom that comes from
they interact,” he being open; a collaborative spirit that
says. “People have their hobbies. I’m in my inspires solidarity of pursuit among a
technical world at work. Literature and broad network of participants; and that
fiction are in a different part of the brain. grip, that Pioneer tenaciousness—even
For me, it’s cathartic. It’s recreational to righteousness at times—to keep at it,
write.” In the same month as “Mission to relentlessly and unfailingly, knowing that
Methone,” he also published a nonfiction the struggle, like the challenge before us,
looking at asteroids to mine; their survey book, “Graphene: The Superstrong, is an opportunity. Pioneers understand
vehicles are small aircraft propelled by Superthin, and Superversatile Material that the value of our existence extends
solar sails. He thinks it will be common that Will Revolutionize the World.” beyond our personal goals to something
practice in 100 years. The many challenging dimensions of much larger than ourselves.
Johnson writes “hard science” science Johnson’s productivity relate directly to If solutions were easy, we wouldn't
fiction, meaning that the physics in his his liberal arts grounding: the unleashed need Pioneers.
futuristic setting is physically possible. “My imagination, the ability to integrate the
day job and education influence my writing many parts, the skill set and experiences
in that I try to make the settings believable that prepared him to communicate with a
in science fiction. It’s hard to say where the wide range of people and to convincingly
distinction is because in my day job I get to make the case that is requisite to moving
dream up some pretty cool stuff. If it’s too a project forward. He trumpets these
cool for work, I take it to fiction,” he laughs. connections, along with the ability
The inspiration for “Mission to Methone” to organize and manage projects of
came during a series of weekly “risk enormous scale.
management” meetings for the Near-Earth In fact, he attributes so much to his
Asteroid Scout Mission. All of the experts Transy experience that he insists to every
gathered to brainstorm everything that intern he works with at NASA who has
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 9
It’s a familiar refrain for students The team explored bioinformatics own success,” he says. “I was deciding to
coming into college: programs at other schools and designed a do what I wanted to do. Because Transy
What major do I want to declare? pattern with courses Transy already offered. allowed me to do that, I was confident
But increasingly, as the world becomes Ramey began volunteering at Shriner’s to choose my own business and start my
more diverse and the job market becomes Hospital in Lexington, working with own success there, as well.”
less specialized, Transylvania students are medical data to earn career experience. It takes courage for an 18-year-old to
asking themselves a different question: After graduation he was accepted come to Transylvania, with its history of
What problem do I want to solve? into the computer science Ph.D. program at proven academic excellence and educating
Transy has 41 majors that, paired the Colorado School of Mines in Denver, but future leaders, and say, “I’m going to
with a broad liberal arts curriculum, the familiar itch of creating his own path do my own thing here.” But time after
are designed to give students a breadth began to resurface. He left the program and time, students have found the process of
of knowledge and depth of preparation started ZenBanana, a company that works creating a major isn’t as daunting as it may
that empower them to take on a wide with organizations to create websites, web seem at first.
variety of careers and graduate schools. applications and mobile applications. He’s Rachel Young just completed her final
In a community like Transy’s, which is taking the training he got in the classroom year of her self-designed sustainability
full of young explorers, there will always and the innovation of building something education major, and she admitted to
be those students whose education from scratch to apply his passions to his feeling a little intimidated at the idea. But
goals don’t fit neatly into one of those own workplace. through multiple conversations with her
established major patterns. “I found that creating my own major advisor, psychology professor Melissa
That’s why Transylvania has devoted was my first step toward creating my Fortner, she was put at ease by realizing
itself to offering self-designed majors
where students can tailor their individual
paths to the world’s challenges they feel
drawn to tackle. In close collaboration
with faculty advisors and the Office of the
Registrar, students can craft a curriculum
built around their interests, knowing that
the training they get here will uniquely
prepare them for what lies ahead.
“When I got to Transy, I was highly
interested in biology and highly interested
in computer science,” said Jerry Ramey
’11, “but the course loads of those majors
“Creating my own major
didn’t work so well together for me.” was my first step toward
Ramey met with biology professor
Belinda Sly and then-computer science creating my own success.”
professor Tylene Garrett, who began
working with him to craft a program Jerry Ramey '11
that would combine his love for genetics,
data and graphics. They came up with a
major in bioinformatics—using computer
science to understand biological data.
