1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

R. Owen Williams

Transylvania University’s new John Marshall Harlan Lecture Series presents legal and constitutional historian William Wiecek, September 26, at 7:30 p.m.; free and open to the public

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LEXINGTON, KY.—Transylvania University launches a new lecture series, the John Marshall Harlan Series, with a talk by legal and constitutional historian William Wiecek on Monday, September 26th, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. The lecture, “John Marshall Harlan, Race, and the United States Supreme Court,” is free and open to the public. “We created this lecture series to bring to campus highly esteemed legal figures of national or international prominence who have distinguished themselves in constitutional law or history,” said Transylvania President R. Owen Williams. “We are delighted to have William Wiecek as our first speaker.” Wiecek is currently serving as the Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Kentucky Law School. He is the author of numerous books. His most recent, “The Birth of the Modern Constitution: The United States Supreme Court, 1941–1953” (volume 12 of the Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States), won the John Phillip Reid Prize awarded by the American Society for Legal History for the best book in legal history published in 2006. Harlan, an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877-1911, was a Kentucky lawyer and politician and an 1852 graduate of Transylvania’s law department. An early champion of civil rights, he is most notable as the lone dissenter in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which, respectively, struck down as unconstitutional federal anti-discrimination legislation and

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Transylvania moves up seven places in U.S. News & World Report ranking

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University moved up seven places—from 88 to 81—in the latest U.S. News & World Report college rankings. U.S. News ranked 252 national liberal arts colleges and universities in statistical measures such as student graduation and retention rates, financial resources, commitment to instruction, class size, faculty pay, student selectivity and alumni giving, as well as a subjective measure of academic reputation. “We take the U.S. News rankings seriously; however, we don’t live and die by them,” said Transylvania President R. Owen Williams. “We do know that many high school students and their families look at college rankings when selecting a college. We think that U.S. News uses very reasonable metrics, and most of the ranking is based on objective measures.” Transylvania made gains in its graduation rate performance, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources and student selectivity. Transylvania, founded in 1780, is the nation’s sixteenth oldest institution of higher learning and is consistently ranked in national publications as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

Transylvania University announces new interreligious program for campus ministry; search begins for associate dean

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—President R. Owen Williams announced today a 21st-century focused interreligious program for Transylvania University’s campus ministry.   “In the spirit of our pioneering history, we envision a new model of campus ministry,” said Williams. “We will continue to affirm our Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) heritage of religious and intellectual diversity while preparing students to live and lead in a global world.” Transylvania recently completed a 10-year theological project on exploration of vocation funded by a Lilly Endowment, Inc., grant. During that time, the Reverend Dave Carr, a 1981 graduate of Transylvania, served as campus minister and was an integral leader of the Lilly grant program. “The transformations that took place as a consequence of the Lilly program were an informative time in Transylvania’s history, and Dave’s role was significant,” said Williams. “We are extremely grateful to him for his decade of service to our students and alumni.” Transylvania is now shifting toward an interfaith dialogue and seeks new leadership to shepherd diverse initiatives.   “We want all of our students to know and experience the history and practices of other religious traditions and interact with people of differing faith communities so they can be informed and proactive leaders living in our pluralistic religious environment,” said Michael Vetter, vice president and dean of students. The Reverend Nancy Jo Kemper, a 1964 graduate of Transylvania, will serve as interim associate dean of interreligious life for the 2011-12 academic year. She

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Transylvania University hires director of campus diversity and inclusion to help expand its commitment to diversity

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Eduardo Nino-Moreno has been named director of campus diversity and inclusion at Transylvania University. The new position was created to help expand Transylvania’s commitment to diversity, and Nino-Moreno will report directly to President R. Owen Williams, who has made diversity a priority for Transylvania’s campus. “We are very excited to add Eduardo to our team at Transylvania,” Williams said. “A liberal arts community is one that tackles issues from a variety of angles and viewpoints, and the more diverse campus we will become under his leadership will help our students become the global thinkers they strive to be.” Nino-Moreno comes to Transylvania with more than 30 years of experience in international education, recruitment and fundraising. He spent over two decades with the United Nations stationed throughout Central and South America, Asia and Africa planning human development programs, leading diverse professional teams and managing U.N. resources. He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. from Cornell University. As director, Nino-Moreno will develop and implement a variety of positive, proactive initiatives that support an integrated approach to diversity and inclusivity in all aspects of university life, including a strategic plan for diversity. In addition to increasing the number of students from underrepresented demographics, he will work to augment programs and events on campus that demonstrate the importance of diversity in education, and he  will help Transylvania connect with the Lexington community to promote diversity. He will work closely with

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Present and former House Speakers honor Henry Clay with discussion on history, role of Speaker of the House

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined with former Speaker and current House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Speaker, Republican Dennis Hastert from Illinois, in a moderated discussion on the history and nature of the Speaker position that attracted a capacity audience to Transylvania University’s Haggin Auditorium Friday, June 24. The forum, titled “The Role of the Speaker of the House: A Tribute to Henry Clay,” was the culminating event in Lexington’s first Henry Clay Week and was an observance of the 200th anniversary of Clay becoming the first Speaker of the House in 1811. Historians have said it was Clay, Kentucky’s leading politician in the early 1800s, who made the Speakership the powerful position it is today. Known as the “Great Compromiser,” Clay is remembered for his skill at reconciliation, peacemaking and beneficial compromise. In his introductory remarks to the evening, Robert Clay, co-chair of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship, pointed out the close relationship that Transylvania enjoyed with Clay in its formative years. Clay joined the university’s seminal law department as a professor in 1805 and was elected a trustee in 1807. Although Clay left Kentucky to become nationally prominent as a statesman, he maintained a home in Lexington at beautiful Ashland and always kept Transylvania in his thoughts, remaining a trustee and friend of the university until his death in 1852.  “Henry Clay was committed to education,”

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