Transylvania University

For other uses of the name Transylvania, see Transylvania (disambiguation).

Transylvania University is a private liberal arts college located in Lexington, Kentucky with approximately 1,100 students.

History

When Transylvania University was founded in 1780 it became the 16th college in the U.S. and the first west of the Allegheny Mountains. The school is named Transylvania (Latin for "across the woods") after the heavily forested region of western Virginia that became Kentucky in 1792.

It opened at Danville, Kentucky in 1785, and did not move to Lexington until 1789. For some time it was called Kentucky University, while it had an affiliation with University of Kentucky.

C. S. Rafinesque, an unrecognized genius of botany and zoology from Europe, became the professor of botany at Transylvania University in 1819, teaching French and Italian as well. He started at once describing all the new species of plants and animals he encountered. In 1825 his book Neogenyton, drew much criticism from fellow botanists, causing his writing further to be ignored. In the spring of 1826 he was dismissed from the university, for either having an apparent affair with the university president’s wife or for attending even fewer classes than his students. He died in 1840 in Philadelphia, unknown and penniless. His considerable collections were sold as junk or destroyed. In 1924 his remains were brought back to Transylvania University to rest in a place of honor, in a tomb marked by the epitaph ‘A life of travels’.

Transylvania is also the setting for part of the famous novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.

The school is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Campus

Commonly referred to as "Transy," the school is located on a 35 acre (142,000 m²) campus about 4 blocks north of the downtown Lexington

Academic buildings

• Haupt Humanities – The most used classroom building, it houses the various humanities programs.
• Cowgill Center – Finished in 1999, houses the Business, Economics & Education programs.
• L.A. Brown Science Center – Natural Sciences building. Includes largest classroom on campus, Strickland auditorium, a greenhouse, numerous labs and a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.
• J. Douglas Gay Jr. / Frances Carrick Thomas Library – The library complex includes the original Frances Carrick Thomas Library, dedicated by President Eisenhower in 1954, and the J. Douglas Gay Jr. addition, dedicated by Vice President George Bush in 1986.
• Mitchell Fine Arts Center – Houses facilities for all of the fine arts programs. Contains a large concert hall, small theater, recital hall, art gallery and practice rooms, among other things.
• Charles L. Shearer Studio Art Building – This building is home to most of the visual art facilities, including a dark room, ceramics, painting, and other studios, and a student art gallery.

Residential buildings

• Forrer Hall – Mainly the women's dorm, Forrer's front and back lobbies contain offices for Residence Life, Department of Public Safety, and others.
• Clay Hall – Men's dorm primarily for first-years.
• Davis Hall – Men's dorm for upperclassmen. Each floor belongs to one of the four fraternities.
• Rosenthal Residence Complex – Apartment complex for upperclassmen.
• Poole Residence Center – Suite style residential building.
• Hazelrigg Hall – A multipurpose building. Contains a classroom, a computer lab, social science faculty offices, and two floors of dormitories.

Other buildings

• Old Morrison – The administrative building, this building was built in the 1830s and has burnt twice, most recently in 1969, when the interior was completely gutted. This building is featured on the city seal of Lexington.
• Lucille C. Little Theater – Black box style theater allowing for very flexible stage and seating arrangements.
• Clive M. Beck Athletic Center – Contains athletics offices, classrooms, fitness center, competition and recreational facilities. Completed in 2002.

Notable alumni

• Stephen F. Austin
• William T. Barry
• Francis Preston Blair
• Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
• John C. Breckinridge
• B. Gratz Brown
• William Orlando Butler
• Alexander Campbell (politician)
• Albert Chandler
• Thomas James Churchill
• Cassius Clay (abolitionist)
• Henry Clay
• Jefferson Davis
• Richard Mentor Johnson
• James Lane Allen
• Wilson Shannon
• James Speed

External link

• Transylvania University