UTC Provost Oldham to be named TN Tech President
May 2, 2012
Chattanooga, TN (UTC/The Loop) — UTC Provost Phil Oldham will apparently be named the new president of Tennessee Tech.
According to a report published on the Tech website, Oldham is recommended for approval by the Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees.
Here is that release:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 2, 2012) – Philip Oldham is expected to be named the next president to lead Tennessee Technological University pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents on Friday.
The Board will meet via telephone at 10:30 a.m. CDT on Friday, May 4, to consider TBR Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation for Oldham to replace Bob Bell, who will retire from TTU on July 1 after leading the campus for 12 years. Oldham currently serves as provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“Dr. Oldham will lead TTU with a commitment to academic integrity, student success and public accountability,” said Morgan. “He has outstanding credentials and is well respected among his colleagues and peers nationwide, and I am pleased to recommend him as the next president for Tennessee Tech University.”
Oldham was selected after an extensive nationwide search that began earlier this year.
He has served the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2007 and has had advisory or direct responsibility for almost every area of university operations. His prior experience was at Mississippi State University, where he joined as a faculty member and held various positions, departing as dean of Arts and Sciences before moving to UTC.
At UTC Oldham has served as the chief academic officer with direct responsibility for all academic and research programs at the university as well as the library, admissions, financial aid, records, institutional research and planning, and partnerships and sponsored programs, among other offices. While there he led efforts to improve the university’s first-year retention rates, which jumped 12 percent in two years.
Along with a number of professional awards, publications and presentations, Oldham is the joint owner of two patents for research-related projects. He has also been solely or partially responsible for some $4.2 million in research funding provided by government agencies and private industry.
Oldham holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Freed-Hardeman University and earned the Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Texas A&M University. His full resume is available at http://tinyurl.com/poldham.
TTU, which is governed by the TBR, is located in Cookeville and enrolls almost 12,000 students in more than 60 programs of study, including doctoral degrees in engineering, environmental sciences and exceptional learning. The university is recognized by the state for its unique mission as the state’s only technological university and for outstanding programs in engineering, the sciences, and related areas. TTU also provides strong programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, agriculture and human ecology, nursing, music, art and interdisciplinary studies. Tennessee Tech serves students from throughout the state, nation, and many other countries, but it retains a special commitment to enrich the lives of people and communities in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.
The May 4 meeting is open to the public and the press as listeners. Those wishing dial-in information for the call should contact Monica Greppin-Watts at monica.greppin-watts@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 before 4:30 p.m. May 3. Anyone with a disability who wishes to participate should use the same contact to request services needed to facilitate attendance. Contact may be made in person, by writing, by e-mail, by telephone or otherwise and should be received no later than 4:30 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, May 2.
The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions, including TTU. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 27 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.
Bees Swarm Part of UTC Campus
April 25, 2012
Chattanooga, TN (UTC/The Loop) – UTC Safety and Risk Management personnel and a beekeeper are monitoring a swarm of bees located between Davenport and Frist Halls.
Please avoid the area if possible. This situation has called for cordoning an area around several cars. If you are the owner of one of these cars, please call UTC Campus Police for assistance at 425-4357.
Update: UTC Engineering Building Re-Opened After Fire
April 16, 2012
Update from Chuck Cantrell, University Relations
From Chuck Cantrell, University Relations
The EMCS Building is currently evacuated. A small fire has been extinguished by Chattanooga Fire Department. The building is being ventilated to remove smoke and will reopen soon. Text and email messages will be sent when the building reopens.
Police say UTC Student vandalized campus apartments; Walker Apartments closed for clean-up
April 12, 2012
Chattanooga, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) — A UTC student apparently vandalized several apartments at the Walker Apartments. The student was injured during the spree and taken to a local hospital. Here is the information released by Chuck Cantrell with University Relations.
The University Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Walker Apartment complex at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Upon arrival, officers encountered an individual who had entered and vandalized several apartments. The subject had become injured during the vandalism and was taken into custody shortly thereafter and transported to the hospital for treatment. The subject has been identified as a UTC student.