10 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018LEARNING BY DESIGN
“I've had room to explore explore, and doing that has made it easier
for me to critically problem solve.”
and doing that has made Transy students have designed 41
different majors over the past 20 years.
it easier for me to critically Some have been so successful that
problem solve.” multiple students have completed the
majors, and some have even become
official Transy majors.
Rachel Young '18 Anyone can major in international
affairs today, but when Janelle (Johnson)
Roberts ’10 pieced it together as a self-
designed major in 2007, she had in mind a
more specialized version of the traditional
political science major.
International affairs had been on her
mind since middle school, when she found
herself frustrated by the divisive rhetoric
about the Middle East after the September
11 attacks. Her best friend’s family was
that the faculty really are interested in her gifted at presenting her case to others. Iranian, and she was already developing
own success. Sustainability education became a an affinity for the culture and its people.
“Without Dr. Fortner and (registrar) natural fit. As she explored the political science
Michelle Rawlings, it would have been “Dr. Fortner and I had a brainstorm—I curriculum, she kept being drawn by
impossible,” she says. “They have been in like sustainability, so how do I shape a other areas, including anthropology,
contact with me regularly throughout the career around that in order to effect the sociology and religion. So she developed a
years. I realized, these are the people who greatest amount of change?” she says. curriculum with her professors and took
are going to help me do this.” Young combined sociology and Arabic language courses at the University
Young began with a career in mind. education classes to build the major, and of Kentucky, all to prepare herself for a
She was interested in caring for the she worked in a women’s, gender, and career in Middle East policy. She studied
environment, and she’s naturally sexuality studies minor for good measure. abroad for a semester in Amman, Jordan,
She completed education internships at and did a seminar on the Arab-Israeli
the Association for the Advancement of peace process in Washington D.C.
Sustainability in Higher Education and “I was 100 percent certain I would
Bernheim Arboretum. She also studied have a career in foreign relations or
with the Oregon Extension, where she foreign affairs,” she says. “I knew I needed
took courses on sustainability, theology experience abroad, I knew I needed
and education while living in the language training. I was incredibly grateful
mountains of the Pacific Northwest. that Transy encourages their students to
She has an AmeriCorps VISTA position broaden their horizons. Everyone was so
lined up at Jefferson Memorial Forest helpful, from Jeff Fryman and Kathleen
in Louisville, where she will work to get Jagger to the study abroad office to the
children from low-income neighborhoods financial aid office.”
involved in environmental programming Roberts went on to the University
with the forest, and eventually work of Chicago’s Harris School for Public
there. Eventually she would like to go to Policy Studies, earning a master’s
graduate school for environmental justice, in public policy, and she received a
an idea that has just recently surfaced fellowship with the Congressional
through her major program. Black Caucus Foundation, working with
“This is something that has given me Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA)
the freedom to play around and figure out and then the Senate Foreign Relations
what other aspects of the curriculum I’m Committee, where she advised Chairman
interested in,” she says. “I’ve had room to Bob Menendez on sub-Saharan Africa
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 11during a time when there was conflict in in social justice, without really knowing “I didn’t always have the same credentials
the Central African Republic and a war in what career she would take up. She just as those around me, but I found I had
South Sudan. knew she wanted to help people. something to contribute. Transy gave me
Once her fellowship ended, she was “I just knew that there were so many the confidence to be proud of who I am
hired full time before taking her current problems in this world, and I wanted to and know that I can manage and learn and
position at the Simon-Skjodt Center for learn about all of them and why they exist,” continue to grow forever.
the Prevention of Genocide at the U.S. she says. “I wanted to become a person who “It’s that skill of lifelong learning
Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is a professionally cares for other people.” that helps me to adapt to whatever new
policy assistant with the center, working She spent her time after college with community I become part of. That’s a
to prevent mass violence against civilians, service corps in South Africa and New really cool gift.”
educate the public and correspond with York City, eventually landing in her
policymakers in the U.S. and abroad. current position at Lawrence Hall in
“I was incredibly grateful that
Transy enourages their students
to broaden their horizons.”
