The Rambler

A&E

The class “Community Engagement Through the Arts” asks students about personal superpowers. See page 5

The

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Communications, athletics reflect on mascot choice

Megan Graft mjgraft18@transy.edu

After a whirlwind of feedback from the Transy community, those involved in developing the “Mascot Madness” campaign are taking time to reflect and go back to the drawing board.

“We’re going to take a breath,” said Vice President of Marketing and Communications Michele Sparks.

“You learn from your mistakes, and if and when we go down this path again, we will do things really differently, because of what we’ve just gone through.”

There is no ‘next step’ as of now for communications and athletics, the two departments who collaborated on “Mascot Madness,” but to process the unexpected amount of response to the release of a poll to decide between two new athletics mascots last Monday, Feb. 15. A social media outcry resulted in the cancellation of the poll within 30 hours of its release.

“We will [regroup] probably a couple months from now because we want to give time to think through this process and make sure we are headed in the right direction,” said Holly Sheilley, Vice President of Athletics.

Along with the rest of the administrators and staff involved in the campaign, Sparks has taken time to consider what went right and what went wrong.

“I feel like we’ve had a lot of wins in communications recently,” said Sparks.

“We have an amazing new website, we’ve rebranded our marketing materials.

All of that went so smoothly, and it’s been embraced by everyone really well. So I’ve wondered, why did that go so well, and this went so wrong?”

Part of the reason, acknowledged Sparks, was a disconnection between the mascot development efforts and the campus.“I think, unlike the university branding, where we dialogued more about it… we probably needed to do a little bit more of that,” said Sparks.

“Because I think legitimately people felt that that this came out of left field.

In our minds, we thought we had communicated that well enough, but obviously we hadn’t.”

Sparks said that in hindsight, communications and athletics “underestimated” the amount of investment the entire Transy community would have in the choosing of a mascot, which was meant to be purely an athletics symbol.

“That goes to show you how seriously our students and our alumni take this notion of Pioneer: very seriously. And I think we underestimated that,” said Sparks. “We wanted that to live in athletics, when in fact, whether you’re a student athlete or not, you still view yourself as a Pioneer.”

Sparks indicated a misconception that communications and athletics made the mascot decisions on their own, without any input.

“That’s so not the case,” said Sparks. “We have tried every step of the way to include the community; we’ve done focus groups, we have had large group interactions, we have had small group interactions, we gave everybody the opportunity to fill out a very lengthy survey… That internal buy-in was really important to me.”

See Mascot, page 3

Transylvania University • Lexington, Ky. • transyrambler.com • (859) 233-8315

Alumni Office celebrates love

COURTESY OF TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY ALUMNI OFFICE

February 25, 2016 • VOL. 98, ISSUE 18

Transylvania alumni couple Mary Beth McGlothin Rouse ’86 and Bob Rouse ’80, participate in the alumni office event that celebrated Valentine’s Day and honored love that began on campus.

Dean Covert, VP Sheilley’s offices reorganized

David Neri

Mascots are not the only things being reexamined at Transylvania this semester. In a letter to the university population, President Seamus Carey announced the reorganization of the position of Vice President of Student Affairs Dean of Students. While a hunt had been previously conducted in search of a candidate to fill the position, Carey thought that a restructuring of the office was in the best interest of Transylvania.

“We went through all the phases of a national search and the commit-

tee did a great job,” said Carey. “They went through all the applicants, screened the applications, reduced it to off-campus interviews, then they brought to oncampus interviews, then they had the finalists. The finalists had some really good strengths, but when I thought carefully about it, it seemed to me that we had a better fit right here when we did the restructure.”

Instead of hiring an external candidate, the university has decided to separate the positions, with the position of Vice President of Student Affairs being assumed by Vice President of Athletics Holly Sheilley.

more involved in the student recruitment process. To get the wheels rolling on this initiative Professor Todorova contacted other faculty members such as Professor of Art Kurt Gohde, Associate Professor of Spanish Jeremy Paden, Professor of Exercise Science Sharon Brown, and Associate Professor of Economics Alan Bartley. Together the group of faculty members planned a meeting for faculty and staff for Tuesday, February 23rd during open hour,

where they could get together and discuss the ways that they could positively impact the recruitment process.

Professor Gohde described the initiative as, “a matter of getting everyone together and saying, ‘look, here’s things I do… the meeting yesterday there were many people who realized, ‘oh, I could do that, I could do that too.’” Gohde said that one change student can plan to see from the program is “the general discourse about the state of the

dbneri16@transy.edu

“Beginning on July 1, I will be the Vice President of Student Affairs, and Athletics will go back under student affairs as it had been before,” said Sheilley.

“Athletics, Residence Life, programming, clubs, all that is currently under student affairs will then fall under me.”

The Dean of Students position, which was previously combined with Vice President of Student Affairs will now be assumed by Michael Covert, who held the unseparated office in interim while the university had searched for someone to fill the position.

Carey pointed to this

change as extremely positive, allowing for each office to be handled in a more direct and specialized fashion.

“I think it will bring clarity to the structure of student life and student affairs,” he said. “I think that we will be able to take advantage of the great strengths of each of the folks in that area now in ways that we haven’t been able to do in the past. I have great confidence in both Dr. Sheilley and Dr. Covert, and I think that these roles really speak to their incredible strengths.”

See Dean, page 4

Faculty boosts assistance in next school year’s student recruitment Emily Dent emdent19@transy.edu

The Transy faculty plays a large role in the everyday life of a Transy student, so why is it that when recruiting students, we are not highlighting our passionate and dedicated professors? It is this question that some of the faculty at Transylvania are beginning to ask. In late January, Associate Professor of English Kremena Todorova, attended a meeting with the Board of Trustees and Transy staff

and faculty members, the conversations in this meeting led Todorova to realize that a change was need. “...all do play a role in recruitment as a faculty, but it’s not quite as visible and it’s not quite effective because we haven’t as a faculty talked about and that we can still play a role and it’s something we should do as a faculty,” said Todorova.

