Transylvania University recently celebrated current and retired professors who published books during the past year on subjects including history, Spanish poetry and ethics.
The colleagues of professors Jeremy Paden and Peter Fosl and professor emeritus Veronica Dean-Thacker gathered in the library Friday for presentations of their works. This was the school’s third annual recognition of faculty publications.
“In holding this event, we are recognizing the magnitude of this scholarly accomplishment,” Dean Rebecca Thomas said of having a book published. “It’s an ambitious and challenging endeavor that tests the author’s persistence as well as their intellectual power.”
A former student of Dean-Thacker’s, Rachel Wilson ’07, gave a brief talk at the book party on the recently retired Spanish professor’s translation of “Franco’s Mass Graves: Breaking the Silence in Spain” by journalist Emilio Silva Barrera.
Wilson, Transylvania’s director of global and intercultural engagement, recalled learning as a student about the Spanish Civil War from Dean-Thacker, who made the topic “come alive.”
The professor co-translated the work with her husband, Shelby, and their son Charlie created the cover art. In the book, the author recounts his search for the body of his grandfather, “a civilian who was murdered by fascist gunmen in the first months of the Spanish Civil War.”
Next, foreign languages professor Priya Ananth discussed two new collections of Spanish poetry by Paden titled “Imágenes del mundo flotante” and “Un poema rápido en vez de un himno” — along with his translation of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s “De las que duelen.”
Limón visited Transylvania in 2022 for a public reading and to talk with students about her writing process and translating poetry. Ananth praised Paden, a Spanish professor, for his ability to capture the essence of Limón’s poetry, including its emotions and style. Poetry translation in itself is a “monumental task.”
Professor Ellen Cox then presented the book by her philosophy colleague: Fosl’s “The Ethics Toolkit: A Compendium of Ethical Concepts and Methods (second edition).”
Cox noted how the new edition offers a greater inclusion of non-Western philosophers. She tied this to the value of opening up to the ideas of others — something reflected in the co-written nature of the book, a collaboration with philosopher Julian Baggini.
“In ‘The Ethics Toolkit,’ the authors provide a wide range of tools to help us in the work of ethics — the work of answering to others,” Cox said.
