November 26-December 2, 2024

Updates and news for the week of November 26-December 2, 2024

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.

UTC News  |  UTC Events Calendar  |  Campus Updates

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Highlights

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving holiday break to all of our UTC students, staff and faculty!

Thanks to the holiday break, please submit all items for next Tuesday’s edition of the Campus Weekly newsletter no later than 10 a.m. on Monday (Dec. 2).

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Next Tuesday is Reading Day

The UTC Library offers extended hours during finals. Beginning on Reading Day (Tuesday, Dec. 3), the library will be staffed from 7:30 a.m.-2 a.m. weekdays; from 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6; from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7; and from noon-2 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8. At various times during finals week, library personnel will convert a book cart into a snack cart and wheel it throughout the library to bring students a tasty treat.

• As part of Reading Day (Dec. 3), the library will host a creative study break in the Library’s Studio (Room 305). Drop by for a hand sewing workshop from 2-3 p.m. This study break provides a refreshing brain reset while also providing attendees with a practical skill. Click here for more info.

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Spring 2025 Dual Enrollment Options

High school juniors and seniors can now experience college-level learning through UTC’s newly announced spring 2025 dual-enrollment courses. Ten general education courses—chosen for their strong transferability to most four-year institutions—will be available in various formats: on the UTC campus after the high school day, online with set schedules and online with flexible options.

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Gold Cords for Graduating Seniors

To all our Fall 2024 graduating Mocs, congratulations from UTC Advancement. As your status advances from student to alumnus, you have the opportunity to create a lasting impact here at UTC. By donating just $5 or more, you can receive an exclusive Gold Cord to wear at commencement that signifies your commitment to future Mocs.

This small donation can go a long way in helping to fund scholarships and enhance programs all over campus. Plus, wearing the gold cord at commencement will set you apart as a proud UTC supporter. Donate Today and leave a legacy for future students at your alma mater. Students can pick up their gold cord at the Alumni House (551 Oak St.) weekdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Outstanding People of UTC

Dr. Michael Williams (pictured) joined UTC in August as the director of Africana Studies, which is currently available to students as a minor. He also teaches several Africana Studies courses in the Department of History. He sat down for a Q&A about his role.

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Rebecca Godri (white shirt) and two of her UTC physics undergraduate colleagues, John O’Neal and Sara Mitchell, traveled to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in March 2020.

Rebecca Godri, a 2021 graduate of UTC, is making waves in the physics world after being selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program. The SCGSR award, considered one of the most esteemed honors for graduate research in physics, supports promising graduate students by providing funding for research projects that align with the DOE’s scientific priorities.

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Lesley Boyd (photo credit: Chattanooga Athletics/David Martin)

Chattanooga distance runner Lesley Boyd finished 121st out of 255 runners at the NCAA Cross Country National Championship Saturday morning in Madison, Wisconsin.

Boyd is the first Chattanooga runner since Teghan Henderson in 2013 to advance to the National Championship and the ninth UTC women’s runner overall. She finished 10th at the NCAA South Region Championship, earning all-region honors, and was the No. 2 individual qualifier out of the region. Boyd led the Mocs throughout the season, finishing in the Top 10 in every race in 2024.

“It was a privilege to watch her race the last cross country race of her career. It was a great way to end her cross country career,” said her coach, Andy Meyer. “Lesley has been the heart and soul of this team since she arrived on campus. It has been an honor to coach her.”

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Check out these Mocs making news:

• Assistant Political Science and Public Service Professor Hassan Afzal published his first research article, “Economic Hardship and Voting Intentions,” in SN Business & Economics.
• The School of Nursing’s engAGING Communities initiative, led by Dr. Kristi Wick, was mentioned in the announcement of the Tennessee Department of Health’s creation of an Office of Healthy Aging.
• School Psychology Program Director Amanda Hardin was the primary investigator on a project, “The RAIL (Rural Assessment and Intervention Library) System,” which was awarded a UT Grand Challenges Grant.
• UTC alumna Dr. Amanda Miller was recently named the top family practice physician by the Tennessee Association of Family Physicians. She received her undergraduate degree from UTC in 2008, graduating summa cum laude in biology.

Mark Your Calendar

Photo courtesy of Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com

This week’s Mocs home athletics calendar:

• Wednesday, 11/27: Men’s basketball vs. Bryant (Coke Classic), McKenzie Arena, 2 p.m.

