Transylvania University
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| Transylvania University | |
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| Motto: | In Lumine Illo Tradimus Lumen (In That Light, We Pass On The Light) |
| Established: | 1780 |
| Type: | Private Undergraduate liberal arts college |
| Endowment: | $145.5 million[1] |
| President: | Charles L. Shearer |
| Staff: | 100 |
| Students: | 1,158 |
| Location: | Lexington, Kentucky, USA |
| Campus: | Urban |
| Athletics: | NCAA Division III |
| Mascot: | Pioneer |
| Affiliations: | Disciples of Christ |
| Website: | http://www.transy.edu/ |
Transylvania University is a private liberal arts college related by covenant to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The college is located on a 35 acre (14.2 hectare) campus about 4 blocks north of downtown Lexington, Kentucky, and is currently ranked number 77 on US News & World Report's Best Liberal Arts Colleges. [2]
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[edit] Name
Transylvania, meaning "across the woods" in Latin, is most commonly referred to as "Transy." The name stems from Transylvania University's initial founding, within the heavily-forested region of western Virginia known as the Transylvania colony, which became most of Kentucky in 1792.[3]
While Transylvania does not take its name from the Transylvania region in central Romania, the college does use this unique naming connection in celebration. Though not written until 1897, elements of Dracula can be seen on campus, predominantly in the week of Halloween during Rafinesque Week.
[edit] History
Transylvania University has a long, notable and complicated history that touches a number of former and subsequent institutions of higher learning.
[edit] Beginning through the Civil War (1780-1865): Transylvania University and Kentucky University
Transylvania University opened in 1780, after the Virginia Assembly adopted a charter establishing Transylvania Seminary.[4]
Originally in a log cabin in Boyle County, Kentucky, the school moved to Lexington in 1789.[4] The first site in Lexington was a single building in the historic Gratz Park. In 1829, this building burned, and the school was moved to its present location north of Third Street. Old Morrison, the only campus building at the time, was completed in 1833, under the supervision of Henry Clay, who both taught law and was a member of Transylvania's Board.[5] After 1818, the university included a medical school, a law school, a divinity school, and a college of arts and sciences.[4][6]
The other major institution that aided in the creation of the modern Transylvania University was Bacon College, named after Sir Francis Bacon, which would later be known as Kentucky University. Bacon College existed from 1837-1851, founded by the Christian churches in Kentucky. Bacon College was a new entity separated from Georgetown College, a Baptist supported institution, but Bacon College inevitably closed due to lack of funding. Seven years later, in 1858, Bacon College's charter was amended to establish Kentucky University, and moved to donated land in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.[4][6]
[edit] Post-Civil War through the Modern Era (1865-1908): Kentucky University
The American Civil War wreaked havoc on the South, and the state of Kentucky was no exception. Kentucky University was devastated by fire and both it and Transylvania University were in dire financial straits. As a result, in 1865, both institutions secured permission to merge. The new institution utilized Transylvania's campus in Lexington while perpetuating the name Kentucky University.[4]
The University was reorganized around several new colleges, including the Agricultural and Mechanical College (A&M) of Kentucky, publicly chartered as a department of Kentucky University as a land-grant institution under the Morrill Act.[6] However, due to questions regarding the appropriateness of a federally funded land-grant college controlled by a religious body, the A&M college was spun off in 1878 as an independent, state-run institution. The A&M of Kentucky soon developed into one of the state's flagship public universities, the University of Kentucky.[6]
Kentucky University's College of the Bible, which traced its roots to Bacon College's Department of Hebrew Literature, also received its own charter in 1878. The Seminary became a separate institution, although it remained housed on the Kentucky University campus until 1950, later changing its name to the Lexington Theological Seminary. In 1903, Hamilton College, a Lexington-based women's college founded in 1869, merged into Kentucky University.[6]
[edit] Modern Transylvania (1908-present): Transylvania University
Due to confusion between Kentucky University and its daughter institution the University of Kentucky, the institution adopted the eldest name in its lineage "Transylvania University" in 1908.[4]
The school remains affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Originally it was founded by Christ Episcopal Church's rector (The Rev. MOORE), and then became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, followed by the Disciples of Christ (which was founded after Transylvania).[citation needed]
[edit] Rankings
Transylvania University is ranked 77th among the nation's liberal arts colleges according to U.S. News & World Report. [2] According to The Princeton Review, Transylvania ranks 4th among colleges with a "Major Frat and Sorority Scene," which indicates the prevalence of fraternity and sorority activities among students at Transylvania.[7]
[edit] Rafinesque Week
Thanks to Transylvania's namesake, and an on-campus tomb, Halloween has become a week-long celebration at Transylvania. Known as Rafinesque Week, the college ends October in a unique combination of activities, such as ghost stories, an underground haunted house, a flag football tournament, and a lottery for four students to win a night to sleep in Rafinesque's tomb.[8]
[edit] Campus buildings
[edit] Academic buildings
- Haupt Humanities - The most used classroom building, it houses the various humanities programs.