Due to presence of bodily fluids in several rooms and to allow police to conduct the investigation, several floors were closed for cleanup and decontamination. The residence hall is expected to be fully reopened this evening.
A follow-up email will be sent when the residence hall is fully open.
UTC Teacher Fights to Protect TN Mountains
April 6, 2012
By Christina Stafford
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - One UTC teacher’s passion for protecting Tennessee mountains and valleys has helped keep the issue in front of the public.
Jeannie Hacker-Cerulean has been an advocate to help stop the removal of mountain tops for coal mining since 2004. “I care about the water and I want to protect the clean water cycle,” she said. “When I heard the about mountain top removal and how it pollutes the water with heavy metals, I decided to become a mountain justice worker,” the UTC faculty member said.
Cerulean and others who work for an end to mountain top removal have been to Nashville to lobby the State Senate. “I am personal correspondents with some of the senators,” Cerulean said. She said she makes mailing labels to give out to people to write the senators to express what they think about the issue. She said she also puts posters up with the labels on them all around the Chattanooga area to raise awareness.
“Mrs. Cerulean brought a student advocate from MTSU to talk about the mining to my advocacy and debate class she teaches.” Alyssah Martin, Soddy Daisy junior, said. “The whole class could tell this is something she is truly passionate about.”
College students can get involved in the cause to end mountain top removal. “Universities in Tennessee, including UTC’s EDGE (Ecological Decisions for a Global Environment) group, are getting involved and contribute greatly to the cause,” Cerulean said.
Students have protested by sitting in trees to stop them from being cut down and cleaning tree sitting as well as helping to clean up the communities that are affected by coal mining. Students are also involved by talking about the issue in their schools and hometowns, Cerulean said.
Some students believe it is a worthy cause. “It’s good to know there are opportunities out there for college students to take action on something so important,” Tiffany Reed, Cookeville sophomore, said.
If passed, the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection bill will end mountain top removal of ridges over 2000 feet in Tennessee, Cerulean said. She said she thinks state senators are listening about the issue.
More than 1,000 mountains have been destroyed since the 1970s in Appalachian Mountains states. These mountains are being targeted for coal mining that results in more job opportunities in small communities “Though the new jobs in the communities are a great thing, people’s health and the environment are at risk,” Cerulean said.
The stream buffer zone rule was set in 1983. This rule says that coal-mining companies cannot operate within 100 feet of streams. “Mining companies still dump the waste in streams,” Cerulean said.
In 2009, a new buffer zone rule was set in motion requiring mining companies to not dump the waste in the valleys, Cerulean said.
Watching the Weather
April 5, 2012
By Gloria DeWeese
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - As students watch the wacky weather waver from day to day, UTC has a department watching for the newest weather developments and alerts.
K. Tim Pridemore, C.F.P.S., Emergency Management Specialist in Safety and Risk Management Department at UTC, said “We have about ten different ways to get the word out.” In addition to the new alert beacons being installed in every classroom, we are in process of framing maps to show the safest tornado shelters on the campus, Pridemore said. He also said, about 10 or 20 different threat factors are monitored consistently.
“Once the heat index goes above 95 degrees, we start watching it. When it goes above 100 degrees, at that point we will typically, in that area, we will start sending out messages to the campus,” Pridemore said.
“Probably the oddest thing of all the threat factors that we watch, the oddest one right here at spaceweather.com,” Pridemore said. “We actually watch for solar flares, and the reason we do that is because the campuses communications system are so heavily dependent on continuity. The radios are wireless.”
Aside from the storms with our unusually high temperatures, pollen is, ironically, not a concern by the department, Pridemore said. “Hay fever is not contagious. We watch more for different strands of the flu or other diseases,” he said.
Although pollen count is not an issue the department monitors, students affected by seasonal allergies say :
“The worst effect from the temperatures is my sinuses,” Jameese Cox said, Cleveland, junior.
“My allergies are the biggest issue with the weather from pollen,” Ben Cocilo said, Los Angeles, Calif., senior.
“My allergies are killing me,” Caleb Powell said, Chattanooga, sophomore.
“My eyes start watering, my nose starts running. It’s very aggravating when running outside. I just want my legs to run, not my nose,” Jaya Todai said, Houston, TX, freshman.