This realization brought about the idea to start a faculty outreach program for Transy faculty to start being

university because there’s a current kind of openness about the financial situation of the university, and that openness sometimes translates to what seems like a crisis, whereas ultimately it’s not a crisis, it’s just the financial information is being shared in ways greater than the past.”

Todorova also pointed to the possibilities of working with recruitment.“A desire on part of the faculty to help the university with recruitment because we re-

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alize out of a few things, one of them is that we really can play a huge role on recruitment and two that the university benefits from our inclusive efforts towards recruitment... individually we do a lot, but perhaps it’s not as visible as it should be.”

See Recruitment, page 3

Campus Life

Page 2

February 25, 2016

Pioneer Pairs celebrates Transy love Raaziq El-Amin February is the month of love, and Transy’s Alumni Office uses this as an opportunity to recognize alumni and increase donations through a series called Pioneer Pairs.

Pioneer Pairs was developed “in an effort to do something to celebrate alumni couples and in recognition of their support for Transylvania,” said Director of Alumni Relations Natasa Mongiardo. This month, alumni couples are submitting their personal stories about their relationships and how they have been influenced by their affiliation with Transy.

Only two years old, the series has proved to be a big hit, with thirty-five stories being submitted under the hashtag #PioneerPairs.

Mongiardo, who also met her husband during her time as a student at Transy, said that she and Alumni Office staff decided on using the hashtag to make the series relevant to the current time.

The decision to use media resources in order to host the series was made because “there are alumni out there who live far away from Lexington, and the only connection they have to Transylvania right now is through our social media,” stated Mongiardo. She added that the engagement

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DONNA CARDIN DALTON

rkelamin19@transy.edu

Husband and wife Steve Dalton ’83 and Donna Cardin Dalton ’83 met and began dating while attending Transylvania. Donna Cardin Dalton shared their story online through the Pioneer Pairs series. Director of Alumni Relations Natasa Mongiardo noted that when the story was read there wasn’t a dry eye in the office.

through likes and comments has been fun to see.

Mongiardo mentioned some of her most memorable stories that have been submitted to Facebook. One that really touched her was submitted by Donna Cardin Dalton ’83, Steve Dalton ’83’s wife. In her post, Dalton tells about how she met Steve when he, an RA at the time, approached her, telling her she would have to either throw away the beer she was holding, or “chug it.”

Because she and Steve

were both from Tennessee, they often took rides home together. Dalton posted, “I really began to get to know him better and I really LOVED his fun personality.” She continues her post, describing why Valentine’s Day was so important to her and her husband.

“That week of Valentine’s he sent me flowers every day. A new bouquet came each morning to Forrer Hall with a note from Steve,” said Dalton.

She later mentions that

they held their wedding the week of Valentine’s Day. Although Steve Dalton passed away in 2013, he continues to be recognized on our campus, having the new building, Dalton-Voigt, named partly after him.

Dalton ends her post with, “He was my soul mate and a true Valentine, we were a Pioneer pair!! #‎PioneerPairs.” Mongiardo says that this is one of her favorite posts and she doesn’t think there was a dry eye in the office when it was read.

Mongiardo also noted an appealing post about how a Transy student and a Transy staff member met.

Parents of current Senior Steele Rouse, Bob and Mary Beth McGlothin Rouse, began their relationship at the Transylvania Admissions Office. Bob was an Admissions counselor while Mary Beth was a work study student. The two kept their relationship a secret, although according to their Facebook post it was “undoubtedly the worst-kept secret on cam-

pus.” The couple felt more comfortable with being public with their relationship once Bob left Transy.

27 years later, the couple continues to show their appreciation toward Transy.

Pioneer Pairs is only one of the many tasks taken on by Transy’s Alumni Office. Students can help by checking out the alumni Transylvania University Alumni Facebook page and attending events.

Transy Residence Dean-Thacker article Life Office assures achieves publication plentiful housing Aaron Martin

akmartin19@transy.edu

Kelsey Henry khenry18@transy.edu

Ashley Gutshall, Assistant Director of Residence Life and Coordinator for Interpersonal Violence Prevention, reveals the process of selecting Resident Advisors and availability of housing options next year, illustrating Transy’s commitment to producing a rich campus life.

When looking for Resident Advisors, Resident Life Staff look for specific traits that create positive and communal feelings for students living on campus. The application process offers applicants experience in group and individual interviews.

“We look for someone who can build community, who can empathize with others, who can serve as a resource for students, and who can be adaptable in the face of many different challenges,” said Gutshall in an email interview.

The 19 accepted or returning Resident Advisors will receive a salary for their service as well as some control over where they will preside the following year.

“They will receive room [and board] and $2640 divided into 10 payments,” said Gutshall. “We ask potential and returning RAs for their preferences and we try to honor those. We also place students where we feel they will be the most compatible with their resi-

dents and where they can Rosenthal,” said Gutshall. make the biggest impact.” “Students in Poole and DalYet, having the right ton Voigt enjoy suite style Resident Advisor is not housing, with 4 students the only part of creating a sharing a bathroom, while positive campus environ- Rosenthal, Thomson, and ment. Concerns for the 4th St all have restrooms next year’s available hous- within the room which ing options also cross stu- are shared by the two residents’ minds as the school dents. The 331 N. Broadway year draws to a close. House (formerly the InterGutshall assures stu- national House) and the 4th dents that despite the delay St Apartments each have in construction for the new full kitchens, and Hazeldorms, rigg has only there will single rooms be enough and 24/7 There may be space on quiet hours. fewer single rooms campus “There for all available outside of are no GPA s t u d e n t s Hazelrigg and some of requirements wishing to live in any to live on the 4th St Apartments, r e s i d e n c e c a m p u s . but we have enough hall,” says “The Gutshall. space for students spaces “Students available who wish to live on are able to for next campus. sign up for year are waitlists for the same any buildspaces we -Ashley Gutshall ings they are had availinterested able this in at room year,” said Gutshall. “There selection if they are not may be fewer single rooms able to sign up for their available outside of Hazel- first choice that night.” rigg and some of the 4th St Despite open eligibilApartments, but we have ity, Gutshall reveals that enough space for students Residence Life staff do who wish to live on campus.” have a rough approximaThere are seven avail- tion of student housing opable housing options for next tions as they change grades. year of which none have GPA “We envision a houseligibility requirements. ing progression, starting “Next year we will with the more communal have Forrer, Dalton Voigt, living in Forrer and proThomson, 4th St Apart- gressing to the more indements, Poole, Hazelrigg and pendent style of 4th St.”