Janelle (Johnson) Roberts '10
“I went to Capitol Hill thinking I Chicago, where she works with youth
wanted to work exclusively on U.S. on the South Side who have a criminal
policies pertaining to the Middle East, background or who are wards of the state.
but that’s not how it ended up,” she says. She helps them with record expungement
“The curiosity that Transy encourages its and employment mentoring to prepare
students to have about a range of topics them for productive careers.
has helped me in every role I’ve had since Everywhere she’s worked, she’s
graduation. The ability for me to say, experienced culture shock, but she’s
‘Here’s what I want to do,’ has definitely learned to listen to the needs of a particular
helped me.” area and learned the best and most
This exploration of, and preparation for, responsible ways to meet those needs.
a variety of fields is what Transylvania’s “Transy is so unique in that it prepares
liberal arts education is all about. It’s you to be a fully thinking human rather
why Holly Milburn ’11 designed a major than just a future professional,” she says.
12 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018THE Art OF
ART OF PROBLEM SOLVING
PROBLEM SOLVING
While admiring the view atop Pine Mountain in southeastern
Kentucky, you might not notice the reindeer lichen growing at
your feet.
Even if you happen to glance down at this pillowy plant, odds are
you’ll overlook how it curls at the edges, or how it has four shades
of green but appears almost silver.
You’d get to know the lichen’s subtleties, though, if you were
to sit down for hours at a time to embroider on a photograph
of it printed onto silk. This kind of focus fosters a sense of
connection—one that shows us how stitching a humble lichen can
help us address big problems.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 13In this case the problem is: How can
we protect and heighten interest in wild Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery this past
places? Other approaches might have you spring featured the embroidery exhibit,
sit through an eye-glazing lecture about the which is based on organisms living on something, you fall in love with it; or
importance of biodiversity, or learn a fact Pine Mountain, actually a 125-mile ridge at least you have a bond to it,” Strecker
about the amount of carbon absorbed by running through the heart of Appalachia. says. “That’s so important to protecting
a certain acreage of forest. While both are Volunteer embroiderers from across something—you don’t really want to take
well and good, Transylvania art professor the country stitched vignettes from care of something you don’t know about.”
Zoé Strecker takes a different approach; she Strecker’s photos, and she hung them Strecker also talked about how oddly
and her collaborators make art that benefits within a circular, wooden structure that calming it is to be busy with your hands,
both natural and human communities— measured 22 feet across and 10 feet high. which might make it easier to take on
from the coalfields of Kentucky to To experience the exhibit, visitors stood stressful issues like mountaintop removal
hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. encircled by the images while sounds of or climate change. “It gives people a way
A project of hers called “Lavish!” takes Strecker’s field recordings and mists that to not only process something that’s
on abstract, challenging economic and smelled like trees—and even dirt—further difficult and they want to care about, but
social issues through creative work. immersed them in the scene. it gives them a way to act on it in a positive
“I’ve just decided to create work that way that feels good to them,” Strecker
gives people a little window into the says. “It feels healing, and beyond that it
different types of natural communities,” feels generous.”
she says. The project also is empowered by the
Strecker didn’t start out to solve any fact these stitchers work together as a
problem. Instead, the artwork grew out of community, much like the residents of Pine
her feelings for Pine Mountain. “I just love Mountain area bond while their hands are
the place so much and I love the wildness. busy making quilts. “It makes them feel like
It’s the closest thing to a truly wild place they’re applying their sense of connection
that I’m around very much.” and community through this concrete
She created these “little windows” not action of making,” Strecker says.
only for the gallery visitors but also the She helps to build community through
embroiderers, whose “lavish” energy a shared love of Pine Mountain in ways
and attention on lichen and other Pine beyond embroidery. For instance she
Mountain denizens gave the exhibition co-hosts and curates Pine Mountain
its name. artist retreats; for the past three years
“People need that kind of connection While the project didn’t begin with about 150 artists, musicians, writers
the specific goal of recognizing the and naturalists have taken the three-
that engages other parts of their vulnerability of natural places and day retreat, which is a collaboration
wanting to protect them, the act of with the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust.
minds and their beings.” creating the artwork may have made the Several members of this Pine Mountain
Zoé Strecker embroiderers more receptive to that. Collective—including musicians, a poet
“Once you get intimately connected with and a painter—participated in “Wild
14 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018ART OF PROBLEM SOLVING
Making connections—
especially across diverse
Things: Selected Artists from the Pine fields of study—and social
Mountain Sessions” at Transylvania as engagement are familiar
part of “Lavish!” goals of the liberal
Also this past school year, Strecker arts. Strecker, herself a
enlisted another community—this time her Grinnell College graduate,
own art students—in a project that blended knows the power this
art with helping make the world a better mindset has in effecting
place. For “A Splash of Generosity” students positive change. And
made ceramic bowls and sold them at an because these students
auction to benefit WaterStep, a Louisville may have taken an array of
nonprofit that sent water filtration devices subjects—from anthropology
to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. to art to chemistry—they’ll have
This fundraiser, which raised $1,200, unique ways of doing so.
