Cowgill elected chair of Transylvania Board of Trustees The Transylvania Board of Trustees in May elected Norwood “Buddy” Cowgill ’65 as chair. Cowgill, who replaces William T. Young Jr., has been a member of the board for the past three decades. He and his wife, Judith King Cowgill ’64, have been dedicated supporters of Transylvania. Their generosity has included providing a lead gift for construction of the Cowgill Center for Business, Economics, and Education. They also were major supporters of the Clive M. Beck Athletic and Recreation Center, built in 2002, and they helped endow various scholarships and assisted with other projects like Alumni Plaza, the Shearer Art Building and Bassett Hall basement for Greek chapter rooms. Additionally, Buddy Cowgill in the 1990s chaired the alumni phase of the $25 million Campaign for Transylvania, which exceeded its goal. In appreciation of his support, the university awarded him the Morrison Medallion in 1996 and Irvin E. Lunger Award in 2012. Cowgill began his career in real estate and founded Studio Plus Hotels, which merged with Extended Stay America. He also launched Office Suites PLUS, a national chain of high-tech, temporary office centers, and he is one of the largest apartment owners and managers in Lexington. He has served on many for-profit and nonprofit boards, including Shaker Village, Crestwood Christian Church and the UK SandersBrown Center on Aging. Transylvanians in the Cowgill family include three daughters, two sons-in-law, four grandchildren, a granddaughter-in-law and a grandson-in-law.
Professor’s research on insects in Audubon prints lands on cover of American Entomologist Biology professor James Wagner landed a cover article in the Winter 2019 issue of American Entomologist for his research into bugs that appear in John James Audubon’s “Birds of America.” In Wagner’s “The Bugs of America” article, he explores the relationships between the insects in the prints and their environs (some are out of place). To assist, Transylvania grad Nikki Fox ’19 did some volunteer photography work over a summer. Wagner’s project, which revealed 76 different terrestrial arthropods in the original prints, was supported by grants from Transylvania’s David and Betty Jones Fund for Faculty Development and the Kenan Fund for Faculty and Student Enrichment.
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Transylvania faculty receive federal funds to help bolster Kentucky manufacturing technology Transylvania professors Stephen Johnson and Kyle Schnitzenbaumer will receive part of a $24 million National Science Foundation grant to help boost Kentucky’s research and manufacturing capabilities. Over five years, they are expected to receive a total of around $200,000 for faculty and student physics research and cuttingedge chemistry lab equipment. The research will complement studies of next-generation materials by University of Kentucky scientists. UK also received a portion of the NSF grant, which is awarded by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. These awards go to states that have been historically underrepresented by NSF funding. The recent grant pays for an overall, collaborative project called the Kentucky Advanced Partnership for Enhanced Robotics and Structures.