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We are still seeking submissions for poster and birds-of-a-feather sessions for the 2025 UT Innovative Technologies Symposium, taking place Jan. 28-29, 2025, at the Knoxville Convention Center. The deadline to submit within these presentation formats has been extended to Wednesday, Nov. 27.

To submit a proposal, visit https://oit.utk.edu/news/proposals-extended-ut-it-symposium/.

Thank you to those who submitted presentation proposals. Decisions on all presentation formats will be made in early December.

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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.

Upcoming discussion dates and topics:

• Thursday, Dec. 5: Tam Bang, “Quantum Computing in Intelligent Transportation Systems”

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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The UTC Department of Physical Therapy class of 2026 is hosting a gift-wrapping fundraiser to help cover expenses for students to attend the APTA CSM in Houston, Texas. Bring your gifts to be wrapped on Thursday, Dec. 5, and Friday, Dec. 6, at the James R. Mapp Building.

Drop off: 8-10 a.m.
Pick up: 12:30-3 p.m.

Pricing:

• $5 per gift
• $40 for 10 gifts
• 10% discount if you provide your own wrapping paper.

Please bring boxes if needed for your items. If you are interested, reach out to Holly Harris at 615-947-7303 or hhw894@mocs.utc.edu to schedule times and fill out a form.

Campus Updates

Whether good, bad or somewhere in the middle, we all have a relationship with food. With the holiday season upon us, food-focused holidays can bring these relationships to the forefront of our brains and can potentially influence our eating patterns. These relationships can be heightened when celebrating cultural holidays surrounded by food.

With the pressures and messages associated with today’s diet culture, it can be easy to fixate on what we should or shouldn’t add to our plates. However, it is important to remember that this time of year is also a time of connection, gratitude and memory-making with those around you, and a couple of days of “indulgent eating” is not going to result in lasting weight gain or derail any progress you may have made. You can always get back on track at any time.

Enjoy this season of relaxation and celebrate with those around you in whatever way that brings you joy and comfort. Instagram: utc_cw

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The renovation of the University Center has officially begun and some temporary walls have been built to separate the early phase construction area from the rest of the UC. With these walls come changes to how campus will access certain departments and rooms in the UC.

• The Admissions Office and Orientation Office are only accessible via the exterior admissions entrance on Terrell Owens Way. The entire first floor, except for these offices, is now offline.
• The Financial Aid Office, Mosaic Coaching Lounge and UC Auditorium are only available via the exterior entrance from Mocs Alumni Drive. You cannot access these areas from the gallery area of the second floor.
• Access to the Mocs One Center and Career Connections will continue to be via the doors on the Vine St. side of their temporary locations in the Chattanooga Rooms.

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UTC Newsroom

Transferring from Chattanooga State Community College to the UTC opened doors that Chance Rollins (pictured) didn’t expect. Though he did not begin UTC as a freshman, he still had a catalog of financial aid and scholarship opportunities available. Now a senior in the online business management program, Rollins said he is grateful for the smooth transition between the two institutions.

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Caroline Schrader (right) is a sophomore mechatronics student in Dr. Chandra Ward’s Innovations in Honors course.

Each weekday around 3 p.m., parents and families from Chattanooga’s Oak Grove neighborhood gather outside East Side Elementary to pick up their children. What should be a safe and routine part of the day can actually be quite dangerous as cars speed through the residential area. 

To address this concern and make the neighborhood safer, UTC students in Dr. Chandra Ward’s Innovations in Honors course—Innovation Lab I— spent their Monday afternoons installing signage and painting crosswalks to create a more pedestrian-friendly area. 

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

• When Alayna Grover came to UTC from White House, Tennessee, she viewed college as a fresh start. Now a junior electrical engineering major with a minor in physics, she has taken part in research at NASA’s Space Radiation Laboratory, gaining hands-on experience in testing electronics for space radiation and building detectors for cosmic ray experiments.
• The Rocket Mocs have plans to ascend to new heights. The team, comprised of junior and senior mechanical engineering students, has been accepted into the 2025 Student Launch Challenge—an annual competition sponsored by NASA—for the seventh consecutive year.
• UTC hosted GIS Day, a worldwide day of celebration of the impactful work of GIS professionals and an opportunity to inspire future innovators.

WUTC

Emma Collins, co-founder and education director at Scenic City Shakepeare—and Wolf Trap teaching artist at the Arts-Based Collaborative on UTC’s campus—was featured on “Scenic Roots” on WUTC-FM 88.1.