Transylvania University

Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 making it the first university in Kentucky and among the oldest in the United States. It offers 36 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Transylvania's name, meaning "across the woods" in Latin, stems from the university's founding in the heavily-forested region of western Virginia known as the Transylvania colony, which became most of Kentucky in 1792.

Transylvania has educated two U.S. vice presidents, two U.S. Supreme Court justices, fifty U.S. senators, 101 U.S. representatives, 36 U.S. governors, and 34 U.S. ambassadors, making it a large producer of U.S. statesmen.

History
Transylvania was the first college west of the Allegheny Mountains. Thomas Jefferson was governor of Virginia when the Virginia Assembly chartered Transylvania Seminary. He later looked to Transylvania as an educational model, writing to a friend in 1820 that "If…we [Virginians] are to go a begging anywhere for education, I would rather it should be to Kentucky than any other state, because she has more flavor of the old cask than any other." Transylvania University was initially sponsored by the Christ Episcopal Church's rector, the Reverend Moore, and later became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. Originally in a log cabin in Boyle County, Kentucky, the school moved to Lexington in 1789. The first site in Lexington was a single building in the historic Gratz Park.

By 1818, a new main building was constructed for students' classes. Later, in 1829, that building burned, and the school was moved to its present location north of Third Street. Old Morrison, the only campus building at the time, was constructed 1830–34, under the supervision of Henry Clay, who both taught law and was a member of Transylvania's Board. After 1818, the university included a medical school, a law school, a divinity school, and a college of arts and sciences.

An institution that aided in the creation of Transylvania University at this time was Bacon College, named after Sir Francis Bacon, which would later be known as Kentucky University. Bacon College existed from 1837–1851, founded by the Christian churches in Kentucky. Bacon College was a new entity separated from Georgetown College, a Baptist supported institution, but Bacon College inevitably closed due to lack of funding. Seven years later, in 1858, Bacon College's charter was amended to establish Kentucky University, and moved to donated land in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Following the American Civil War, Kentucky University was devastated by fire and both it and Transylvania University were in dire financial straits. In 1865, both institutions secured permission to merge. The new institution utilized Transylvania's campus in Lexington while perpetuating the Kentucky University name. The university was reorganized around several new colleges, including the Agricultural and Mechanical College (A&M) of Kentucky, publicly chartered as a department of Kentucky University as a land-grant institution under the Morrill Act. However, due to questions regarding the appropriateness of a federally funded land-grant college controlled by a religious body, the A&M college was spun off in 1878 as an independent, state-run institution. The A&M of Kentucky soon developed into one of the state's flagship public universities, the University of Kentucky. Kentucky University's College of the Bible, which traced its roots to Bacon College's Department of Hebrew Literature, also received its own charter in 1878.

Transylvania's seminary eventually became a separate institution, but remained housed on the Kentucky University campus until 1950, later changing its name to the Lexington Theological Seminary. In 1903, Hamilton College, a Lexington-based women's college founded in 1869, merged into Kentucky University. Due to confusion between Kentucky University and its daughter institution, the University of Kentucky, the institution was renamed "Transylvania University," in 1908. In 1988, Transylvania University experienced an infringement on the institution's trademark when Hallmark Cards began selling Transylvania University T-shirts. The product, developed for the 1988 Halloween season, was intended to be a novelty item purporting to be college wear from the fictional Count Dracula's alma mater. When contacted by the actual Transylvania University, Hallmark apologetically admitted that they were not aware of the Kentucky-based institution and recalled all unsold product immediately. The university is now affiliated with the Disciples of Christ (which was organized after Transylvania).

Transylvania University is the setting for part of the novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. The university was included in Robert Lowell's sonnet The Graduate (Elizabeth). The poem glibly states that "Transylvania's Greek Revival Chapel/ is one of the best Greek Revival things in the South."

Campus
The university is located on a 48 acre campus about 4 blocks from downtown Lexington, Kentucky. It has 24 buildings, 3 athletic fields, 4 dining areas, and a National Historic Landmark. The campus is divided in two by North Broadway, with the east side of Broadway containing the university’s academic buildings, and the west side containing the majority of the residential buildings.

Central campus


Built in 1833 under the supervision of Henry Clay who was serving as Transylvania’s law professor, Old Morrison is the main administration building for the university. The building, designed by pioneer Kentucky architect Gideon Shryock is National Historic Landmark and is featured on the city seal of Lexington. It houses the offices of financial aid, the president, the registrar, communications, accounting, alumni, development, and sustainability. During the Civil War, Old Morrison served as a hospital for Union and Confederate soldiers. Old Morrison was gutted by fire in 1969 but was renovated and reopened in 1971. The building also houses the tomb of Constantine Rafinesque, who was a natural science professor at the university from 1819 to 1826, and Sauveur Francois Bonfils, who taught at the university from 1842–49. A native of France, he was apparently forced to flee due to political discord.

Located adjacent to Old Morrison, the Haupt Humanities building houses the faculties of English, philosophy, history, political science, and classics. Also on the central campus, a state-of-the-art student indoor athletic facility, called the Beck Center, was completed and opened in 2003. The Beck Center facilitates men's and women's athletics and student fitness equipment.