Pridemore said, “Pollen count poses no significant threat. They (Sinuses) are uncomfortable. They are something to cry about and they, definitely, are something to sneeze at.”
Whether storms, solar flares, or snotty noses, the wacky weather has many effects on students’ campus life. Pridemore and the Department of Safety and Risk Management watch for what weather wonders or threats April brings.
Romney turns from primaries to Obama
April 4, 2012
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Mitt Romney is turning away from his primary opponents and toward Democratic President Barack Obama after sweeping three more Republican contests.
The likely GOP nominee was set Wednesday to take the same Washington stage that the president had used a day earlier to criticize Romney in a speech to newspaper editors in Washington. The former Massachusetts governor planned to address an audience of the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of News Editors, a day after Obama spoke to the annual meeting of The Associated Press.
“There is a basic choice before us,” Romney said Tuesday night as he spoke to cheering supporters in Milwaukee. “Our different visions for America are the product of our values and our life experiences.”
Romney’s victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia widened his delegate lead and all but handed him the title of presumptive Republican nominee. Despite pressure to leave the race, rival Rick Santorum vowed to fight on, urging voters in the next-up Pennsylvania primary to vote for “someone whose views are forged in steel, not on an Etch A Sketch.”
Romney didn’t mention Santorum on Tuesday night. Instead, Romney sought to cast Obama as an “out of touch” liberal whose personal background is hostile to a free economy.
His remarks came just hours after Obama delivered a combative campaign speech in Washington, where he attacked House Republicans’ budget plan as “thinly veiled social Darwinism” that “is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it.”
Obama called it “a prescription for decline.”
After his speech Wednesday, Romney planned to head to a campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs. He was to campaign in the state Thursday as well. Obama planned to attend an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House.
For Romney, the end of the contested primary campaign could hardly come soon enough.
“I want to have our nominee start raising money, start organizing a national campaign and focus on President Obama and his agenda because this is time for us to start focusing on him rather than standing and focusing on one another in these primary contests,” he told radio host Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “I think we’ve had, as of tonight, we will have had almost 35 or more state or territorial contests for the nomination. Maybe it’s time to get going.”
Obama has gained in the polls in recent months, particularly among women, as Republicans vie among themselves for support from a conservative party electorate. Santorum has devoted more time to social concerns — including birth control — than Romney, who has generally stayed focused on economic issues.
Surveys indicate Americans are growing more optimistic about the overall state of the economy. Unemployment has fallen in recent months, but it is still at a relatively high 8.3 percent of the work force.
Already, the early outlines of a general election ad war are visible. Obama’s re-election campaign is airing commercials in a half-dozen battleground states that accuse Romney of siding with Big Oil “for their tax breaks, attacking higher mileage standards and renewables.”
The ads are a rapid response to $3 million in commercials aired by an outside group, American Energy Alliance, blaming the president for rising gasoline prices.
In his campaign for the Republican nomination, Romney has collected endorsements from former President George H.W. Bush; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a tea party favorite; and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, author of a conservative budget that Republicans pushed through the House last week.
Romney won at least 83 delegates in the three races Tuesday, with 6 yet to be allocated.
That pushed his total to 655 of the 1,144 needed to clinch the nomination. Santorum has 278 delegates, Newt Gingrich 135 and Ron Paul 51.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Doubling Up
April 4, 2012
By Cole Mokry
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - Some South Campus apartments will be converted to allow two students in what were previously one-person rooms.
“A portion of the rooms [in South Campus] will now house two students as part of the university’s master plan,” Ryan Hall, area coordinator for Housing, said.
The change is because of the large size of the incoming freshman class, the requirement that all freshmen must live on campus and the growing number of upperclassmen who want to live on campus past their first year.
Several students cited the university’s apartment-style housing as one of the reasons they attend UTC. Some said they worry the number of applicants to the school will decrease when fewer rooms are available.
Several students said they think there should be a decrease in tuition if they are not able to live on campus. “It only makes sense that if the rooms in which we live become smaller, so should the checks we’re writing to the school,” Lauren Ruth, Kingsport freshman, said.