was a group effort that had the students She sees this in action while
form committees for food, finance and team-teaching a May term course on
marketing. “Everyone contributed in a mountaintop removal, biodiversity
different way,” Strecker says. and human culture in mining areas TOP PHOTO: “Lavish!” also featured collaborators
In addition to building teamwork with philosophy professor Peter Fosl. from Pine Mountain Artist Retreats, which are hosted
by Strecker and Erik Reece, an author and UK writing
skills, the project enlisted the students’ The course takes students well beyond professor, and held in conjunction with the Kentucky
creativity to solve a real-world problem textbook learning, offering a variety of Natural Lands Trust. An associated event during the
while benefiting them in a way that, say, activities from simply spending time in exhibition—"Wild Things: Selected Artists from the Pine
Mountain Sessions"—included painter Rebecca Allan,
buying and reselling cookies to raise the forest to photography to tackling musicians Daniel Martin Moore and Julia Purcell,
money or starting a GoFundMe page intellectual issues like: What does and novelist and poet Mary Ann Taylor Hall.
wouldn’t have. ownership of land really mean?
The craft required their bodies and This way of approaching problems
minds in a focused effort that was provides unexpected solutions. In this with ideas—to go outside your skill zone.
thoughtful, intentional and productive. case combining philosophy and art creates That can be risky professionally but is
“When you apply that to something a synergy. Art can open up avenues encouraged in school. “Art is often talked
specific, it just gets a lot of power and inaccessible to rigorous philosophical about as a game space,” Strecker says. “It’s
energy and a positive connection that arguments on the one hand, and on kind of a virtual space to explore in a way
you don’t have when you just write a the other, thoughtfully navigating the you don’t normally explore. You’re playing
check for something,” Strecker says. intellectual history of an idea can make an by the rules but willing to bend them.
“People need that kind of connection that artist’s work less naive. You’ve got that creative nimbleness that
engages other parts of their minds and Also important to creative problem you’ve tried out before in the art space and
their beings.” solving is creating a space to experiment you can apply it to real-world problems.”
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 15Commencement C L A S S O F 2 0 1 8 16 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018
IN PHOTOGRAPHS
1
2 3
4
1. Forty-six percent of the 2018 2. Transylvania graduated 218 3. Alvin R. “Pete” Carpenter ’64 4. Student achievements in the Class
graduates earned Latin honors students in the Class of 2018. gave the commencement address of 2018 included two Fulbright
for a cumulative GPA of at least to the graduating seniors on the English Teaching Assistantships,
3.5, and 45 percent earned steps of Old Morrison. a Lexington Rotary Club Ollie
program honors. and Dick Hurst Award and a
Southeastern Writing Center
Undergraduate Tutor Award.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 176
5. Riley Bresnahan gave
the student address to
her classmates.
6. Family and friends gathered on
a beautiful Saturday morning for
5 7 the commencement ceremony
on Old Morrison Lawn.
7. President Seamus Carey
handed out diplomas to the
Class of 2018.
8. Graduating senior JR Veillard
posed for a photo at a
reception after the ceremony.
9. JT Henderson celebrated
in Alumni Plaza following
commencement.
10. Isaiah Pollard took a photo
after receiving his diploma.
8
9 10
18 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018Kiplinger ranks Transylvania among country’s
top values
campus Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in December
once again named Transylvania as one
CAMPUS NEWS
of the nation’s Best College Values. The
NEWS
magazine’s ranking recognizes schools for
both academic quality and affordability,
measuring factors such as four-year
graduation rate, total cost and financial aid.
Recent grads win Fulbright English
Princeton Review puts Transy in top 7 percent of Teaching Assistantships
colleges for Bang for Your Buck Two recent graduates have received
Transylvania has been named in The prestigious Fulbright English Teaching
Princeton Review’s 2018 edition of “Colleges Assistantships for 2018-19. Fulbright grants are
That Pay You Back: The 200 Schools That highly competitive, and recipients are chosen
Give You the Best Bang for Your Tuition for their academic and leadership potential.
