Alumni Outcomes

Research with Biology Professor Becky Fox If you live in Lexington, you may have noticed a chameleon-haired professor leading gaggles of bird-watching students around. But you may not be aware of the scope of her research on house sparrows or the level of student involvement in the process. “I like birds,” Professor Becky Fox admits with a smile. A first-generation college grad who grew up in a household with backyard birdwatchers and pet parrots, she finished her undergraduate degree uncertain about continuing in molecular biology. She let her love of birds guide her to the University of California, Davis, and a master’s in avian sciences. Taking classes in animal behavior and behavioral ecology, she became fascinated by some of the ecological questions and decided to stay for a Ph.D. Why are individuals different? That’s the fundamental question. Dr. Fox is interested in individual personality in animals. Through a collaboration with the University of Kentucky’s Dave Westneat (whose son Michael Westneat ’11 attended Transy), and a grant they received from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Fox has been able to take her research on house sparrows from the indoor lab into the natural environment at Maine Chance Farm, UK’s research farm. The grant also pays her students to assist in gathering a large data set from 100-200 nest boxes. “One of the things we’re asking in our research on house sparrows is the same question you might ask about people,” Dr. Fox

Read “Taking Wing”

Josh Buckman ’16 Josh Buckman ’16, a native of Owensboro, Ky., is graduating into a full-time job as an analyst at MJX Asset Management in New York City—his dream job. It’s a direct result of his summer internship at the company—what Buckman calls “one of the best experiences of my life.”  The internship, made possible through Transy’s alumni network and the 100 Doors to Success mentoring program, exposed him to an unexpected side of finance and to a level of professionalism and an approach to living that redefined how he measures success. “If I hadn’t come to Transy, I would not have interned at this awesome firm. Transy was my platform for doing that,” Buckman says. The economics and business administration double major says he owes his new career to Transylvania’s liberal arts education and the mentoring he received through 100 Doors to Success. “Anyone can run some numbers,” he explains, “but if you can’t read and write critically, you’re not going to excel. Being able to effectively comprehend your work and collaborate with others is just as important,” he adds. “The liberal arts refined my ability to communicate across many media and shaped my thoughts to be more three-dimensional.” Although Buckman didn’t seek out a mentor, the opportunity came to him when one of his professors, who knows him well, matched his specific interests in finance to an alumnus based in Houston. The mentoring relationship led to new insights, additional networking

Read “Earning His ‘Dream Job’”

Michael Hoffman ’65 Shortly after arriving at Bentley University in 1974, professor W. Michael Hoffman ’65 applied for a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to start a few business ethics courses. The agency’s review committee, however, dismissed the request with comments that went something like: “Never heard of business ethics,” and “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Not to be deterred, Hoffman met with the NEH director of programs, who seemed embarrassed by his agency’s offhanded response to his application. The professor resubmitted, got the grant and not only brought business ethics to Bentley but in a way sparked the business ethics movement itself. Hoffman’s pioneering effort to bring together the unlikely domains of Plato and John D. Rockefeller has its roots in his philosophy major at Transylvania. A liberal arts education, after all, encourages students to think about issues beyond their own field of study. However, that big connection between ethics and business took a while to grow. Hoffman, who grew up in Paris, Ky., went on to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst after graduating from Transy. While he had received a scholarship to Vanderbilt, he felt drawn to the new cultural experiences the Northeast had to offer. After graduate school, Hoffman set off to his first professorship at Hiram College in Ohio, a seemingly perfect locale for a philosopher. “I thought it was very idyllic in the middle of the woods at a very small college,” he said. “I thought, that sounds very Thoreauvian.” Or, as it turned out, isolated. It was during these years—the early ’70s—when philosophers were venturing beyond the

Read “The Ethical Dimension”

Clarke Waldrop ’14 Clarke Waldrop, who graduated with a theater degree from Transylvania University in May, is proving that premise wrong in her career with the National Geographic Channel in Washington D.C. Clarke is associate producer of ad sales creative, creating on-air promos for the channel’s programming and advertisers. And she credits her Transylvania education for helping her land her first job in TV. “Transylvania opened up doors for me,” she says. “It didn’t matter that I didn’t have these classes that students at other schools may have taken—Transylvania taught me the skills that I could apply to any job. It gave me the writing skills to be able to write these scripts, and I’m learning very quickly, which I think Transylvania taught me, as well.” Clarke’s position has her integrating promotions for the shows that air on the National Geographic Channel and NatGeo Wild with specific advertisers. So she might create a spot highlighting the latest blockbuster movie and the NatGeo show “Alaska State Troopers” by figuring out how to meld the two into one 10-second piece. “I like the creativity of that,” she says. “It’s challenging me because I not only have the freedom to write creatively about the shows, but I’m challenged to put the brand in, as well. I love being able to work with editors and designers and production houses.” “Transylvania taught me the skills that I could apply to any job. It gave me

Read “A Network of Possibilities”