“If I’m paying the same price to share a room as I was to have my own, why would I come back?” Devon Carter, Memphis sophomore, said.
But Hall said apartment-style living remains a readily available option to students and the university wants to employ “a variety of choices” for housing.
Other students have suggested making on-campus residence an option for freshmen, citing the dozens of nearby apartment complexes, which many upperclassmen currently live in, as credible alternatives. This would create less of a demand for on-campus housing and ease the pressure on the school to create more space for the growing student body, some said.
The South Campus double-bunking situation is just one option the administration is implementing for the school. Other options currently being discussed include renovating current residence halls as is being done in Stagmaier, or building new ones on recently acquired property near the campus.
Seeking the limelight with the help of star power
March 19, 2012
ATLANTA (AP) — No presidential candidate worth his chauffeured SUV has reached his personal zenith without this: celebrities to vouch for them. They are the glam and glitter of political campaigns, sure to turn even jaded political operatives into fawning celeb watchers.
Nobody commands the nexus of stardom and politics more than President Barack Obama. Mocked by opponents during his 2008 campaign for being a celebrity himself, he draws from a broad assortment of personalities — Hollywood liberals, NBA stars and more.
Friday offered a case in point. Obama raised money in film producer Tyler Perry’s sprawling southwest Atlanta studio at a gala event featuring a performance by pop star Cee Lo Green. Then he spoke to those in a more elite group, including Oprah Winfrey, at Perry’s 30,000-square-foot French provincial mansion along the Chattahoochee River.
His just-released campaign biopic is narrated by actor Tom Hanks. On Thursday, a White House visit by Obama backer and Oscar winner George Clooney to meet with the president over conditions in Sudan drew a gaggle of press coverage.
Obama, though, has no monopoly on big names.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has campaigned with Jeff Foxworthy, the genial comedian with a repertoire of redneck jokes, convinced rocker-rapper Kid Rock to perform at a campaign rally and won supportive words from KISS lead singer Gene Simmons.
Newt Gingrich has action film star Chuck Norris in his corner. Rick Santorum has been endorsed by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, and Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, stars of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” have made campaign appearances with him. Ron Paul has an eclectic list of shout outs from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Oliver Stone, Juliette Lewis, Vince Vaughn, Joe Rogan, and Jesse Ventura.
Such proximity to stardom can reap big benefits for a politician. Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant who’s had his brush with the stars working for Al Gore and Bill Clinton, says personalities help alter the typical, antiseptic look of a political event.
“These celebrities, one of the reasons they are celebrities, is they have a unique ability to connect with people,” he said. “You’re using them as a bridge to connect with their fans and their audiences.”
Or as Obama neatly summed it up, when he thanked Winfrey on Friday at Perry’s home: “Just like books and skin cream, when Oprah decides she likes you, then other people like you, too.”
For Obama, whose campaign so far has focused primarily on fundraising, celebrities such as Clooney, Will Smith, Magic Johnson and Antonio Banderas help attract the big-dollar givers. First lady Michelle Obama was fundraising Monday in New York with actor Robert De Niro at a TriBeCa Italian restaurant.
On Friday, Obama was on a furious fundraising pace, hitting five events in two cities in one day and raising at least $4.8 million. At day’s end, Obama will have participated in 108 fundraisers since last April when he filed for re-election last April with the Federal Election Commission. During the same period in 2004, President George W. Bush had attended 54 such events, according to CBS News’ Mark Knoller, the unofficial but authoritative keeper of such statistics in the White House press corps.
Last month in Los Angeles, Obama had a star-studded evening — a performance by Grammy-winning rock band Foo Fighters for about 1,000 supporters followed by a more intimate dinner featuring Clooney and actor Jim Belushi.
Friday’s activities in Atlanta are similar. Cee Lo opened for Obama at Tyler Perry Studios — tickets ranged from $500 for general admission to $2,500 and $10,000 for VIP. Then he was off to a $35,800 per person dinner at Perry’s house, where about 40 guests awaited him.
Perry, introducing Obama to a predominantly African-American audience, said seeing the presidential motorcade drive through southwest Atlanta offered “a glimpse of what destiny looks like.”