Spanish professor Veronica Dean-Thacker has written an article, “Phantom Pain, the Underlying Metaphor in Manuel Rivas’ novel, The Carpenter’s Pencil.” Deciding to write the article four years ago, DeanThacker explained that Rivas’s novel is a favorite of hers particularly because of the main character.

“What I love about the story is that it’s about a person who perseveres. He’s a political prisoner and has done nothing wrong except speak in favor of the rights of the poor. He has spoken against what he sees as fascism,” said Dean-Thacker.

Manuel Rivas, the author of The Carpenter’s Pencil, is very well-known throughout many countries.

“Rivas is a very successful writer from Northwestern Spain; his novels are read everywhere, and there are translations of his works into many different languages,” stated DeanThacker.

According to TNotes, “Several Transylvania students have read this novel in English (FYS) and in Spanish (Modern Spanish Literature or Senior Seminar).”

Rivas’s novel is set during the Spanish Civil War and the main character, Daniel DaBarca is a prisoner of war. Dean-Thacker’s article centers on a particular scene that occurs in the prison infirmary. DaBarca must treat a man who is feeling extreme pain in his leg, but his limb is actually missing. A

nearby guard asks DaBarca what phantom pain is, but receives no answer.

“The guard, earlier, had shot a painter, and afterwards he picked up a pencil that the painter held in his ear, a carpenter’s pencil. As soon as he puts the pencil in his ear, he can hear the painter’s voice,” said DeanThacker. She explained that this supernatural-like scenario is typical of the region’s beliefs and stories.

The next part of the infirmary scene introduces the metaphor that Dean-Thacker covers in her article.

“The guard asks the painter, meaning in his own mind, what is phantom pain and the painter responds: ‘They say that it is the worst of all pain. A pain which becomes unbearable. The memory of pain,’” said Dean-Thacker. “So these words that are describing phantom pain say to the reader (because this is taking place during and after the Spanish Civil War), that phantom pain is a metaphor for loss. Not just loss of the foot, but of all those who perished during and after the war.”

The metaphor of phantom pain continues in the last scene of the novel. In the end it is revealed that the guard has been remembering and telling the story of DaBarca. The guard had a special connection with DaBarca and DaBarca’s wife, Marisa.

“The guard actually has been sitting in a tavern reading the obituary of DaBarca who in old age had finally passed away and he is re-

membering the story of his life. He says at one point ‘they were the best life has given me,’” stated DeanThacker. “He’s talking to this young, unfortunate girl and he’s telling her the story of DaBarca and Marisa and the painter tells him to give her the pencil. It’s as if the painter knows she needs help now as his life is over, so he can surrender his friend the painter.”

Dean-Thacker explains that the phantom pain metaphor continues as the guard gives the girl the pencil and walks outside to see death approaching.

“So he gives her the pencil because the painter insists on this and he walks outside the tavern…and he sees Death approaching. [A woman] says to him, ‘What are you doing out here all alone like a dog?’ and he says, ‘phantom pain.’ It’s all about loss because he has lost DaBarca and Marisa and now the painter,” said Dean-Thacker. “They were the most important things in his life and so the metaphor of phantom pain has had an impact on him because it represents loss.”

The metaphor of phantom pain is not only important for the characters, but the culture and people of Spain as well. There were countless lives lost during the Spanish Civil War and the country continues to experience phantom pain from it. Dean-Thacker’s article brings attention to the continued trauma the war brought to Spain and that continues to this day.

Etcetera

Page 3 Mascot

Developing new mascots The mascot development was part of the university’s larger rebrand campaign, which has been ongoing since Sparks was hired in the fall of 2014. Athletics approached communications in the midst of the rebrand-refresh to ask for a new mascot, which they had been without since Peppy the Pioneer, a coonskin-cap costume, was discontinued over 20 years ago.

“So my first year here was Dr. (R. Owen) Williams’ last year, so that whole year we decided to wait (for the new president) and had no mascot,” said Sheilley. “Before [the original logo], the mascot was just whatever anybody put on a shirt, which is not the way a logo and mascot should be for an athletic department.”

Athletics sent out a survey to Transy’s student athletes, coaches and administrators, which revealed that the athletics community was split between the possibility of having a human- or nonhuman-form mascot. Human forms were eliminated to align with the university’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

“This is a good opportunity to be inclusive of the campus,” said Sheilley.

“Not everyone who is here is a white male, so why not take a look at that and try to make some changes.”

To formulate animal mascot options, communications and athletics staff researched animals that had been native to Kentucky in pioneering times, such as foxes, wolves and bison.

They also relied on research from the overall rebrand.

Communications had sent out a survey to the campus community, alumni and prospective students and parents in November 2014 with a goal to “measure perceptions of Transylvania University among a variety of audiences,” to which Sparks said had a “pretty high response rate.”

The external research showed that though a bat mascot might garner spirit in the internal community, it would not translate well as a recruitment tool.

“We surveyed more than 500 prospective students and parents,” said Sparks. “We also tested that concept of a vampire and bats… that tested negatively. What people have to

From Page 1

understand is, yes, we want a mascot that we internally can rally around, but it’s also a recruitment tool. So when we’re recruiting student athletes, we need to make sure that we’re resonating with things that they would feel proud to be associated with as well.”

Sparks described the bat and vampire mascot concept as an “inside joke” that could make Transylvania a “meme” externally.

“We get it internally… we can play off that,” she said. “But externally, we already have an uphill battle in some sense in our admissions and recruitment efforts, to kind of overcome the name ‘Transylvania.'"