The Mitchell Fine Arts Center is the home of the university’s music program and provides offices and classrooms for the drama and music programs. It contains a large concert hall, a small theater, a recital hall, the Morlan Gallery, the Rafskeller (sic – see "Traditions") dining facility, the music technology classroom, and the Career Development Center. The Morlan Gallery in the center hosts six to seven art exhibitions every year during the academic calendar. It primarily serves as a gallery for exhibiting contemporary art including Appalachian Folk art, Chinese art, contemporary African art, sculptural installations, and performance and video pieces. The gallery offers guided tours and lectures for school groups, civic clubs, and senior citizen organizations.

Library and café
Originally completed in 1952 with a dedication from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the main library building was renovated and had an addition added in 1985, and was re-dedicated by then Vice President George H. W. Bush as the Douglas Gay Jr. and Frances Carrick Thomas Library. The Special Collections of the library houses a manuscript collection with letters, diaries, and documents of notable historical figures associated with the university including Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Robert Peter, John Wesley Hunt, Daniel Drake, and Horace Holley. The rare books section houses a collection of books relating to the history of horses and natural history, as well as a collection of pre-1800 medical books. The books belonging to the Transylvania Medical Department, which closed in 1859, are now kept in special collections.

The Glenn Building was constructed as a multi-purpose building in 2005 and houses a coffee shop, the admissions offices, and expansion space for the library. It was named in honor of James F. Glenn, a Board of Trustees member who donated $1.1 million for its construction. It utilizes an environmentally friendly geothermal heating and air conditioning system and several mature trees near the site were preserved during construction. The bookstore moved down the street in Spring 2012, across from the John R. Hall Athletic Field, in an effort to further expand the campus into the surrounding community. Formerly located in the basement of Henry Clay Hall but moved to the ground floor of Thomson Hall in 2008, the 1780 Café offers students a place to eat after the campus dining center closes for the night.

Residence halls
The newest residential building on campus, Thomson Hall was opened in the fall of 2008. It received Energy Star rating in 2009. It serves as a residential building for upper-class students that meet a certain GPA requirement and features 31 suite style living-units which include study areas, living rooms, kitchenettes, bathrooms, and bedrooms. The building is three stories tall, has 28000 sqft of space, and cost $5.5 million. Thomson Hall was built to be an environmentally friendly building and it exceeds state insulating value requirements by 28 percent. It has geothermal heating and energy, low flow shower heads, a total energy recovery wheel on outside ventilation, fifty percent recycled material in the parking lot surface, and energy saving lighting.

The other residence halls on campus are Poole, Hazelrigg, Clay, Davis, and Forrer. Poole houses upperclass students in large rooms. Hazelrigg offers upperclass students a mandated 24 hour quiet time, single rooms, and a location on the academic side of campus. Clay and Davis halls are connected and are the men's halls on campus. Clay is for first-year men and Davis is for upperclassmen. Davis' four floors are divided for the four active fraternities on campus. Forrer houses first-year women on its top two floors and upperclassmen on the bottom two. Forrer is divided by sorority as well, and also offers a division for independent women.

Academics
Transylvania University actively pursues an international admissions process, and includes students from overseas. Transylvania presently offers 40 majors, including such majors as Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and Writing, Rhetoric, and Communication (WRC), as well as the ability of students to design their own majors, such as environmental studies.

Student life
The weekend before classes start in the fall is known as Orientation Weekend. During this time new students move in before upperclassmen, and are given the opportunity to learn about the campus and customs of Transylvania. Starting in the fall of 2012, this period was extend to a 3 week period with an introduction to liberal arts education. This was called August Term.They take part in community building exercises including a serenade of the first-year women by the first-year men on the steps of Old Morrison and a greet line, where every first-year student goes down the line and shakes hands with every other first-year student.

Rafinesque Week and traditions
The university's name (Transylvania in Romania is the home of the fictional Dracula) and the on-campus tomb of two 19th-century professors contribute to a week-long celebration of Halloween by students called "Rafinesque Week" in honor of the 19th-century botanist, inventor, and Transylvania professor Constantine Rafinesque. The university ends October with a unique combination of activities including a lottery for four students to win the chance to spend the night in Rafinesque’s tomb. In honor of Professor Rafinesque, the downstairs grill in the Mitchell Fine Arts Building is called the "Rafskeller" – a pun on the word Rathskeller.

Transylvania is also known for the Kissing Tree, a white ash tree that is estimated to be approximately 260 years old – 35 years older than the university itself. In the 1940s and 1950s, the administration turned a blind eye to students kissing in public near the tree, at a time when it was frowned upon elsewhere on campus. Today, with the rules on public displays of affection slackened, students refer to the tree as the Kissing Tree. In 2003 The Chronicle of Higher Education included the Kissing Tree among the most romantic places on college campuses in America, and it was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article about romance on college campuses.

Athletics
Transylvania University student-athletes, compete under colors crimson and white at a variety of venues throughout the country; maintain aggressive results; and often compete against larger institutions including the University of Kentucky.

