Charles L. Shearer

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 24, 2009—President Charles L. Shearer today announced his retirement to the Transylvania University Board of Trustees at their annual fall meeting. Upon his retirement, effective June 30, 2010, after 27 years in office, he will be the longest-serving president in Transylvania’s 230-year history. Board chair William T. Young Jr. reluctantly accepted Shearer’s resignation and said that a committee will be appointed immediately to oversee a national search for his successor. He also spoke on behalf of the board in tribute to Shearer’s many years of dedicated service to the university. “During Charles Shearer’s tenure, Transylvania has been transformed,” Young said. “When he became president in 1983, the university had a enrollment of fewer than 700 students, a minimal endowment, and an aging physical plant. Today, Transylvania’s enrollment is at our comfortable capacity of about 1,100, the endowment stands at $115 million, the campus has been essentially rebuilt, and the university is ranked among the leading liberal arts colleges in the nation. This transformation has been driven by Charles’s leadership, attention to detail, dedication, and incredible enthusiasm.” Young noted that Shearer’s 27-year tenure is remarkable in comparison with other college and university presidents across the country, whose average tenure is 8.5 years in office, according to the American Council on Education. He also said that Shearer has graciously agreed to stay on as president beyond June 30, if necessary, until the right candidate is identified and appointed. He

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s Thomson Hall is the first residence hall in Kentucky to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) prestigious ENERGY STAR certification for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection. This signifies that the building’s energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of facilities nationwide. “Transylvania is very pleased to receive this recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said President Charles L. Shearer. “This achievement demonstrates our commitment to environmental stewardship while also lowering our energy costs. It is an important component of the university’s Crimson Goes Green sustainability effort.” Thomson Hall opened in the fall of 2008 and is named in honor of Joe Thomson and his wife JoAnn. Mr. Thomson is a 1966 graduate of Transylvania and a member of the Board of Trustees. The three-story, 28,000-square-foot dorm provides housing for 61 students in 31 suite-style units. Among its sustainable features is geothermal heating and air conditioning with a heat recovery wheel that captures energy from outgoing exhaust and transfers it to incoming outside air. Thomson Hall’s lighting system performs 20 percent better than the energy code requirement and includes motion sensors in the hallways and laundry room. The building’s insulating values exceed state code requirements by 28 percent, its carpet has 15 percent recycled fiber, showers are equipped with low-flow heads and blacktop in the parking area is made of 50 percent recycled material. “Improving the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings is critical to

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The outstanding teaching of Transylvania University computer science professor Kenny Moorman and history professor Melissa McEuen has been recognized with a Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching. Moorman and McEuen were chosen by a committee of distinguished professors from some of the nation’s foremost liberal arts colleges and universities. Selection is based on classroom visits, essays submitted by candidates and student evaluations. “We place a high priority on teaching excellence at Transylvania, and that fact is underscored by our Bingham Awards for Excellence in Teaching,” said Transylvania President Charles L. Shearer. Recipients of Transylvania’s highest teaching honor receive annual salary supplements for five years that can be renewed for up to 20 years based on continued superior teaching. Moorman Moorman, a 1991 Transylvania graduate, began teaching at Transylvania in 1997 after teaching at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned a Ph.D. in computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence. His research interests include computer modeling of the human auditory system and small scale swarm robotics. He said his primary goal as a teacher is to support the liberal arts, which involves teaching students how to be critical thinkers through a multidisciplinary approach. “Computer science has always benefited from problem-based learning that our field naturally supports,” he said. “The true benefit of projects comes from the failures encountered along the way to the eventual successes. I tell my students there are usually hundreds of right ways to

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