December 17, 2024-January 1, 2025 (end-of-year double issue)
December 17, 2024-January 1, 2025 (end-of-year double issue)
The UTC Campus Weekly newsletter is distributed every Tuesday morning. If you have news, events or announcements you would like shared with campus, please submit your information to peyton-l-schultz@utc.edu or chuck-wasserstrom@utc.edu in the Division of Communications and Marketing by 3 p.m. on Friday for placement in the following Tuesday’s newsletter.
Highlights
Happy New Year from your friends in the Division of Communications and Marketing!
Wishing you a happy holiday break and a wonderful start to 2025.
This is the final Campus Weekly of 2024. An abbreviated newsletter will be distributed to campus on Thursday, Jan. 2, and weekly Tuesday morning emails will return on Jan. 7.
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Congratulations to the Class of ’24!
More than 900 graduating UTC students heard their names called and crossed the McKenzie Arena stage as part of commencement ceremonies last Friday and Saturday.
Click here for UTC photographer Angela Foster’s fall 2024 commencement Flickr photo gallery. Click here for UTC Commencement 2024 stories.
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Submit your Winter Welcome events
Help the Office of Student and Family Engagement welcome our new and returning students to the start of the semester by submitting your events to the 2025 Winter Welcome calendar online. Winter Welcome 2025 will be Jan. 6-10. If you are hosting an event or program during the first week of classes, please consider submitting your event to the official calendar found on the Winter Welcome website.
- To submit an event, please complete this form
- The deadline to submit events for the 2025 Winter Welcome calendar is noon on Friday, Jan. 3.
Email laura-petrus@utc.edu with questions. Check out our current calendar online to see events already planned for this week.
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Submit your Black History Month events
This year the Office of Multicultural Affairs has selected the theme “A Celebration of Firsts” for Black History Month, emphasizing the landmark experiences of African Americans. This month will showcase the intellectual and collective impact of African Americans who have championed excellence and innovation in their respective fields.
If you are sponsoring or are aware of events (on campus or in the Chattanooga area) you would like to see included in the UTC Black History Month calendar, please submit your information to Christopher-Stokes@utc.edu.
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Nominate Award-Winning Alums
 Chancellor Steve Angle and Vice Chancellor Kim White present Lily Sanchez (‘16) with the 2024 GOLD Excellence Award. The 2025 Distinguished Alumni, Outstanding Service and GOLD Excellence Award nomination forms are live. If you know an alumnus/a who is exemplary in their field, someone who champions UTC with their time and talents or a newer graduate making early strides in their career, nominate them today. More information and simplified nomination links can be found at alumni.utc.edu/awards. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 31.
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Update your residential meal plan
The Manage My Housing portal will be open until Wednesday, Jan. 1, for students to change their spring 2025 residential meal plans. Meal plan eligibility is based on earned credit hours. If your fall 2024 credits will change your student classification, please wait until final grades are posted before you attempt to make a change.
The University classifies undergraduate students as freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors according to the number of credit hours the student has completed:
- Freshman: 0-29 semester hours
- Sophomore: 30-59 semester hours
- Junior: 60-89 semester hours
- Senior: 90 or more semester hours
The Meal Plans are listed by student classification. Please refer to this link for that information.
Outstanding People of UTC
 Dr. Khalid Tantawi Congratulations to UTC faculty and staff who received awards or submitted proposals for sponsored programs in November. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced that faculty and staff attracted $964,257 in external grant and contract awards and submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $2,472,464 in external funding if awarded.
Among those receiving awards in November were Dr. Khalid Tantawi (Engineering Management and Technology) and Dr. Francesca Leasi (Biology, Geology and Environmental Science) who, in collaboration with Motlow State Community College and Chattanooga State Community College, received $150,000 from the National Science Foundation for the project titled, “Development of an Electric Vehicle Engineering Technology Program for the Middle Tennessee Region.”
