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Updates and news for the week of August 23 – August 29, 2022
Welcome to Welcome Week
Starting with Convocation (above), UTC has been welcoming students to campus with a multitude of fun back-to-school activities—and more than 80 events can be found on the Welcome Week calendar.
“Welcome Week is really special to me because it is a first impression these students get of what campus life looks like,” said Laura Petrus, UTC director of student and family engagement. “I love how campus departments and student organizations come together to welcome our students, both new and returning.”
One of the highlights of Welcome Week is Goat Yoga, and faculty and staff are invited to join the Center for Wellbeing and Student and Family Engagement this Wednesday (August 24). Limited spots are available for UTC employees, so click on this link and register if you would like to participate.
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Calling for Content: Let’s Keep Parents and Families Up-to-date About All Things UTC
The September edition of the UTC Parent and Family Association newsletter will be emailed to members on Wednesday, September 7. There are over 3,000 email addresses on file for the 2022-2023 academic year, and that figure keeps rising.
If you have information you would like to share with the families of our students—such as upcoming events, important deadlines, helpful suggestions and departmental news—email details to hannah-turcotte@utc.edu no later than this Friday (August 26).
- Please keep your message to one paragraph of 200 (or fewer) words.
- If you have images or logos to accompany the paragraph, send those along as well.
Campus Meet-Up for Researchers
Meet-up for Researchers is an opportunity to network and share your research interests and projects with other UTC faculty, staff and students. At this month’s meeting, staff from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) and the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) will discuss available support and resources for faculty and staff.
The first meeting of the semester takes place at 11 a.m. this Friday (August 26). This is a great opportunity to meet and reconnect with fellow researchers over food and fellowship.
Register to attend to reserve your lunch choice.
Don’t Cancel Your Class Initiative
Survivor Advocacy Services, a program within the Center for Women and Gender Equity, is continuing an educational initiative entitled “Don’t Cancel Your Class.” Rather than canceling your class when you have a time conflict, consider using it as an opportunity for your students to learn about survivor advocacy.
The educational sessions can be offered in person or virtually when professors need to cancel classes or want to bring in a guest speaker. These programs are intended to offer sessions about gender-based violence for the UTC community and offer connections to on-campus resources.
Please click here for a list of session topics that are available and additional information. Sessions can be customized for the specific needs of your class or organization.
Programs for Minors Policy Information
Did you know that if you suspect child abuse of child sexual abuse, you must report it? Tennessee law mandates that any person who has knowledge of or reasonable cause to suspect such abuse must report it to the appropriate authorities.
The UT System created the Programs for Minors policy to educate individuals who work with minors (individuals who are 17 or younger) about how to recognize signs of abuse, how to report suspected abuse, and how to protect themselves and the minors who participate in programs sponsored by UTC.
If you work with minors who are not UTC students, please contact faith-garner@utc.edu for more information about complying with this important system-wide policy.
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Monkeypox survey
UTC employee participation is requested for an anonymous survey about your knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about monkeypox. This survey will take less than five minutes to complete.
This research has been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB number: 22-084).
To read the informed consent and access the survey, click here. Additional information can be found on Campus Updates.
Clery Act Information and Update
In accordance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act, UTC publishes an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (ASFR).
The ASFR contains information on crime statistics for the past three years, crime prevention, crime reporting, law enforcement policies and procedures, fire safety and statistics for the past three years, emergency response and evacuation procedures, and missing student notification policies and procedures. The new report, which will cover crime and fire statistics and the above policies and procedures for years 2019–2021, will be published October 1.
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Meet the Advancement Team
 Kim White, vice chancellor of advancement and executive director of the UC Foundation The Division of Advancement, formerly known as Development and Alumni Affairs, is welcoming the new academic year with an open house event where you can meet new team members and learn about their collective approach to building connections and inspiring generosity for UTC.
On Thursday, September 1, Advancement House (located at 605 Oak Street) is hosting a “casual, drop-by-when-you-can” event from 3-6 p.m. open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of UTC. Refreshments will be provided. If you have any questions, please contact Amy Donahue, senior director of marketing, at amy-donahue@utc.edu.
Message from Mocs Dining
Students have until Sunday, September 4, to request a meal plan change by emailing mocscard@utc.edu. Late requests will not be accepted.
