By Brenna Angel
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-966140.mp3
LEXINGTON, Ky. – He spent more than 20 years on Wall Street before setting his sights on a career in academia. He is a historian, earning a Ph.D. from Yale University. And this Friday, he will be inaugurated as president of Transylvania University in Lexington. Reporter Brenna Angel talks with President R. Owen Williams.
Brenna Angel: You actually took office at Transy in August. What do you like most about your job?
Owen Williams: I'd really have to say it's the people I get to work with. Whether it's board members, the faculty - they work round the clock, and the staff as well. And our students are incredible. I love walking around our campus and encountering them. They're just a great statement for not only the values of Transylvania but the state and their generation.
Brenna Angel: What do you like least about your job or what are some of the challenges?
Owen Williams: I think the thing that I like least is having to say no to people. I'm encountered daily with ideas that make such wonderful sense for the college and yet are difficult to implement because we don't' have an unlimited budget. Like all colleges we have constraints that we have to contend with. A And so it puts us in the position of having to refuse ideas or postpone ideas, that's always the way I like to think of it.
Brenna Angel: What are some of those ideas that are on your wish list?
Owen Williams: Well there are things we hope to do in the way of expanding our campus, both in terms of the number of people who are there and the size of the campus. And that's going to take money so we'll have to put that off until we've raised that money. I would expect that we'll be expanding the campus over the next decade. That's something we're going to have wait for though.
Brenna Angel: Transylvania is obviously not the only college campus in Lexington. The big dog in this town -- or I guess you could say the big cat - is the University of Kentucky. How do you see Transy's role or place in this community?
Owen Williams: Well aside from the fact that we are the institution from which the University of Kentucky was spawned, I see our role as being one of the preeminent liberal arts colleges in the country. It complements the mission of what goes on at the University of Kentucky I think very nicely.
And the triangle that's being established in Lexington I think is very very special and there's all sorts of interaction and opportunity for us to work together. With BCTC, Bluegrass Community & Technical College going in down 4th Street from us, it's really going to be a wonderful community of colleges with disparate missions and student body sizes.
Our function within that, I'd love to see us taking exchange students from BCTC after they finish their time there. And of course we are always very proud when our students leave Transylvania and join the ranks of students in the graduate programs here at the University of Kentucky.
Brenna Angel: What are your goals for the university? Where do you see Transy heading?
Owen Williams: Well Transylvania is already regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. We're part of what is called the Annapolis group, which is a group of 100 liberal arts generally thought to be the top hundred liberal arts colleges in the country.
It's my hope for the college and I think it's an ambition that's shared by the board and by the faculty that over time we increase our standing, improve our standing within those rankings. We'd love to see the college thought of as one of the top 50 colleges in the country.
And there's no reason why that can't happen. It won't take much in that we have a truly superb student body and we have an award winning faculty. So that's a pretty potent combination.
President R. Owen Williams will be/was inaugurated Friday as 25th president of Transylvania University.