Transylvania accounting students provide free income tax assistance
Transy has offered this free program to the Lexington community for more than 30 years.
Campus Updates
Study abroad, campus speakers give Transylvania students in-depth knowledge of Chinese language, culture
Along with today’s traditional Chinese New Year celebrations, Transylvania University students have cause to celebrate their school’s connections to China. Through study abroad opportunities and campus events, they are able to go beyond book learning to get real-world experience of Chinese language and culture. For instance, a Chinese New Year event on Friday will feature a screening of the movie “Raise the Red Lantern” and an information session on scholarships for studying in China. These scholarship opportunities include funding to attend summer school at Shanghai University. Another is the prestigious and competitive Critical Language Scholarship, a U.S. Department of State program that covers all expenses for study in China. A Transylvania student won a CLS scholarship for China in 2016—and another is currently a semifinalist for the award. By traveling to China, these students learn things they can’t glean from a textbook. “They really need to see with their own eyes what’s happening in China and how the economy and culture are working and changing day by day,” said Qian Gao, associate professor of Chinese language and culture. “Ever year there is something new.” In addition to study abroad, Transy students also benefit from speakers who visit campus to discuss Chinese culture. Earlier this school year, Morton Holbrook III, a longtime foreign service officer and former U.S. consul general in China, gave students a personal account of his 32 years as a diplomat, and he outlined the changing contours of
Transylvania names interim Academic Affairs VP and Dean of the University
Transylvania President Seamus Carey announced that Professor of Political Science Michael Cairo has accepted the position of interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the University.
Longtime Transy food service worker receives inaugural award
Patricia Walker, who has helped feed the Transy community for more than four decades, received the university’s first-ever Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Community Service.
Transylvania expands Rafskeller to accommodate Campus Center construction
Transylvania University has expanded its Rafskeller Grill area to accommodate campus dining needs during the construction of a new, $29.6 million Campus Center. The renovated dining space, which opened this week as students returned for the beginning of winter term, provides more seating than the previous facility in Forrer Hall. The 60-year-old residence hall will make way for the new Campus Center. When this new building opens in the fall of 2020, it will include Transy’s main dining facility—the Great Hall—which will seat up to 450 and remain open 24/7 as a place for students to gather. It also will feature a cafe and outdoor terrace seating. Until then, the campus community will use the expanded Rafskeller area. (The name is a nod to an eccentric professor, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, and a play on a German word for a type of basement eatery: Ratskeller.) Seating in this space, located in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center, includes rooms with themes that students chose—including Lexington Culture, Fourth Street Stuff and the Rafeteria. To further accommodate the change in campus dining, Jazzman’s Cafe will add more grab-and-go options; two pop-up restaurants will be set up each week at various locations around campus; and, for dining outside on nice days, outdoor seating will remain in Alumni Plaza over winter.