“Maybe we would sell a lot of T-shirts, but then you know what would end up happening? We would be a meme,” Sparks continued. “We would be a joke through social media. We’re an academic institution and we’re proud of that academic heritage, and we need to have a mascot that embodies both academics and athletics. And vampire and bat’s just not going to do that.”

President Seamus Carey noted the internal-external concerns in choosing mascot options as well.

“You would use it to recruit student athletes… a big part of our recruitment population,” said Carey.

“Anybody who goes to the games would see this, anybody who wears our gear would have whatever mascot we have on it, so people who travel around the country with Transylvania gear would be representing the school with whatever one of these symbols or mascots would be… it still affects the entire university.”

A horse was chosen as one of the finalists due to its frequent mention in the open-response athletics survey and its natural connection to the Bluegrass. A wolf was chosen as a finalist due to its native status in Kentucky and its fitting representation of Transy’s student athletes.

“When we looked at the quickness of a wolf, the leanness of a wolf, we felt that that represented our athletes more than, say, a big, bulging bison, which was also considered,” said Sparks.

Much of the mascot design and research was done in-house, leading to a total cost of a “couple thousand dollars” for the entire en-

Recruitment In order to combat the focus on an unrealistic version of Transy’s financial situation the faculty outreach program plans to focus on clarity. “[We] try to increase the language around the things [they] are doing that are great because [they’ve] recently received an increase in language about the financial situation but that kind of paints an unrealistic picture of what the university is going through,” said Gohde.

As of now, one idea the outreach program has came up with is to provide a list of students and their possible majors and areas of interest on a Google Doc to the campus faculty so that professors can contact them about their programs of interest.

Professor Todorova believes this project will highlight the working relationship between students and their potential teachers.

“What we have on campus, which is a very close

deavor, said Sparks.

“For the wolf design, we did use an external agency, but they were the ones that did the athletic brand research, they did the Transy and Pioneer wordmarks,” said Sparks. “We spent, on the wolf, a couple thousand dollars… I would never spend $40,000 on a logo.”

The Pioneer remains Sparks also made clear that Transy’s athletics symbol was never going to change from “Pioneer.”

“That was never an option,” she said. “The second thing is, we weren’t changing anything. We haven’t had a mascot here for 20 years.”

“To my mind, the mascot was specifically intended to simply be a symbol around which athletics could build a little bit of spirit,” said President Carey.

“It is not intended as a symbol for the entire university; it’s not our letterhead, it’s not our seal.”

Carey felt the need to send an email to the Transy community because he heard that there were personal references and even attacks being made against the staff who worked on the project. He hopes that the outcry will translate into enthusiasm for future endeavors.

“It was a little surprising to me that some of the comments that I heard were being made were coming from members of our community,” said Carey.

“I’m happy that people are engaged. That’s one of the great strengths of this school… their education at Transylvania has obviously left an impression on them such that they care… I hope that that will translate into them showing up to games, supporting our teams.”

Even as ‘Mascot Madness’ backfired, Carey is proud of the work done by athletics and communications over the past year.

“My staff is incredibly professional, they are thorough, they are open to conversation, take input from wherever we can get it,” said Carey. “One of the characteristics of my cabinet is that we are not egodriven, we don’t care who gets credit as long as the school is getting better.”

From Page 1

faculty student relationship and we’re very glad to share that with prospective students,” said Professor Gohde. “Generally the faculty love teaching at Transy and the reason we love teaching at Transy is the students.”

Transy faculty involve themselves with the community in many ways, such as the “Community Engagements for the Arts” course that allows Transy students to interact with students from local schools and also Professor Ben Hawkins who teaches a master class for Bryan Station band students. These programs could be used for giving “Transy a shoutout” according to Todorova.

While these programs are not necessarily for marketing or recruitment, Todorova does point to their effectiveness in attracting potential students.

“It takes very little just to say ‘hey, I teach at Transy, we’d love to have

you at Transy, if you have any questions grab me after class or send me an email’.

It’s very simple, they’re just haven’t been the initiative or support for faculty to do this in the past.”

In the end, these efforts are also for the current student body and campus culture as a whole: “[We want to] reinvigorate the student body as well with enthusiasm for Transy… and we are doing great things and we are moving in the right direction, there just hasn’t been much communication about that and visibility for so much that’s happening as a university.” said Todorova Professor Todorova would love to have more student and faculty input for the program regarding ways faculty and staff could help student recruitment. She urges anyone with questions, suggestions, comments, or ideas to contact her at ktodorova@ transy.edu.

February 25, 2016

The World Below Your Feet Matthew Thornton mmthornton17@transy.edu

There are worlds below your feet, beneath pavement, dirt and a thick carpet of little roots, past the bedrock riddled with caves stretching surface fingers deep done. It’s all nothing more than the skin of an apple compared to what’s below. Pockets and gulf of empty space bubble through the hot rock of the world beneath you, filled with swirling steam and volcanic gasses, choked with puffy fungi that thrive in the sweltering heat, or flooded with boiling briny water swimming with weird boneless things that have never seen light or air.

There are ripples in the rock as dense formless things flow through the rock coming up from their homes deep below, swimming through stone that to them is nothing but water, coasting through the crust to gnaw on the roots of mountains, vaults and pockets collapsing in their wake.

Some move in pods that ripple the deep earth like massive earthquakes usher hot half melted rock behind their dense dark bodies, while smaller faster ones nip at the edges, looking to dive in, absorbing bits of their essence into their own growing larger, more powerful until they burst in a

shower of smaller creature, plunging back down to the mantle.

In a geode the size of Texas, miles and miles below your feet, green and purple and clear crystals stretch across a curved and broken floor, a multifaceted forest, echoing with the tinkling sounds of dripping water and falling gems.

Figures of moving rock crunch through the crystals, towards a lake of clear blue water, boiling away in the heat of the vault, steam drifts upward, flowing around the geodes crystal, filling the air with hot sulfurous vapor.