To which Obama said: “There’s something about America where somebody from my background can do what I’m doing and someone from Tyler’s background can do what he’s doing.”
Republicans, in the midst of their primary contests, have turned to celebrities for validation with voters.
Norris recorded robocalls for Gingrich before last week’s primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. Norris, active in Republican politics for many years, endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.
Santorum, who has scooped up endorsements from sports figures, has also tapped into a well-known band of reality TV stars. The Duggar family has fanned out across the country during the primary season to vouch for the former Pennsylvania senator. Josh Duggar, the oldest of 19 children, made the rounds Friday at a central Missouri rally for Santorum after previously doing the same in Iowa, Oklahoma, Georgia and many places in between.
“Our family is like the epitome of conservative values,” Duggar said. “People connect to us in that way.”
The entire family planned to assemble Saturday in Illinois to give Santorum a push ahead of that state’s primary.
Some celebrities play down their onstage personas when traveling with candidates. Last Monday, Foxworthy, the Southern comedian, skipped the jokes when he campaigned with Romney in Mobile, Ala., telling audiences he had never bothered with politics before.
But it was Romney who riffed on Foxworthy’s TV quiz show, “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” Obama is clearly smarter than an elementary school pupil, Romney said, but “this president has done almost everything wrong.”
Stars, Lehane says, are a net benefit. But they can be loose cannons; they don’t always subscribe or adhere to the campaign talking points. Lehane recalls Cher attracting a group of reporters at a campaign event for Gore in the fall of 2000 where she was advocating views about the Middle East at odds with the Gore campaign ticket.
“You always have to be a little bit careful when you’re dealing with a celebrity,” Lehane said., “First of all, they can be unscripted. Stuff that they can say and typically do that works in their space sometimes doesn’t translate when the political prism is put over it. Sometimes you end up having to disassociate yourself form other aspects of that celebrity’s life.”
Consider Cee Lo, the pop star who performed for 1,000 donors Friday at Tyler Perry Studios. Cee Lo has an expletive-filled hit song titled with an expletive that translates, in the cleaned up version, to “Forget You.” Not exactly Obama’s appeal for hope, or civility or of perseverance.
Asked about any incongruity between performer song and presidential message, White House spokesman Jay Carney said of Obama: “I know he’s fan. I don’t know about specific songs.”
___
Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Brian Bakst, Kasie Hunt and Beth Fouhy contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Updated: UTC Student Accused of Planting Surveillance Cameras Pleads Guilty
March 17, 2012
From UTC Staff
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (UTC/The Loop) –
The former UTC student charged with planting surveillance cameras in a campus dorm has pleaded guilty to criminal charges against him.
Bernard Junior Morris had been held without bond since March 2011. According to the Hamilton Criminal Courts website, Morris plead guilty to:
- four counts of aggravated burglary
- one count of aggravated arson
- one count of burglary
He faces up to six years in prison for the charges.
Morris is next scheduled for sentencing on April 16.
March 22. 2011
UTC Police have arrested and charged UTC student Bernard (Junior) Morris with 13 felony charges–12 counts of aggravated burglary and one count of aggravated arson. Morris is accused of planting surveillance equipment in three campus apartments, one in Guerry and two in Stophel Building, both on South Campus. When students in a Guerry apartment returned from spring break, they noticed there were items in their apartment that did not belong to them, and reported the situation to their resident assistant. UTC Police determined the items housed surveillance cameras.
All of the surveillance cameras planted in the apartments have been recovered by UTC Police. UTC Police are continuing to actively investigate this case.
The arson charge relates to an incident on campus February 27th, when Morris allegedly threw a smoke bomb into the third floor trash chute of the Stophel Building. Campus Security took care of the problem with a fire extinguisher.
Separate from the criminal investigation, there will be a student conduct judicial review by the University. In the case of serious charges, students are often required to complete the judicial review process before returning to the University. In the case of Brendon Morris, his access to campus has been restricted at this time pending the outcome of the judicial review.
If you notice items in your campus residence that have been moved or items that do not belong to you or your roommates, or if you may have information about this case that may be helpful to UTC Police, call 425-4357. As always, if you need emergency assistance on campus, call 9-1-1.