Buck.” The university has long aimed to keep Senior Hannah Weber, of Alexandria, Ky.,
its tuition and fees competitive with the top will teach through the Fulbright program in
colleges in the nation; in fact it costs almost Malaysia. The neuroscience and educational
$10,000 less than the average top-100 private studies double major will be the fourth ETA
liberal arts college, and students graduate from Transylvania to teach in that country.
with 15 percent less debt than the average Jamie Vescio, who graduated in May 2017,
private school borrower. was one of only 10 applicants across the
country to receive this year’s Fulbright ETA for
France. Vescio, who studied in Tanzania with
Transylvania partners with UK on pre-med, the assistance of a Gilman scholarship, plans
pre-pharmacy programs to receive her master’s degree in education
Transylvania has launched two partnerships from Vanderbilt this June. She is a graduate of
with the University of Kentucky that give Lafayette High School in Lexington.
students an inside track to graduate school at
the College of Pharmacy and the College of
Medicine-Northern Kentucky Campus.
Transylvania’s Early Assurance Program
partnership with the University of Kentucky
College of Medicine-Northern Kentucky
Campus reserves spots for Transylvania
pre-med students at the new northern
Kentucky campus.
The partnership with the College of
To stay informed about Pharmacy allows students to earn a bachelor’s
the latest Transylvania news, degree from Transylvania and a Pharm.D.
visit our website at from the University of Kentucky. After
transy.edu completing Transylvania’s general education McZee named associate vice president for diversity
requirements in three years, students can, and inclusion
upon acceptance, go on to pharmacy school Taran McZee began as Transylvania’s
at UK, where they can earn their Pharm.D. new associate vice president for diversity
in as little as four years. Nine of those credit and inclusion on May 1. He has more than
hours will transfer back to Transylvania, and 12 years of higher education experience
students will be awarded a Bachelor of Arts in in diversity and inclusion services,
liberal studies. multicultural affairs and international
programs—most recently at Grand Valley
State University in Michigan.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 19DPS chief receives TOP COPS Awards honor
Gregg Muravchick, director of the
Department of Public Safety, has received
a TOP COPS Awards honor for his actions
during a 2017 machete attack in the
campus coffee shop.
Lexington Police Commander Brian
Maynard nominated Chief Muravchick
for the prestigious award, presented
by the National Association of Police
Organizations, which he received during a Kentucky author receives 2018 Judy Gaines Pulitzer Prize-winning author, renowned
ceremony on May 14 in Washington, D.C. Young Book Award humanitarian deliver Kenan Lecture
The TOP COPS Awards go to 10 Kentucky author Kathleen Driskell won Transylvania’s 2018 Kenan conversation
officers across the country, and the Transylvania’s 2018 Judy Gaines Young on March 1 featured Pulitzer Prize-
top nominations from each state not Book Award for her collection of poems, winning author Tracy Kidder and
represented by one of these 10 receive an “Next Door to the Dead.” Deogratias Niyizonkiza, the subject of his
Honorable Mention. Muravchick is the This year’s winner of the 2018 Judy book, “Strength in What Remains.”
Honorable Mention winner from Kentucky. Gaines Young Student Writing Award Niyizonkiza fled the killing fields of
was senior Laura Daley, a double major in Burundi in the early '90s to New York,
writing, rhetoric and communication and where he lived for a while in Central
Spanish, with a creative writing minor. Park before being taken in by a couple.
Both writers gave a reading on March 21. After learning English and completing
Now in its fourth year, the book award undergraduate degrees in biochemistry
recognizes recent works by writers in the and philosophy at Columbia University,
Appalachian region. It is funded by Byron he then attended Harvard to study public
Young ’61 in honor of his late wife, Judy health and Dartmouth for medical school.
Gaines Young ’62. Niyizonkiza returned to his homeland to
found Village Health Works, a community
health center in an area with limited access
to quality medical care.