Things move through it, dart around the chamber, passing into and out of the thickets of crystal, tiny cousins to the great mantle gliders, unable to pass through rock but easily able to slip into crystal. They swoop among the shining forest, along the walls of the chamber, following veins of crystal into side chambers, grown full of crystals of every hue in the great crystal chambers.

The rock figures continue trudging onward, plowing through the shallow scalding water off into the depths of the crystal forests.

Deeper and deeper still. Plumes of magma and plasticine mantle rock surround dead, Sulphur choked vaults, or break through the

walls of others to fill them with molten rock. A mile wide diamond lies trapped in a cooled flume, the clear gem surrounded on all sides by mile thick walls of obsidian, a multi limbed a dark figure entombed in a flaw at its heat. Intelligences strange and indistinct whirl around in the heart of natural nuclear reactor, composing poems in lines of waste stone, their fellows critiquing their meter and isotope composition. Seas of liquid glass simmer at the start of the mantle transition, giving way before the dense gliders, or plumes of hot rock.

In the hot, not quite solid stone the gliders cavort, or nest, eat and fade away.

Far far below them a sentient electric current dances through the magnetic dynamo the core, dimly aware of the world above it, more concerned with carving patterns into the incredibly dense nickel at the planets heart.

Above, at the surface, the sun is rising above the fruit skin hills and mountains. In the worlds below nothing knows, the frigid, near vacuum above them and the things of flesh a bone that crawl across it unknown and unimportant.

The Puzzler

The Castle of Sudoku

Solution To Last Week’s Puzzle

Opinion

Page 4

February 25, 2016

Shane McKee expresses thanks to mentors at Transy Letter to the Editor During my last Pioneer Leadership session on Tuesday night I encouraged and challenged the students to be rivers not reservoirs.

A reservoir continually takes in water but only to fill itself up. As Transylvania Pioneers we should all be rivers – whatever water we receive, we should give away – whatever knowledge we acquire, we should pass on. By committing ourselves to this practice we are holding true and living out Transylvania’s motto “In That Light, We Pass on the Light.”

Over the past week I have received so many amazing thank-you letters and tokens of gratitude from students and staff and they have meant so much to me (I have even cried a few times).

And while I have tried my damndest to “Pass on the Light” to every student I have worked with, mentored, supervised, or counseled here at Transy – I want to use this column to personally THANK the people who have “Passed on the Light” to me. I want to take the time to THANK those that been my figurative “rivers” and who have graciously allowed their waters and wisdom to flow through me – ultimately making me a better professional and better person.

Barbara LoMonaco (Our former VP) – Your leadership, vision, energy, and passion convinced me to come Transy and made every minute working with you exciting and inspirational.

Thank you for always being able to find a way to find a way to push me to the next level.

Michael Covert –

Thank you for teaching me true potential in my role the value of loyalty and for here at Transylvania and I always bringing a positive credit a lot of that to your solution-centered mindset management style. As a to your work. You work challenge-the-process and endlessly and tirelessly out-of-the-box thinker you for the provided me betterment with a great of your As Transylvania Pio- roadmap for staff, the avigating neers we should all be nsuccess students, at and this rivers - whatever water Transylvania. institution we recieve, we should But most – and that importantly doesn’t go pass on. you taught unnoticed. me that “Wise Thank you speak -Shane McKee, direc- souls for being loudly in a true tor of student involve- silence” and servant ment and leadership “The quieter leader and you become for guiding us over the past the more you can hear” – year. both extremely important Bob Brown – lessons for a boisterous Supervisor, mentor, extrovert. colleague, friend. Thank you Aaron Roberts – A true for creating an environment partner and collaborator. and mentor/mentee dynamic Some say we were Batman that allowed me to flourish. and Robin others said we I was able to live-up to my were Iron Man and Captain

America. I just say that it was a privilege to work with you day-in-day-out in the trenches together. You are a man with resolute values, a firm belief, and deep conviction – and for that I look up to you. Thank you for being everything I am not and for always seeking to better yourself and me in the process. Your future is so bright – not because of where you are going – but simply because of the man, husband, and father you already are.

These are just a few of the amazing people that have “Passed on the Light” to me during my time at Transylvania. I challenge each of you – faculty, staff, and students – to take some time to thank someone on this campus that has done the same for you. Let’s celebrate more of the transformative work that is happening across campus instead of

getting bogged down and tied up in the transactional.

The true pillars of this institution are not the ones that decorate many of most important buildings oncampus; rather, they are the giants that have served this institution selflessly for a lifetime. The most important pillars that we should be celebrating and thanking on a daily basis include faculty and staff like: Don Dugi, Martha Billips, Dave Shannon, Rod Erfani, Paul Jones, Jack Furlong, Michael Covert, Diane Fout, Dave Cecil, Shawn Singleton, Sue Garrison, and many more. #PioneerOn Respectfully, Shane McKee, Ph.D.

Results for: Dean Carey also went into greater detail on how the athletics and student affairs would benefit from this restructuring.

“The fact that athletics was under student affairs is not unusual at all,” he said. “That’s quite typical, especially in schools of our size. So we’ve actually gone back to what the traditional structure was. When it came out from under student affairs, it was because I recognized the talent that Dr. Sheilley has, and I wanted her to be a cabinet level position, because of her talents, but also because of the importance that athletics plays on our campus. So we don’t lose anything, but we gain, by doing this. Dr. Sheilley has just been selected as one of 20 candidates to participate

From Page 1

in an executive leadership Carey has been here just a program sponsored by the small amount of time but is Council of Independent building up his momentum, Colleges.

Dean Bryan It’s a has been here year-long for a little bit, program for I think that it is a really I think there e x e c u t i v e exciting time at Transy are so many leaders. So, right now, we have a exciting she’s being that lot of momentum mov- things recognized are getting for her ing forward. ready to t a l e n t s happen in both on the this coming -Holly Sheilley, Vice campus and year, so I President of Athletics am excited. outside the campus.”