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 DNP Nurse Anesthesia students Lauren Evans (left), Andrew Hester and Bethany Earhart traveled to Honduras as part of a mission trip to help patients in need. On Friday, Dec. 13, the first cohort of UTC’s DNP Nurse Anesthesia program graduated. Transitioning from a master’s-level degree to a DNP in 2022, the program prepares graduates to begin working immediately as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists.
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Softball head coach Frank Reed was honored by the National Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association on Dec. 7 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas for his 1,200 career victories.
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Check out these Mocs in the news:
- UTC student Olivia Reeves earned title of World Champion weightlifter at the IWF World Championships in Bahrain. She is the first American lifter to secure both an Olympic gold medal and a world title since 1958.
- Dr. Bret Eschman spoke to the Times Free Press about the difference of brain development in children raised in wealthy households vs. those with financial hardship.
- Assistant Professor of Geology Jennifer Taylor was featured on NewsChannel 9 to discuss the rockslide on Lookout Mountain that started a fire.
Mark Your Calendar
This week’s Mocs home athletics calendar:
- Wednesday, Dec. 18: Men’s basketball vs. Tennessee Wesleyan, McKenzie Arena, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 21: Women’s basketball vs. Salem (West Virginia) University, 2 p.m.
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The Math Kangaroo 2025 Competition is open to students in grades one through 12 and will be held at UTC at 5:30 p.m. on March 20. Information about the competition can be found on the Math Kangaroo website at https://mathkangaroo.org or https://mathkangaroo.org/mks/.
The deadline for registration is approaching quickly. Regular registration will end on Dec. 31. Late registration comes with an increased registration fee. Click here to register.
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A small road closure on Mocs Alumni Drive will continue through Dec. 24 for an electrical distribution repair.
- One sidewalk will be open at all times for pedestrian traffic to and from the 5th St. garage utilizing the crosswalk at Terrell Owens Way and the other at the intersection of Douglas.
- At no time will the entrance to the garage or the ARC be closed.
- The 5th St. garage traffic on the west side of the closure will be routed to East 3rd St. to Collins to Mocs Alumni Drive.
- Traffic from the East on Mocs Alumni Drive will flow directly to the garage without change.
Signage will be in place for the closed sidewalk as well as detour route. We will provide a compacted ramp beside the stair at the entrance to the ARC ramp for ADA access to the ARC. The contractor has notified and been approved through the city and bus route changes should be accessible through the CARTA website.
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The campus community is invited to join bi-weekly sessions of a forum to discuss select topics in Quantum Information Science and Engineering in which important developments are underway at UTC or elsewhere. All sessions are from 4-5 p.m. in Lupton Hall Room 389. For more information, visit utc.edu/research/quantum-center.
The series resumes in 2025 on these dates: Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6 and Feb. 20. Details on topics will be shared as soon as they are finalized.
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Join the UTC Jones Observatory for an open house on Sunday, Jan. 12, as part of Winter Welcome Week. Learn about the historic observatory and watch a free planetarium show. If it’s a clear night, look through the historic telescope at objects in the night sky.
Campus Updates
On Jan. 6, DASH goes live, ushering in a new and exciting phase for the UT System, its campuses and institutes.
To prepare for go-live, we encourage all employees to complete the 30-Day checklist. This quick reference guide lists resources, details regarding upcoming deadlines and necessary actions.
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The Staff Senate will represent non-exempt and exempt staff on campus and is intended to be one of unity and cooperation. Our shared goals are to consider methods and means by which employment conditions may be improved at UTC, to receive and consider matters concerning working conditions of membership, to make such recommendations it deems appropriate to promote and support the strategic goals and vision of UTC, and to provide a means of communicating problems of mutual concern to the Chancellor’s Strategy Team, formerly the Executive Leadership Team.
