Updates and news for the week of August 2 – August 8, 2022

First Flight Nearing Takeoff

It’s almost time for First Flight (August 17-21), a pre-Welcome Week experience created to help students in their first or second year navigate life in and out of the classroom at UTC. Volunteers are being sought to help welcome students to campus.

There are multiple ways to assist, including:

• Tabling at the Mocs Resource Fair (August 18-19)
• Volunteering at First Class (August 19 following Convocation)
• Staffing a Help Station (August 20-21)

To volunteer, sign up here.

Lend a Helping Hand: Volunteers Still Needed for Operation Move In

Operation Move In (August 17-19) is a great way for everyone on campus to welcome freshmen and transfer students to UTC. Volunteer assignments cover everything from greeting students and their families, directing parking and traffic, and unloading cars.

You can sign up to volunteer by visiting OMI Volunteer Sign-Up.

• All faculty/staff volunteers will receive a free T-shirt and meal voucher that can be used at select campus dining locations.
• Want to learn more about what it’s like to volunteer? Check out the OMI video.

Minority Health Fair Comes to UTC

The 21st Annual Hamilton County Minority Health Fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday (August 6) at the UTC University Center. The event is open to the public.

Free health screenings will be coordinated by the Southeast Tennessee Health Consortium.

For registration and other information, please visit minorityhealthfair.com.

The outstanding people of UTC

As part of the Innovations in Teaching video series, philosophy lecturer Lucy Schultz (pictured) talked about the community service her students performed in revitalizing the Grow Hope Urban Farm.

Check out these Mocs making a difference:

• Lee Harris has been appointed interim associate head of Performing Arts.
• Longtime Chattanooga Mocs broadcaster Larry Ward will soon be inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame.
• Mocs softball player Emily Coltharp was selected as the Southern Conference’s nominee for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Coltharp, who graduated in May with a 3.60 GPA in human resource management, will soon return to campus to pursue a master’s degree in business administration.
• A local TV station did a segment on Diana Buchanan, a member of the first Center for Professional Education certified nursing assistant cohort.  

If you have news you would like shared in the Campus Weekly Newsletter, please email Chuck Wasserstrom in the UTC Division of Communications and Marketing.

Campus Updates

Campus Updates is your home for campus-related information—a compilation of news and notes previously distributed via UTCINFO and UTCNEWS listserv emails. Recent additions include:

• If your department is thinking about purchasing a new vehicle in Fiscal Year 2023, Transportation Services wants to make all departments aware of important information, including the fact that manufacturers are currently quoting 4-6 month lead times on some 2023 Ford, Chevrolet and General Motors models and 11-plus months on low-speed vehicles.
• Nominations for this month’s Chancellor’s Blue Ribbon Award must be received by next Wednesday, August 10.
• Human Resources announced a series of August staff development opportunities, including K@TE courses on stress management, LinkedIn Learning courses on managing burnout, and TIAA webinars. 

If you have campuswide information to share in Campus Updates, please email Chuck Wasserstrom in the UTC Division of Communications and Marketing.

Looking ahead

We encourage you to use the University events calendar to share information. Events on this week’s calendar include:

• Tuesday, August 2, and Thursday, August 4: Preparing for the First Day of Class, hosted by Walker Center for Teaching and Learning.
• Wednesday, August 3: Concur Open Q&A. Join the UT Travel Team on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. for an open Q&A Zoom.
• Thursday, August 4: Getting Started Setting Up Your Canvas Course, hosted by Walker Center for Teaching and Learning.
• Saturday, August 6: Minority Health Fair at University Center.

To find out about these and other upcoming events, please bookmark and visit the master events calendar. The Division of Communications and Marketing will work with campus calendar users to ensure events are properly posted so that they can be featured in UTC Campus Weekly.

Looking back

“Student of the Game” co-host Ian Cushing (pictured), the president of the Real Estate Club, is a UTC rising senior majoring in marketing and professional sales.

Here are some other recent UTC stories featured in the Newsroom:

• Since the creation of the Trembling Troubadours, UTC music therapy director Katherine Goforth Elverd had a goal of having the group perform the national anthem before a Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball game—and that goal was recently realized. Learn more about that incredible experience.
• Director of choral activities Kevin Ford will be overseeing the Chamber Singers’ largest group ever this fall.
• The Veterans Entrepreneurship Program celebrated its 10th birthday with its signature boot camp, an intense blast of information on such subjects as cash flow, human resources, marketing, government regulations and product pricing.
• UTC students spent time this summer as camp counselors at WaterWays, a local nonprofit focusing on water protection and quality across the Southeast.
• Sam de Armas fully embraced the reality of her bipolar disorder in her novel conception for a senior thesis—a virtual-reality experience that lets others enter a simulated bipolar environment.