Education professor Hurley retires
During a retirement luncheon on May Students recognized in Juried Student
24, we celebrated education professor Art Exhibition
Angela Hurley's 27 years of dedicated Students recognitions at Morlan
service to Transylvania, her passion Gallery’s 2018 Juried Student Art Exhibition
for the liberal arts, generosity and wise ceremony included: Best in Ceramic, Josh
mentorship to future teachers. Porter; Best in Digital Work, Madison
Townsend and Timothy Baker; Best in
Painting, Sarah Schaaf; Best Works on
Art majors present ‘Agnosiophobia: Carpenter Academic Center opens Paper, Sonora Schuck; Best in Sculpture,
The Fear of Not Knowing’ The Carpenter Academic Center Jesse Dees; and Best in a Variety of Media,
Five studio art majors presented thesis (formerly Haupt Humanities) opened Annelisa Hermosilla. The Dean’s Purchase
works in Morlan Gallery from April 9-16 in time for this year’s May term. One of Awards went to Cabby Brown, Zachary
in an exhibition titled “Agnosiophobia: the most iconic buildings on campus, Hall and Sonora Schuck. The Abbott Art
The Fear of Not Knowing.” Carpenter received a major interior Scholarship was awarded to Sonora Schuck,
The graduating studio art majors were renovation that created a high-tech, and the Nana Lampton Prize went to
Jessica Chandler, from Louisville, Ky.; collaborative learning environment. Samara Lyon.
Claire Gardner, from Lexington; Annelisa While the classrooms were modernized,
Hermosilla, from Panama City, Panama; there was little change to the exterior facade.
Samantha Klintworth, from Westerville, Pete ’64 and Marilyn Carpenter
Ohio; and Poppy Liu, from Chengdu, China. contributed the project’s lead gift.
20 THIRD & BROADWAY SPRING | SUMMER 2018CAMPUS NEWS
Morlan Gallery, The Parachute Factory start new year
with 'New Domesticity: Women’s Work in Women’s Art'
Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery and The
Parachute Factory kicked off 2018 with "New
Domesticity: Women’s Work in Women’s Art,"
which was a single exhibition that spanned
two downtown art galleries. The exhibition,
curated by art history professor Emily Elizabeth
Goodman, examined how Kentucky women
artists incorporate elements of domestic work
and life into their art practices. In particular, Transylvania graduates 218 Pioneers in Class of 2018
"New Domesticity" explored how different The 218 students in Transylvania’s Class of 2018 finished their college
artists engage with the idea of women’s careers with the commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 26, in front
“traditional roles” in our contemporary culture. of historic Old Morrison.
The student speaker was Riley Bresnahan, a religion major and history
minor from Wheeling, W.Va. Bresnahan, who was Transylvania’s first-
Pioneers shine in conferences, national tournaments ever national debate champion, encouraged her fellow graduates to
Transy Pioneers excelled on the field this consider deeply who they will become as humans and citizens once they
school year with six teams competing in leave campus.
NCAA Division III national championships: “It is my hope and my experience that Transy has taught us to take the
the men’s and women’s golf and lacrosse teams light of our Transylvania education, and not only pass it on, but become
and the softball and men’s soccer teams. it ourselves,” she said.
The women’s lacrosse team won their Former CSX president Alvin R. “Pete” Carpenter received the
first-ever Ohio River Lacrosse Conference honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and delivered the commencement
championship in May, qualifying them for address. A 1964 Transylvania alumnus, Carpenter served on the Board
an inaugural appearance in the national of Trustees from 1993-2000 and made the lead gift to renovate the new
tournament. Also, the men’s golf team finished Carpenter Academic Center.
10th in the country in their 12th-straight
national tournament. Another national Class of 2018 highlights
championship highlight was the women’s golf • Forty-six percent of the 218 graduating seniors received Latin honors for a
team’s 15th-place finish—the culmination of cumulative GPA of at least 3.5, and 45 percent received program honors.
their best season in program history. • Thirty-five percent of this year’s graduates studied abroad while at
All of the the teams that reached NCAA Transylvania—either for a full term, a summer or during the four-week
tournaments this school year won their May term.
conference regular season titles, except for • Students will pursue advanced degrees at institutions such as Johns
men’s lacrosse, and all but the softball team Hopkins University School of Advanced International Study, Vanderbilt
won their conference championships. University Law School and the UK College of Medicine. Other
Individual conference champions included opportunities awaiting students after graduation include the U.S. Air
Sarah Haerle, swimming and diving, 100m Force, Teach for America corps and a position as an assistant national
and 200m breaststroke; Spencer McKinney, bank examiner for the Federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
golf; Meredith Moir, golf; and Graham Smith, • The first Transylvania student graduated with the new digital arts and
outdoor track and field, javelin. media minor.
Additionally, the eventing team finished • Student achievements include a prestigious Fulbright English Teaching
strong with an 11th place finish in the USEA Assistantships; a Lexington Rotary Club Ollie and Dick Hurst Award; and a
Intercollegiate Evening Championships. Southeastern Writing Center Undergraduate Tutor Award.
the magazine of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 21You can also read