Furthermore, the Staff Senate will not include faculty (currently represented separately by the Faculty Senate) or members of the Chancellor’s Strategy Team; however, the voice of the Employee Relations Committee will continue to be present through the Staff Senate’s subcommittee for ERC. The Chair of the ERC will also hold a seat on and be a voting member of the Staff Senate’s Executive Committee.
We are excited to have a Staff Senate as it will allow us to sit, listen, share and learn about the concerns our various areas and roles face and work collectively toward solutions. We encourage you to be involved in the process, to ask questions, to share problems and to brainstorm ways for us to do better. We are truly one team, and our Staff Senate will highlight our collective power.
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Register and reserve your spot for the 2025 UT Innovative Technologies Symposium, taking place Jan. 28-29 at the Knoxville Convention Center.
Hosted by the Office of Innovative Technologies, this two-day symposium will focus on our everyday IT challenges, shared interests, honed skills, and newfound passions. Together, we aim to foster innovative IT solutions, expand knowledge, and form strategic collaborations that can significantly impact the University of Tennessee system. We encourage anyone from the entire UT System to participate, present, and attend.
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The National Science Foundation Noyce Track 2 fellowship project is accepting applications from STEM-degreed professionals to prepare to teach secondary mathematics and science through the Master of Education degree program. The 2025-2026 cohort will begin coursework in May. Please contact Deborah-McAllister@utc.edu or visit this link for project details.
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The Survivor Advocacy Services, a program within the Center for Women and Gender Equity, is partnering with the Office of Title IX compliance on our “Don’t Cancel Your Class” initiative. Rather than canceling your class when you have a time conflict (conference, scheduled time off, etc.), consider using it as an opportunity for your students to learn about resources for survivors of gender-based violence.
The educational sessions can be offered in person or virtually when professors are needing to cancel class or bring in a guest speaker. The objective of these programs is to educate students about resources for survivors, connect them with advocates and facilitate discussions about the chosen topic. We can discuss adapting presentations to a topic not listed if that better suits your class. Use this link to request a presentation.
The topics include:
- Overview of Gender-Based Violence
- Realities of Gender-Based Violence
- Rape Culture
- Media Impacts on Gender-Based Violence
- Gender-Based Violence in the LGBTQ+ Community
- Supporting Survivors
- Consent
- Healthy Relationships
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Mark your calendar for Feb. 13-14 and join the University of Tennessee Grand Challenges Summit in Murfreesboro for a two-day event that brings together UT faculty, staff, state organizations, private industry and community leaders to address Tennessee’s most pressing issues. With a focus on K-12 education, strengthening rural communities and overcoming addiction, this summit is your opportunity to engage with colleagues from across the UT System, share innovative research, and ignite transformative partnerships.
This year’s summit features presentations by faculty and staff from all UT campuses and institutes, as well as keynote speakers, including celebrated author and former school superintendent Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, UT System President Randy Boyd, and leadership from every campus and institute during the “State of UT” address.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the conversation shaping Tennessee’s future. Use this link to learn more and register before all spots are taken.
UTC Newsroom
 Brad Crush, left, shakes hands with Chancellor Steve Angle during UTC undergraduate commencement ceremonies. Crush, a member of the U.S. Marines from 2012-2016, received a bachelor’s degree in history. On Saturday, Brad Crush crossed UTC’s graduation stage, a milestone made possible, in part, by turning his U.S. Marine Corps training into 50 college credits.
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 Justin Jackson, discusses his project with Center for Regional Economic Research Director Howard Wall at the Econometrics Research Symposium. The UTC Gary W. Rollins College of Business recently hosted its inaugural Econometrics Research Symposium, where students examined data sets of real-world issues and trends.
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In November, six UTC Health and Physical Education students taught physical education lessons at the UTC Children’s Center at Brown Academy. These lessons taught children the importance of taking care of their bodies and finding happiness through physical activity.
WUTC
On a special edition of WUTC-FM 88.1’s “Scenic Roots,” students in UTC’s Rising Rock shared their stories from the fall semester.
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