The Pioneers participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III, primarily of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, equestrian, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Fraternities and sororities
Transylvania has an even Greek life on campus, with four fraternities and four sororities and over half of the students as members of Greek organizations. Each chapter is represented on either the Interfraternity Council (fraternities) or the Panhellenic Association (sororities). In its 2011 edition of "The Best 373 Colleges", the Princeton Review named Transylvania number 1 on its list of colleges with "A Major Frat or Sorority Scene" In 2010, the school was named number 1 in percentage of Greek students on campus. Fraternities: Sororities:
 * Delta Sigma Phi – Beta Mu Chapter, founded in 1941
 * Kappa Alpha Order – Alpha Theta Chapter, founded in 1891
 * Pi Kappa Alpha – Kappa Chapter, founded in 1868
 * Phi Kappa Tau – Theta Chapter, founded in 1917
 * Kappa Sigma – Alpha Omicron, founded September 7, 1894 (dormant)
 * Phi Kappa Psi - Kentucky Alpha Chapter founded in 1865 (closed 1866)
 * Alpha Omicron Pi – Tau Omega Chapter, founded in 1987
 * Chi Omega – Chi Chapter, founded in 1903
 * Delta Delta Delta – Beta Zeta Chapter, founded in 1908
 * Phi Mu – Delta Theta Chapter, founded in 1939
 * Delta Zeta – founded in 1954 (closed)
 * Sigma Kappa – founded in 1966 (closed 1984)

Noted people
Amongst Transylvania's prominent alumni are two U.S. vice presidents, John C. Breckinridge and Richard Mentor Johnson, and two U.S. Supreme Court justices, John Marshall Harlan and Samuel Freeman Miller.

Alumni

 * James Lane Allen, author
 * Landaff Andrews
 * David Rice Atchison, former U.S. Senator from Missouri
 * Stephen F. Austin, founder of Texas, graduated in 1810
 * Cy Barger, major league baseball player
 * Eugene C. Barker, historian; wrote The Life of Stephen F. Austin (1925); received LL.D. from Transylvania in 1940
 * William T. Barry
 * Ned Beatty, actor
 * James G. Birney
 * Francis Preston Blair
 * Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
 * Levi Boone
 * John C. Breckinridge, Vice President, United States; Secretary of War, Confederate States of America
 * B. Gratz Brown
 * William Orlando Butler
 * Alexander Campbell, Senator from Ohio
 * Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. Major League Baseball commissioner, Governor of Kentucky, and Senator from Kentucky
 * Cassius Marcellus Clay, abolitionist
 * David Grant Colson
 * Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America; transferred to West Point
 * Edward A. Eckenhoff, President and CEO National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington, DC
 * Malcolm D. Graham, US Congressman, CSA Congressman, Texas State Senate, Texas Attorney General, Colonel in Confederate States Army
 * William M. Gwin, U.S. Senator
 * John Marshall Harlan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, graduated in 1853, and was first justice to have earned a modern law degree
 * Teresa Isaac, mayor of Lexington, Kentucky 2002–2006
 * Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States
 * Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate General
 * Matthew Harris Jouett, painter known for portraits of figures including Thomas Jefferson
 * Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky
 * Trey Kramer, Professional soccer and football player
 * Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843), Governor of Michigan 1835–1840
 * John Calvin McCoy, founder of Kansas City, Missouri
 * Samuel Freeman Miller, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court; graduated with medical degree in 1838
 * Daniel Mongiardo, Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
 * Brian Poe, CEO of EAS Technologies
 * Charles Lynn Pyatt, dean, Lexington Theological Seminary
 * James S. Rollins, Missouri politician, "Father of the University of Missouri"
 * Clyde Roper, zoologist
 * Lee Rose, basketball coach
 * Wilson Shannon
 * George Shannon, member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
 * James Speed
 * Robert Wilson, Professor of Old Testament at Yale University
 * Thomas James Churchill, Confederate major general during the American Civil War and the 13th Governor of the state of Arkansas

Faculty

 * Henry Bidleman Bascom, Faculty:(1796–1850) – U.S. Congressional Chaplain, Methodist Bishop, President of Transylvania University 1842–1849.
 * Robert Hamilton Bishop, Faculty: became the first president of Miami University.
 * Daniel Drake, Faculty: Taught materia medica from 1817 to 1818. Drake was an early settler of Cincinnati, Ohio who later founded the Ohio Medical College, later Medical College of the University of Cincinnati. He also returned to Transylvania University in 1823 and remained until 1827, the year his wife died. From 1825 to 1827 he served as dean of the university.
 * Charles Martin "C. M." Newton, Faculty: TU basketball coach, 1956–68. Coach Newton led the 1963 Transylvania team to the NAIA National Tournament, and later became head coach at the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt University. Following his coaching career, Newton was named athletic director at the University of Kentucky.
 * Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, Faculty: a professor of botany at Transylvania University in 1819, teaching French and Italian as well. His tomb is on campus. Each Halloween, students celebrate "Rafinesque Week," which includes bonfires, mock awards, ghost tours of campus and as the culmination of the week, four students chosen from a lottery will spend the night in the tomb of Rafinesque in Old Morrison, the school's administration building.