- Cowgill Center - Finished in 1999, houses the Business, Economics & Education programs.
- L.A. Brown Science Center - Natural Sciences building. Includes largest classroom on campus, Strickland auditorium, numerous labs, a 16 node supercomputer cluster, and a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.
- J. Douglas Gay Jr. / Frances Carrick Thomas Library - The library complex includes the original Frances Carrick Thomas Library, dedicated by President Eisenhower in 1954, and the J. Douglas Gay Jr. addition, dedicated by Vice President George Bush in 1986.
- Mitchell Fine Arts Center - Houses facilities for all of the fine arts programs. Contains a large concert hall, small theater, recital hall, art gallery and practice rooms, among other things.
- Charles L. Shearer Studio Art Building - This building is home to most of the visual art facilities, including a dark room, ceramics, painting, and other studios, and a student art gallery.
[edit] Residential buildings
- Forrer Hall - Mainly the women's dormitory, Forrer's front and back lobbies contain offices for Residence Life, Department of Public Safety, campus nurse, and the main cafeteria.
- Henry Clay Hall - Men's dormitory primarily for freshmen.
- Jefferson Davis Hall - Men's dormitory for upperclassmen. Each floor belongs to one of the four fraternities.
- Rosenthal Residence Complex - Apartment complex for upperclassmen.
- Poole Residence Center - Suite style residential building.
- Hazelrigg Hall - Built as a freshmen dormitory, it was later converted to a multipurpose building. Contains a classroom, a computer lab, social science faculty offices, and two floors of "Honors" dormitories for students meeting GPA and other requirements. These rooms are single occupancy, as opposed to double, and have stricter rules regarding noise, and other rules to facilitate more intense studying.
- Thomson Hall - Finished in the Fall of 2008, Thomson Hall features 31 Suite-style dorms for students who meet a GPA requirement, the 1780 Cafe for late night dinners, several lounges and a large public meeting / conference room.
[edit] Other buildings
- Old Morrison - The administrative building, this building was built in the 1830s. The interior was gutted by fire in 1969 and was renovated and reopened in 1971. This building is featured on the city seal of Lexington and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
- Lucille C. Little Theater - Black box style theater allowing for very flexible stage and seating arrangements.
- Clive M. Beck Athletic Center - Contains athletics offices, classrooms, fitness center, competition and recreational facilities. Completed in 2002.
- Glenn Building - Completed in the fall of 2005, this building houses the new university bookstore as well as a coffee shop.
