1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Commencement

Shearer to deliver Transylvania commencement address

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Charles L. Shearer, who recently announced his retirement from the presidency of Transylvania University after a record-setting 27-year tenure, will deliver the commencement address to the class of 2010 on the steps of Old Morrison on Saturday, May 29. Shearer, who will step down on June 30, is the longest-serving president at Kentucky’s oldest college, founded in 1780. During his tenure, the university has prospered in every measurable area, highlighted by a growth in enrollment from 655 to approximately 1,100, an increase in endowment from $32.8 million to more than $100 million, and the completion of nine new buildings, two athletics fields and four major renovation projects. Faculty and student quality have been enhanced under Shearer’s leadership through the creation of the Bingham Awards for Excellence in Teaching and expansion of the William T. Young Scholarship Program for entering first-year students. Shearer came to Transylvania in 1979 as vice president for finance and was named president in 1983 at the age of 40. He was previously director of operations and director of the Liberal Arts Program in Professional Management at Albion College in Michigan. Shearer, a native of Louisville, earned a B.S. in accounting and an M.A. in diplomacy and international commerce from the University of Kentucky. He completed an M.A. and Ph.D., both in economics, at Michigan State University.

Transylvania awards 260 degrees to largest class in its history

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Dr. Shearer, commencement speaker John Carroll, and student speaker Marshall Jolly LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University awarded bachelor of arts degrees to 260 seniors, the largest graduating class in the 229-year-old school’s history. Transylvania President Charles L. Shearer conferred the diplomas on the steps of historic Old Morrison as a crowd of friends and family, faculty and trustees looked on from the sun-dappled lawn. John Carroll, former editor of the Los Angeles Times, the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Baltimore Sun, delivered the commencement address. He spoke of the challenges awaiting the graduates as they searched for a meaningful and rewarding career, and of a hope that they would always remember one another and their college days at Transylvania. “May this class of 2009 go into the larger world and succeed by finding the right kind of work and the right people to work with,” Carroll said. “And may this class also remain intact, a group that treasures the once-in-a-lifetime shared journey that ends today. Go your separate ways, and may your paths converge again someday.” Carroll is a veteran of more than four decades of editorial and executive experience at five metropolitan daily newspapers. He directed coverage that won Pulitzer Prizes for the Los Angeles, Lexington and Baltimore papers, as well as the Philadelphia Inquirer. A nationally recognized leader in journalism, Carroll is a past member and past chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He was named Editor of the Year by

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Nationally recognized journalist John S. Carroll to deliver Transylvania University commencement address on Saturday, May 23, at 10 a.m.

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John Carroll LEXINGTON, Ky.—Veteran journalist John S. Carroll will deliver the commencement address at Transylvania University on Saturday, May 23, at 10 a.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison, where 260 seniors will be awarded the Bachelor of Arts degree. Carroll, a member of the Transylvania Board of Trustees, is a nationally recognized leader in the field of journalism. He is a veteran of more than four decades of editorial and executive experience at five metropolitan daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Lexington Herald-Leader. He directed coverage that won numerous Pulitzer Prizes for the Los Angeles and Lexington papers, as well as the Baltimore Sun and Philadelphia Inquirer. During his tenure in Lexington, he spearheaded an investigative series of reports titled Cheating Our Children. The series exposed flaws in Kentucky’s public education system, which helped led to the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. He was a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University, a Knight Visiting Lecturer at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Visiting Journalist Fellow at Queen Elizabeth House in Oxford University. Continuing the tradition of a graduating senior speaking at commencement on behalf of the students, Marshall Allen Jolly, an American Studies major and Communications minor from Paris, Ky., has been selected to represent the Class of 2009. Carroll will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters

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Transylvania’s president of 25 years, Dr. Charles L. Shearer, profiled in Lexington Herald-Leader

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The Lexington Herald-Leader featured Transylvania University president Charles L. Shearer on the same day as the University’s Commencement. The article by reporter Art Jester profiled Shearer and his 25 years as president: In the nearly 25 years that Charles L. Shearer has been president of Transylvania University, the 228-year-old liberal arts college has grown stronger and better in every respect, largely due to him. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime president,” said William T. Young Jr., chairman of Transylvania’s board of trustees. “I don’t think most people realize Transylvania has been transformed under his leadership.” By any measurement — students, faculty, alumni, scholarships, geographical diversity, facilities or fund-raising — Transylvania is far different than it was in the troubled hour when Shearer took office on July 8, 1983. Transylvania had been through three presidents in three years. Shearer immediately restored stability and confidence, as well as ambition. Continue reading the full article

Transylvania awards 259 degrees to largest class in its history

Posted on by Office of Marketing and Communications

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University awarded bachelor of arts degrees to 259 seniors, the largest graduating class in the 228-year-old school’s history. Transylvania President Charles L. Shearer conferred the diplomas on the steps of historic Old Morrison before a sun-drenched crowd of friends and family, faculty and trustees seated on the lawn. John Churchill, secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, gave the commencement address. He spoke on the role that education in the liberal arts and sciences plays in benefitting both the individual and society as a whole. “Engagement with the liberal arts and sciences fosters our abilities to use knowledge to make important decisions well,” Churchill said. “It also gives us responsibilities to make the world a better place.” He urged the graduates to look on their learning as a lifelong endeavor. “Never suppose that you have garnered enough knowledge, become skillful enough at deliberative thinking, or seen deeply enough into the meaning of things. There is no ‘enough.’” As secretary, Churchill is the chief executive officer and head of the national office of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honorary society. He received his undergraduate education and induction into Phi Beta Kappa at Rhodes College, studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned the Ph.D. from Yale University. Graduating senior Lucie Hartmann, a political science and psychology double major from Asheville, N.C., used the whimsical poetic style of a Dr. Seuss tale to compare the education

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