I think Sheilley spoke on the there is a close connection strengths of the restructuring with athletics and student as part of an overall new affairs, athletics is the wave of changes. extracurricular that you do “I think that it is a really and student affairs should exciting time at Transy also be extracurricular, right now, we have a lot of that a person’s association momentum moving forward, with Greek life or other the residence halls were clubs, as an RA should be just built,” she said. “Dr. extra opportunities for a

person to learn at Transy, and sometimes it ends up being as valuable as the classroom with the leadership communication and organizational skills that you learn.”

However, Sheilley did state to not yet having formulated a specific plan for her new position.

“I do not have specific plans right now. I’m evaluating the landscape, doing a lot of listening but come back July 1 and I will have a lot more ideas for where we are going, there are a lot of good people so now it is all about moving [Transylvania] in the right direction,” she said.

Should Transy continue research for a new mascot?

No, the Pioneer is enough - 44%

No, we could use the money elsewhere - 25%

Yes, we need one to fit our values - 21%

Yes, other options are better - 11%

Check out TransyRambler.com for more exciting stories and polls!

position shows it’s time to open eyes Tristan Reynolds tpreynolds19@transy.edu

A little respect for Donald Trump, please.

The man has won the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada primary elections (and caucus). He’s only lost one contest—Iowa.

He is, by every metric one could reasonably use, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. So let’s stop dismissing him with quips about his hair extensions or orange skin. The truth is that Donald Trump is winning, that he is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America. Let’s all sit up and act like it.

The truth, of course, is terrifying. The danger to our governmental system posed by Trump has been well-documented and analyzed elsewhere, but a quick recapitulation is in order. Trump is a man who has proposed to round up eleven million residents and deport them. Trump is the man who claimed that

“thousands” of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks. And Trump is the man who has decided that all Muslims—based solely on where they pray—should be barred from entering the country, even if they hold citizenship. Never mind that these ideas are absurd merely on a practical level. Such ideas are so obviously offensive to the sensibilities of anyone who takes seriously the principle of equal rights before the law. Nevertheless, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada. Clearly, these ideas are not so beyond the pale as to have doomed Trump’s chances. So don’t dismiss him because he looks like a buffoon, and don’t dismiss him because he’s a virulent bigot.

Trump is hated by the GOP establishment. He has attacked their modus operandi of money in politics as corrupt. He has launched broadsides against free trade, low taxes for the rich, and entitlement reform. He brought down their chosen candidate in Jeb Bush, and

spoke the truth unutterable in Republican circles that George Bush failed to “keep us safe” on 9/11.

The GOP establishment is not simply not for Trump, they are against him in truly spectacular fashion. The Republican primary voters

ever. International trade?

“You will get so tired of winning all the time.”

Economic policy? He will be “so, so good” for the economy. It’s a spectacularly vague platform. But in a system where legitimacy is conferred on ideas solely through their popularity at the ballot box, Trump’s Trump is hated by vague declarations of triumph perform. So don’t the GOP establishdismiss him because he has ment. He has attacked no ideas. their modus operandi Trump is winning. of money in politics as He will probably be the Republican nominee. It is corrupt. past time we take seriously the very real danger that a -Tristan Reynolds man who thinks Mexicans are rapists and Muslims of New Hampshire, South are terrorists may become Carolina, and Nevada don’t President. Don’t dismiss seem to care all that much. him. Don’t laugh at him.

Do don’t dismiss him on the Take seriously the danger notion that the Republican posed by his candidacy.

Party would never let him have the nomination.

Amidst all of this, Trump has managed to avoid proposing anything approaching specific, concrete policy goals.

Military strategy? He’ll be the best “military President”

Letters to the Editor Letters should be: No more than 400 words. The Rambler reserves the right to cut letters to the editor to fit our length requirements, and we may edit your letters to fix grammar or spelling mistakes.

Signed, with contact information. Full name and telephone number or e-mail address is needed.

Letters must be original. We will not accept form letters.

Send your letters to: rambler@transy.edu

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Trump claiming Republican frontrunner

Editor-in-Chief........................................................Megan Graft Managing Editor..........................................................David Neri News Editor........................................................Madison Crader Campus Life Editor...............................................Aaron Martin ETC Editor.....................................................Matthew Thornton OpinionEditor.................................................................Tyler Lega A&E Editor......................................................Natassja Woodrum Sports Editor.........................................................Lance Antoine Copy Editor...................................................................Isaac Batts Adviser..........................................................................Tyler Young

A&E

Page 5

Febuary 25, 2016

Famous Rhapsody in Blue Through the Arts course asks: performance in the works ‘What’s your super power?’ for Transy Concert Band Kiara Walker kswalker17@transy.edu

For their upcoming concert, the Transylvania Concert Band has been rehearsing a well-known piece composed by the legendary American pianist and composer George Gershwin—Rhapsody in Blue.

Transylvania Professor of Music and Pianist-Composer Dr. Greg Partain will be performing the original scoring of Rhapsody in Blue along with the wind band.

“This a project that the conductor Ben Hawkins and I have talked about for many years.” said Dr. Partain.

“This is a particularly good year because he feels that he has the personnel in the band that can play this work especially well.

Listeners might notice for example, the beginning of the piece, which features a very difficult clarinet solo and that would be one of the parts that showcases one of our excellent student performers—Mason Lilly.”

From Sept. 2015 to Feb. 2016, Dr. Partain performed “Beethoven’s Odyssey,” which was a series of seven solo piano recitals of Beethoven’s sonatas.

According to Dr. Partain, moving from Beethoven to

Gershwin requires a major shift in thinking on his part, but is also refreshing.

Although Dr. Partain finds the shift from Beethoven to Gershwin to be exciting, he also recognizes that Rhapsody in Blue does present a challenge to all of the performers in the concert band.

“George Gershwin composed this piece in 1924, but when he wrote this piece he wanted to merge two styles of music and that would be jazz and classical” said Dr. Partain.

“This is a piano concerto in the classical tradition, but the musical style is pure jazz. So I think for all of us performing it, one of the main challenges will be capturing the improvisatory, spontaneous spirit of jazz, even though we’re playing notes that are printed on the page.”

