1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Commencement

Poet Nikky Finney to receive honorary degree from Transylvania University

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will award the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters to poet Nikky Finney at the May 25 commencement ceremony on the front steps of historic Old Morrison. Finney is a nationally recognized poet and professor of English and creative writing at the University of Kentucky. She delivered the convocation address to Transylvania students in September 2012. Her latest book of poetry, “Head Off & Split,” won the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry and explores important people and events in African American history. One reviewer said the book confirmed her role as “…one of the most eloquent, urgent, fearless and necessary poets writing in America today….” Two other books of poetry have been award winners—“The World is Round” won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Poetry, and “Rice” won a PEN American Open Books Award. Her other writing includes “On Wings Made of Gauze,” a debut collection of poetry, and “Heartwood,” a collection of short stories. She also edited “The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South,” which has become an essential anthology of contemporary African American writers. Finney was born and raised in South Carolina as the child of activist parents. Her father was a civil rights attorney and her mother was a teacher. Coming of age during the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement and seeing her parents deeply involved in the struggle for justice, she learned early on the power of language. Her

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Actor Steve Zahn to deliver Transylvania University’s commencement address on Saturday, May 25, at 9:30 a.m.

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LEXINGTON Ky.–Actor Steve Zahn will deliver Transylvania University’s commencement address on Saturday, May 25, at 9:30 a.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Zahn had his first big break in the 1994 movie “Reality Bites.” He appeared in several films in the mid-1990s, including Tom Hanks’ “That Thing You Do!” and Nora Ephron’s “You’ve Got Mail.” In 1999, he was offered the starring role in the critically acclaimed film “Happy, Texas,” for which he won an Independent Spirit Award for best supporting male and a Special Dramatic Jury Prize for best comedic performance. Zahn received his strongest critical acclaim for his performance as Drew Barrymore’s husband in “Riding in Cars with Boys.” Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and the BBC stated that the performance was deserving of an Oscar nomination. Some of Zahn’s popular recent movies include “National Security” (2003), “Daddy Day Care” (2003) and “Sahara” (2005). He also gave dramatic performances in “Rescue Dawn” and the television mini-series “Comanche Moon.” Currently, Zahn plays the character of Davis McAlary in HBO’s “Treme.” Zahn attended the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training founded by the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. Read more about Zahn’s Lexington connections here. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120. More commencement information can be found here.

Transylvania graduate earns Al Smith Fellowship for poetry

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Affrilachian poet and 2003 Transylvania University graduate Bianca Spriggs has received a 2012 Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship for excellence and creativity. The fellowship awards are named after retired Kentucky journalist Al Smith, who is a past arts council board chair. The program recognizes and supports Kentucky artists producing high-quality work. Artists can apply for the fellowship just once, and Spriggs was chosen along with eight other literary artists and one composer from a pool of 56 applicants. The award also comes with $7,500 that is unrestricted for any use. Spriggs will use hers to travel and present her poetry and her recent short film Waterbody, which was adapted from one of her poems about a woman discovering a sickly mermaid and nursing her back to health. She will be featured at Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore, an exhibition and festival in Charleston, S.C. in September, and in October she will travel to New York City to read at the Nuyorican Café and The New School. She hopes both trips will further her exposure as a poet. “The fellowship allows me to travel and get a chance to hit a couple new places,” Spriggs said. “I can show my work, and I can represent Kentucky around the country.” Spriggs graduated from Transylvania with a history degree and studio art minor, and she earned an M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky, where she is

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Affrilachian poet Bianca Spriggs gives Transylvania graduates address to remember

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Poet Bianca Spriggs ’03 speaks to the Class of 2012. LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University President R. Owen Williams conferred the Bachelor of Arts degree to 241 students Saturday in a commencement ceremony on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Bianca Spriggs, a renowned Affrilachian poet and 2003 Transylvania graduate, gave a unique commencement address in front of hundreds of spectators, presenting a poetry reading accompanied by graduating senior Caleb Ritchie on keyboard. Spriggs put out a call to seniors to submit responses to questions about their four years at Transylvania—what they would take with them to their careers and how they’ve grown as people. She used some of those responses in her presentation. Spriggs, a history major and studio art minor at Transylvania, is in the doctoral program for creative writing at the University of Kentucky and has had an active career including writing, teaching, performance art and filmmaking. She earned a master’s of arts in English composition/creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She was named one of the Top 30 Performance Poets by TheRoot.com, a daily online magazine providing commentary on the news from black perspectives. She is recognized as a Cave Canem Fellow from the Brooklyn-based national writer’s center that focuses on African American poets and writers, and she is the creator of The Swallowtail Project, a traveling creative writing workshop designed for incarcerated women throughout Kentucky. Spriggs talked to the students about measuring time not in minutes

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Award-winning poet Bianca Spriggs to deliver Transylvania University commencement address on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m.

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Affrilachian poet, multidisciplinary artist and Cave Canem Fellow Bianca Spriggs will deliver the commencement address at Transylvania University on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Spriggs, a 2003 graduate of Transylvania, was named as one of the Top 30 Performance Poets by TheRoot.com, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a recipient of multiple Artist Enrichment Grants and an Art Meets Activism Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In partnership with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, she is the creator of “The Swallowtale Project,” a creative writing workshop dedicated to the women inmates at the Federal Prison Camp, and the creator and artistic director of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. She has taught poetry and creative writing classes at Lexington’s Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and is currently in the doctoral program for creative writing at the University of Kentucky. She was visiting writer and instructor in Foundations of the Liberal Arts at Transylvania from 2008-09. She is the writer, producer, editor and director of the film “Waterbody” and the author of poetry books “Kaffir Lily” and “How Swallowtails Become Dragons.” Her work may also be found in the anthologies “New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings” and “America! What’s My Name?,” and in the journals “Union Station Magazine,” “Tidal Basin Review,” “Muzzle,” “Caduceus,” “Alehouse,” “Reverie,” and  Appalachian Heritage Magazine, among others. Spriggs currently serves on

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