Updates and news for the week of July 26 – August 1, 2022

Welcome Week 2022 is just around the corner

If you are hosting an event or program during the first week of the fall semester August 21-27, submit your event to the official Welcome Week page.

Events submitted before August 16 are guaranteed to appear on the Welcome Week calendar. To submit events:

• Use the attached spreadsheet—Welcome Week 2022 Event Submission Template—to add your event information. If you will be hosting more than one event during Welcome Week, please use additional rows as needed.
• Upload your spreadsheet to the online form in MocSync. You will be prompted to log in to MocSync to access the form.

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UTC Affordable Course Materials program saves students $1 million since 2017

Rachel Fleming joined UTC as scholarly communications librarian in 2017 and was charged with taking the Affordable Course Materials initiative forward.

In just five years, more than $1 million has been kept in the pockets of students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga by its Affordable Course Materials Initiative.

The initiative was barely more than a good idea when Rachel Fleming joined UTC as scholarly communications librarian in 2017. Developing more affordable course materials for UTC students is the result of collaboration between Fleming and faculty who come for help designing and preparing materials that can replace textbooks in achieving course learning outcomes. In most cases, course materials costs are completely eliminated in revised courses.

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The people of UTC

Capt. Stuart Allgood (pictured) has joined UTC as the new Department Head of Military Science.

• A collaboration among Charlie Mix and Nyssa Hunt in the UTC Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technology Lab, UC Foundation Associate Professor Andrew Bailey (Health and Human Performance) and Guerry Professor Emeritus Gregory Heath (Master of Public Health), placed second in the “Spatial Analysis using ArcGIS StoryMaps” category at the 2022 Esri User Conference—an international map gallery competition.
• The Department of Performing Arts announced the addition of a visiting artist duo. Ayça Çetin will be teaching music theory as a visiting lecturer in music. Her husband, adjunct clarinet instructor Katsuya Yuasa, also will be teaching a pair of introduction to music courses.
• Mocs senior offensive lineman McClendon Curtis was one of 114 student-athletes nationwide nominated for the 2022 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. The nominees exemplify community service, academic dedication and impact on and off the field.

If you have people 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:

• The UT Concur Team announced a series of Concur summer “Boot Camp” sessions taking place this week via Zoom. All sessions, with the exception of Open Q&A sessions, are eligible for HR128 credit.
• The UT System is offering free “Virtual Safe Space” sessions to help employees manage stress they may be experiencing professionally and personally.
• An ORSP recap of June 2022 sponsored program activity.

Be sure to bookmark Campus Updates and visit it regularly.

Looking ahead

We encourage you to use the University events calendar to share information. 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.

Events on this week’s calendar include:

• Tuesday, July 26: The Concur Summer Training Series includes several Zoom training opportunities, including in-state travel, out-of-state travel, international travel and conference travel.
• Wednesday, July 27: Concur training sessions include What’s New with Concur, Approvers and Guest Travelers.

To find out about these and other upcoming events, please bookmark and visit the master events calendar.

Looking back

Mentors and incoming first-year students in the MOC Academy.

The MOC Academy, created by Student Success Programs, is a new summer program aimed at preparing first-year undergraduate men of color for a successful transition to college. The program started in a virtual format in late June before moving to campus on July 9.

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

• When appointments to a prestigious Tennessee Governor’s Management Fellowship are awarded each year, only five of the state’s most promising young people are chosen. In December 2021, Varsha Kommireddi (’22, business) was one of the five.
• Senior Olivia Morris and sophomore Andrew Hale are the first UTC students selected for the Truist Small-Business Intern Initiative, a program which focuses on women and minority students seeking engineering or computer science internships.
• Chanda Okyere has been juggling family life and medical textbooks while studying to become a family nurse practitioner.

All Hands on Deck: Volunteer 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.

Individuals and departments can get involved in numerous ways, from volunteering to providing fliers/goodies for on-campus residents to UTC Sports Complex banners.

• Volunteer assignments cover everything from greeting students and their families, parking, 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 is like to volunteer? Check out the OMI video.