Alto Saxophone player Jessica Taylor, junior, brought a similar viewpoint on the difficulty of performing Gershwin’s work, but also stressed the optimistic approach the performers are taking.

“It’s not a typical piece we would play in band” said Taylor. “It’s difficult.

It requires more individual practice, but it can be done.

It’s exciting because we know we have the potential.”

As the performance of Rhapsody in Blue will celebrate the hard work of Transylvania’s Concert Band, it will in turn stress the importance of Gershwin’s work to American composition and American pianists, to the attending audience.

“Gershwin is one of America’s preeminent song composers and a true giant in 20th century American music” said Dr. Partain.

“Rhapsody in Blue is a gem of American music from the first half of the 20th century and it’s so popular and so beloved just because it has such a high musical quality—gorgeous melodies and infectious rhythms and just very beautiful jazz harmonies. So as an American pianist, I feel like it’s a piece that I just must play, not out of a sense of obligation, but because it’s just in my blood.”

The Transylvania Concert Band will perform Rhapsody in Blue as a part of their band concert on Apr. 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium.

Senior Ashley Montgomery models her superpower cape. CETA course asks community what their real life superpower is.

Teddy Salazar

tzsalazar17@transy.edu

What is your superpower? Everyone has one. Just think about it. It’s not flying or invisibility.

It’s something REAL. Is it

making a perfect circle with chairs? Being a super good listener? Being really good at loving your friends and family?

These are the questions

that the Community Engagements Through the Arts class is asking the local community this semester.

Every year Kurt Gohde, professor of studio art, and Kremena Todorova, professor of English, work with the local community and Transy students to create an incredibly unique class.

CETA is co-taught by the two professors and uses art as a way to get Transy students engaged in the community. A different art project is chosen every year, and community workshops and partners are made for the class.

This year, the class is focusing on Superhero Capes. Each student is assigned to work with a local group of elementary school students and help them develop the idea of what their individual super powers are. Then, capes are made with a logo specifically for that child.

Upcoming Arts & Entertainment events Dirt Poets: conceptual Clay in Morlan Gallery.

BYTE Gallery digital poetry collection.

Update: CANCELLED: Poet Claudia Rankine’s Kenan Lecture Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin.

Global Video Game Concert with Tommy Tallarico at EKU on March 10.

Students wear capes representing the superpowers of the children they are working with in class

Theater program receives generous $204,769 gift Natassja Woodrum nwoodrum18@transy.edu

Transylvania’s theater department recently received a generous gift from the Dixon family in memory of their mother, Marion. The donation of $204,769 has been named the Dixon/White Theater Fund – for professors Michael Dixon and Sullivan White – and will benefit the theater department as well as the university and the surrounding community in a number of ways.One of the most significant impacts of Dixon/White Fund on the community is Transy’s new promise to make all performances free in 2016 – 2019.

“The Theater students are especially interested in sharing their performances with people in the community, and we feel the admission fee creates a small barrier to reaching that goal…. Increasing attendance contributes to Transy’s goal of greater integration with the Lexington community,”

a statement released by the faculty of the Theater Program stated.

Theater Program faculty have also decided to jump on the Project One bandwagon. They believe diversity is important not only on campus but on stage as well. With that in mind, some of the fund has been set aside in order to bring speakers on diversity issues in theater to campus each year. There is a large and fruitful history of diversity in American theater and beyond and faculty claim “Transy students deserve to learn as much as possible” about that history and the trends that have been created as a result.

While Transylvania has a host of talented, educated, creative, innovative, and fantastic theater faculty, they themselves agree that they alone cannot teach students everything there is to know about theater. Instead, they believe that it is “vital to augment the student’s education, with specialized workshops taught by visiting

artists.” A few workshops that students have been able to take advantage of in the past include “Acting Shakespearean Text”, “Neutral Mask”, “Stage Combat”, “Storytelling” and “Meisner Training”. These workshops allow students to work with experts in very specific fields of theater right here on Transy’s campus.

In addition, Transylvania’s Theater Program now has the budget to bring in guest designers and artists to help with set design, choreography, light, etc.

The list goes on and on.

The money from the fund “specifically supplements the basic production budgets by funding artists and materials that would otherwise not be affordable.

This will expand the kinds of plays Transy students can perform, the ways those plays can be produced, and the number of artists that students can learn from in the production process,” the Theater Program stated.

Students, however, are not the only ones with

growing educations. Faculty members often find it best to continue their own education as the world of theater continues to grow. In order to keep up with the ever evolving art form, professors find themselves looking to expand their skills and update their ideas. This fund will also help support those faculty members wanting to further their educations by helping pay tuition and other expenses.

“The faculty of the Theater Program believes that students need to encounter as many approaches to creating live theater as possible in order to stimulate their creativity, broaden their understanding of the possibilities of the art form, and sharpen their critical thinking,” the released statement said. The Dixon/White Fund will help in this endeavor in multiple ways, the first of which is a new student travel grant.

“Grants changed my life,” said Michael Dixon when asked what he was most excited to see. In addition,

the money will be able to fund sending seniors to the Southeast Theatre Conference and students to the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Another way in which the fund will help provide for students is covering admission prices for students participating in the new Play Report Project. This program will allow students to learn how to professionally write play reports, an activity they could take on as an occupation in the future.

Finally, the biggest project the fund will contribute towards is the Professional Theater Residency. For five years now, Transy’s Theater department has worked hard to allow students to witness and work alongside professional theater artists whether it be through workshops, professional productions on campus, or even students performing alongside professional actors. “Professional theater residency is just one of

many projects this gift allows us to pursue, and it adds Transylvania to a prestigious group of colleges with professional companies on campus, including Yale, Harvard and Vassar,” Theater Program Director and professor Sullivan White stated. These opportunities play big roles in those lucky students’ educations. As a way of building on these opportunities, the theater faculty has proposed a partnership with Project SEE – a professional theater company founded by Transylvania’s own Sullivan Canaday White as well as Evan Bergman and Ellie Clark. “This pilot program,” the Theater faculty said, “will benefit both students and faculty by providing students more opportunities to create work with, be mentored by, and attend workshops taught by theater professionals.”