[edit] Fraternities and sororities
Transylvania has a thriving Greek life on campus, with four fraternities and four sororities on campus. Over half of the students are members of a Greek organization.[9] Each chapter is represented on either the Interfraternity Council (fraternities) or the Panhellenic Association (sororities). In 2009, the Princeton Review named Transylvania number 4 on its list of "Top Ten Schools with the Most Intense Greek Life." [10]
Fraternities
- Pi Kappa Alpha - Kappa Chapter, founded in 1888
- Kappa Alpha Order - Alpha Theta Chapter, founded in 1891
- Kappa Sigma - Alpha Omicron, founded September 7, 1994 (dormant)
- Phi Kappa Tau - Theta Chapter, founded in 1917
- Delta Sigma Phi - Beta Mu Chapter, founded in 1941
Sororities
- Chi Omega - Chi Chapter, founded in 1903
- Delta Delta Delta - Beta Zeta Chapter, founded in 1908
- Phi Mu - Delta Theta Chapter, founded in 1939
- Delta Zeta - founded in 1954 (closed)
- Sigma Kappa - founded in 1966 (closed 1984)
- Alpha Omicron Pi - Tau Omega Chapter, founded in 1987
[edit] Notable alumni
- James Lane Allen, author
- Landaff Andrews
- David Rice Atchison (according to an urban legend, was President of the United States for a day)
- Stephen F. Austin, founder of Texas, graduated in 1810
- Cy Barger, major league baseball player
- Eugene C. Barker, historian; wrote The Life of Stephen F. Austin (1925); received LL.D. from Transylvania in 1940
- William T. Barry
- Ned Beatty, actor
- James G. Birney
- Edward A. Eckenhoff, President and CEO National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington, DC, United States
- James E. Eckenhoff, Dean, Northwestern University Medical School and President of McGaw Medical Center, United States
- Walter L. Eckenhoff, Principal, Eckenhoff and Saunders Architects, Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Francis Preston Blair
- Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
- Levi Boone
- John C. Breckinridge, Vice President, United States; Secretary of War, Confederate States
- B. Gratz Brown
- William Orlando Butler
- Alexander Campbell, Senator from Ohio
- Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. (baseball commissioner, Governor of Kentucky, and Senator from Kentucky)
- Thomas James Churchill
- Cassius Marcellus Clay, abolitionist
- Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America; transferred to West Point
- William M. Gwin, U.S. Senator
- John Marshall Harlan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, graduated in 1853, and was first justice to have earned a modern law degree)
- Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States
- Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate General
- Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky[11]
- John Calvin McCoy, founder of Kansas City, Missouri
- Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Associate Court Justice, graduated with medical degree in 1838)
- Daniel Mongiardo, Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
- Brian Poe, CEO of EAS Technologies
- Charles Lynn Pyatt, dean, Lexington Theological Seminary
- James S. Rollins, Missouri politician, "Father of the University of Missouri"
- Clyde Roper, zoologist
- Lee Rose, basketball coach
- Wilson Shannon
- George Shannon, member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
- James Speed
[edit] Notable faculty
- Robert Hamilton Bishop - became the first president of Miami University.
- Daniel Drake - Taught materia medica from 1817 to 1818. Drake was an early settler of Cincinnati, Ohio who later founded the Ohio Medical College (later Medical College of the University of Cincinnati. He also returned to Transylvania University in 1823 and remained until 1827, the year his wife died. From 1825 to 1827 he served as dean of the university.
- Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, an unrecognized genius of botany and zoology from Europe, became the professor of botany at Transylvania University in 1819, teaching French and Italian as well. In the spring of 1826 he was dismissed from the university, either for having an affair with the university president's wife or for attending even fewer classes than his students. His tomb is on campus. Each Halloween, students celebrate "Rafinesque Week," which includes bonfires, mock awards, ghost tours of campus and as the culmination of the week, four students chosen from a lottery will spend the night in the tomb of Rafinesque in Old Morrison, the school's administration building.. An old legend suggests that he placed a curse on the school when it dismissed him.
- Charles Martin "C. M." Newton, TU basketball coach, 1956-68. Coach Newton led the 1963 Transylvania team to the NAIA National Tournament, and later became head coach at the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt University. Following his coaching career, Newton was named athletic director at the University of Kentucky.
[edit] Popular culture
- Transylvania University is the setting for part of the famous novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "2006 NACUBO endowment study". National Association of College and University Business Officers. http://www.nacubo.org/documents/research/2006NES_Listing.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.
- ^ a b "Transylvania University - US News & World Report". US News & World Report. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/items/1987. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Transylvania University's Name". Transylvania University. http://www.transy.edu/about/name.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ a b c d e f "Transylvania and the Christian Church". Transylvania University. http://www.transy.edu/pages/lilly/doc_history.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Old Morrison, Administrative Building". Transylvania University. http://www.transy.edu/about/about_campus/buildings.htm?stop=om&obj=b_other. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ a b c d e "The Early History of Transylvania University: An Archetype of Restoration Movement Institutions of Higher Education". James M Owston. http://www.owston.com/papers/transylvania.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Top 10 Schools With the Most Intense Greek Life". The Princeton Review, via Encarta. http://spotlight.encarta.msn.com/Features/encnet_Departments_College_default_article_Top10GreekLife09.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ "Barefootin’ it for Rafinesque, Transylvania University Magazine, Fall 2005". Transylvania University. http://www.transy.edu/news/magazine/TransFall05.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-11-19.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Top Ten Schools with the Most Intense Greek Life." Microsoft Encarta.
- ^ "Governor's Information: Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin". Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives. http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=f71837a59b066010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
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