For more information on meal plans, please visit the Dining Services webpage.
Mark your calendars for Constitution Day
“A Symposium: Religious Freedom, Economic Freedom, and the Constitution,” is the topic of the 12th Annual Dr. Richard Gruetzemacher Constitution Day Lecture Series, presented by the Center for Reflective Citizenship at UTC.
The general public, the UTC community and educators and students from a variety of schools and colleges in the region are cordially invited to attend the event, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 14, in the University Center Auditorium. The lecture also will be available via Livestream.
The outstanding people of UTC
 From left: Monte Coulter, Richard Jackson, Margaret Kovach. Congratulations to three longtime members of the UTC faculty who were formally bestowed Professor Emeritus status: Director of Percussion Studies Monte Coulter; UT National Alumni Association Distinguished Service Professor and Ellis K. Meacham Annual Writing Workshop and Creative Writing Professor Richard Jackson; and UC Foundation Professor of Biology Margaret Kovach.
Check out these Mocs making a difference:
- Gaye Jeffers, professor in the Department of Performing Arts – Theatre Division, was a finalist in the 2022 Jane Chambers Excellence in Playwriting Award for her play, “The Odd Evangelical.”
- Mocs offensive lineman McClendon Curtis was featured on News 12 Now for his work on and off the football field.
- The Department of Social, Cultural and Justice Studies recently introduced new faculty members Kylie Williamson, Natalie Blanton, Katelyn Hancock, Lori Waite and Derek Boyd to UTC with a series of social media fun facts—including this nugget from Williamson, an anthropology lecturer: “I excavated a cemetery beneath the building I am going to be married in.”
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
Facilities provided a quick update for the fall semester relating to construction activities on campus, including a link to the UTC online interactive map for construction locations and updates. For those of you still learning your way around campus, the map is accessible from utc.edu on mobile devices and laptops at the bottom of the homepage.
Other recent additions to Campus Updates, a compilation of campus-related news and notes previously distributed via UTCINFO and UTCNEWS listserv emails, include:
- The UTC Virtual Fall Research Conference will be held via the Symposium by ForagerOne platform this Thursday (August 25) and Friday (August 26).
- During the last two years, IT partnered with the Library to provide long-term technology loans to faculty, staff and students for various technologies, including laptops, webcams and mobile hotspots. The demand for these technologies for employees has been reduced significantly this past year; as a result, IT has discontinued long-term technology loans for employees.
- The UT System is offering free monthly Virtual Safe Space sessions to help employees manage stress they may be experiencing professionally and personally. The August session is scheduled for this Wednesday (August 24).
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:
The Division of Communications and Marketing will work with campus calendar users to ensure events are properly posted so they can be featured in UTC Campus Weekly.
Looking back
 Ivan Kozlov and artists of the Kyiv City Ballet. Photo and video courtesy of the Kyiv City Ballet. Tickets for the upcoming Kyiv City Ballet tour performances at the UTC Fine Arts Center are now on sale. The company is scheduled for three performances in the newly renovated Roland Hayes Concert Hall on October 5-7. All revenue from ticket sales for these shows goes directly to the Kyiv City Ballet; ticket sales are helping keep a group of artists who cannot return to their country and families financially solvent while they are refugees and guests in the U.S.
Here are some other recent UTC stories featured in the Newsroom:
- When students residing in UC Foundation Apartments arrived for Operation Move In, they were greeted by a selfie mural painted by Corinna Lingle, a UTC junior majoring in criminal justice.
- Miles Mosby’s path to public service began in his hometown of Henning, Tennessee, the boyhood home and final resting place of Alex Haley, the famed author of “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.” The two have a connection in Fred Montgomery Jr., Mosby’s great-grandfather and a lifelong friend of Haley’s.
- Chattanooga’s Camp House hosted the first of a series of five open house events across the state organized by engAGING Communities Tennessee, an initiative led by the UTS School of Nursing to empower faith-based and religious congregations to provide older people and their caregivers with health and wellness programs and support.
Picture This
The days leading up to the start of the fall semester are among UTC photographer Angela Foster’s favorite moments of the year. Check out her UTC Newsroom photo galleries from Operation Move In, “Mocs Under the Big Top” Carnival and Convocation.
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