With all of these goals in mind, the next few years look promising for Transylvania’s Theater Department.

Sports

Page 6

Feburary 25, 2016

TRANSYLVANIA ATHLETICS

Swimming, Track end seasons with all-around dominant performances

A Transylvania University swimmer breaks the surface of the pool as he comes up to start his form in one of the butterfly events this past meet at the conference championships in Ohio.

Lance Antoine alantoine19@transy.edu

As the swim season and indoor track season came to an end, both teams went out with a bang. After winning the HCAC athlete of the week award, Jordin Fender won the HCAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year award, as did two time HCAC athlete of the week award winner, Cole Green.

The Pioneers kicked off the day at Defiance with a pair of lucky number sevens: places, that is. The men’s and women’s distance team both placed seventh, which would aid in points for the high scoring day for Transy.

The men’s team consisted of Kyle Sprague, Evan Reister,

Brian Mudrak and Nick Johnston. They set a school record with a final time of 11:28.6.

The women’s team was fielded by Claire Mielcarek, Cora Kerber, Savannah Hemmer and Rebecca Facktor. In the 4x200 m relays, Cole Green, Nick Johnston, Giovanni Hernandez and Jake Erpenbeck cruised to a sixth-place finish for Transylvania. The women’s 4x200 m relay team set a new school record thanks to Jordin Fender, Savannah Hemmer, Erin Marek and Shelby Auxier. Their final time was a blazing 1:46.07.

In the 60 m hurdles Jordin Fender took the gold, followed by Olivia Kee who

would take the bronze. The two would also run the 60 m dash where Fender related as champion and Kee would place eighth. Fender would beat her own record and the HCAC record when she finished with a 26.15 final.

Erin Marek would snag two fourth place finishes as well for the Pioneers and even managed to break a personal record in the 200 m dash.

Cole Green would take first and smash records in the 60 m and 200 m dashes as well. The track team would close the day with the women’s 4x400 m dash team managed to take a close second place behind the dominant Rose-Hulman team. The field team would manage to place third,

along with two eighth place finished in their various events.

The track and field team will begin their outdoor season over spring break when they travel to South Carolina. The swim team competed in a three day meet in Akron for the OAC Championships . The meet ended with a bang where Julia Johnson took first place in the 200 butterfly event.

The Pioneers would also start strong as Morgan Cyrus took the bronze in the 200 individual medley.

Cyrus, Johnson, Elizabeth Davis and Kiali Jelinek snatched up a fourth place time of 4:04.01 in the 400 medley relay. The team would also later go on

to place fourth in the 200 medley relay. Sam Mullen, Edward Freeman, Fernando Zarate and Cameron Brewer would also find their way to a fourth place finish in the 200 medley. Johnson would go on to continue her strong streak when she placed second in the 100 butterfly event with her 57.73 finish.

On the flip side, the men’s 100 butterfly would award seventh place to Transylvania’s Sam Mullen.

Cyrus also continued her domination for the women when she swam at a 1:06.04 pace to claim second place in the women’s 100 breaststroke. On the final day Johnson and Cyrus would once again both place second in the 200 backstroke

and breaststroke events with times of 2:05.94 and 2:24.03.

That time would be enough for Johnson to beat her own personal record.

As far as diving, Olivia Brazelton would place sixth in the 1 meter dive, also breaking a personal record by recording a score of 284.70 with a total of 11 dives. The Pioneers also earned a new head coach, as current interim head coach Keaton Koukis was promoted to permanent head coach. The men’s team would end up with a sixthplace overall finish and the women would end up one higher at fifth place.

tough shots she has made at key times in big games.”

Smith was not the only one to come up big in the Defiance game as head coach Juli Fulks earned her 200 career win. Again, Brian Lane had nothing but respect and good things to say about coach Fulks.

“Juli is a tremendous

coach that certainly has one of the best reputations in NCAA women’s basketball,” he said. “She expects a lot out of her girls and they deliver because they know how much she cares about them. She is constantly trying to get better as a coach and I think that is one of the main reasons she is well

on her way to the next 200 wins.”

Smith has played for Coach Fulks for four years and had this to say about her coach’s big win.

“It’s a huge accomplishment and it says a lot about how hard she works as a coach,” said Smith. “I was very proud to share such

a memorable day at Defiance with her.”

It looks like the success the team found at Defiance followed them through the season, out of the last three games the Pioneers have only lost one, which was a close road game at Franklin where they lost by single digits. Back to the playoff

game, even though Transy pulled off the win, Mt. St. Joseph would not go down easily. At one point the Pioneers were up by more than 20 before half. The final score of the game was 74-87.

The Pioneers will take on the number-one seed Bluffton on Friday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. on the road.

Lance Antoine alantoine@transy.edu

The Transylvania women’s basketball team will live to see another game after an electric win over Mt. St. Joseph this past Tuesday. In front of a packed house, the Pioneers put on an exciting performance fueled by three-pointers and rebounds galore.

Shawn Kolani led the team with 20 points and 6 assists. Katelyn Smith was only a point behind Kolani and those 19 points put her career scoring at 1,976 points. Earlier, Smith broke the record for career points in the game against Defiance back on February 13.

“It’s a huge honor to become the all-time leading scorer,” said Smith. “I’m extremely grateful for all of the support that I’ve received from everyone since last Saturday. My teammates and coaches have played a huge role in this accomplishment and I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am for them and all of the hard work they put in every day.”

Men’s head coach Brian Lane also had nothing but praise for Smith’s milestone.

“Katelyn has been an absolute joy to watch over the years,” he said. “She has a tremendous work ethic and it is amazing how many

TRANSYLVANIA ATHLETICS

Women’s basketball starts playoff run

Four members of the women’s basketball team, including all-time leading scorer Katelyn Smith, pose on top of the scoring table before their game.