Updates and news for the week of October 18 – October 24, 2022

The Numbers Are in: Celebrating Mocs Give Day

Congratulations to the Division of Advancement on raising $1,209,301 from 1,475 donors over the 24 hours of the third annual Mocs Give Day on Oct. 4. Highlights of Mocs Give Day included:

• $859,763 raised for scholarship support.
• More than 400 new donors giving to UTC.
• Donations from 105 current UTC students, 328 employees and 552 alumni.
• Donors giving $124,430 to the Denise and Tim Downey Student Emergency Fund—including a $50,000 gift from UT System President Randy Boyd.
• UTC Athletics gaining 148 new Mocs Club members and raising $804,029 to support student-athletes.
• All five colleges had a $1 for $1 match up to $10,000 on Mocs Give Day, and all reached that $10,000 goal.

Coffee with the Chancellor will be held on Wednesday (October 19) from 8:30-9:15 a.m. in the Military Science Building (601 Douglas St., across from the UTC Library).

Please join Chancellor Angle for an informal discussion. This is an open-door event; feel free to drop by and chat for a few minutes at your convenience. The only agenda is meaningful conversation. Bring your creative ideas and any questions or concerns.

The Music Division of the UTC Department of Performing Arts is hosting the campus premiere of “Songbirds: A Documentary,” the Emmy Award-winning documentary that tells the story of the world’s largest collection of vintage guitars. The screening takes place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (October 20) in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall. Admission is free and all are invited. Director Dagan Beckett, a 2012 graduate of UTC, will be in attendance along with producer Irv Berner and composer Brook McGarity.

The UTC Philosophy and Religion Department and the UTC Philosophy Society invite campus to “Dreams, Ghosts, Buddhism, and Skepticism: Vasubandhu’s Spooky Philosophy,” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday (October 20) in Lupton Hall Room 389.

The Asian Student Association, Muslim Student Association and Vietnamese Student Association are hosting the Sunset Fall Festival from 6-9 p.m. Thursday (October 20) in the Lupton Hall main lobby. Experience fall multicultural events and practices from around the world, such as the Islamic Lunar Calendar, Tết Trung Thu, and the night of lights from India. Sample foods, learn about traditional practices and engage in fun activities.

The final Conversation on Democracy in 2022 (co-sponsored by Tennessee Democracy Forum, the Department of Political Science and Public Service and the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Government) brings Salin Geevarghese back to Chattanooga. The conversation will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Friday (October 21) in Derthick Hall 101. Geevarghese, a 1992 graduate of UTC, is the president and CEO of SGG Insight, LLC; serves as senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy; and is founding director of the Mixed-Income Strategic Alliance and its Innovation and Action Network. His late father, P.K. Geevarghese, was a member of the UTC faculty for 40 years. You can register for this event at www.tndemocracyforum.org/register.

On Friday (October 21) in the Guerry Center Reading Room, the Department of History will host a public lecture and discussion on how wheat shifted world power. The “What’s Grain Got To Do With It” panel includes University of Georgia Professor Scott Reynolds Nelson, who will talk about his recent book, “Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World.” The discussion, moderated by Associate Lecturer Mark Johnson, will begin at 7 p.m.

The University Club is hosting a combination open house/happy hour from 5-7 p.m. Friday (October 21) at the Patten House. The University Club, a social club open to all UTC faculty, staff and retirees (as well as their families), meets for informal socializing two Fridays a month. For questions or more information, please email Charlene-Simmons@utc.edu.

Last call for November notes

The November edition of the UTC Parent and Family Association newsletter will be emailed to members on November 2.

If you have information to share with the families of UTC students—upcoming events, important deadlines, helpful suggestions and departmental news—email details to hannah-turcotte@utc.edu no later than Friday (October 21). This monthly newsletter is distributed to more than 4,600 parents/family members; you can view the October newsletter here.

• Keep info to one paragraph of 200 (or fewer) words.
• Images or logos to accompany the paragraph may be submitted.

ORSP FY2022 Annual Report

The ORSP staff: Top row, from left: Angie Morelock, David Veazey, Todd Doman. Bottom row: Sam Stanley, Meredith Perry, Ashley Ledford, Terri Bearbower.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced that the FY2022 Annual Report is now available. The annual report captures UTC faculty and staff’s commitment to teaching and learning, outreach, creative endeavors, and scholarly inquiry through sponsored activity achievements. Here are some quick statistics that capture these achievements:

• In FY2022, UTC faculty and staff prepared and submitted 203 proposals with a collective potential dollar value slightly more than $65 million—a 21% decrease in funds requested over FY2021.
• In FY2022, awards totaled nearly $14 million in funds for outreach, scholarship, and student support plus an additional $1.2 million in Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please check out the report to see more information regarding these outstanding achievements. If you see an error, please email orsp@utc.edu by November 4.

FAFSA Fridays

Need help filling out the FAFSA application? Excellent news: the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office wants to help, offering virtual Zoom sessions to assist students in completing their application throughout October on FAFSA Fridays.

• October 21: noon-2 p.m.
• October 28: noon-2 p.m.

Dating and Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Join the Center for Wellbeing and the Center for Women and Gender Equity at programs throughout the month to learn more about dating and domestic violence, the resources available on campus to help, how to intervene when hearing or seeing peers engage in abusive behaviors, and how best to support those who are experiencing abuse. For more information on all programs, please visit Mocsync.

This week’s events:

• Tuesday-Friday (10/18-10/21): Red Flags Campaign Display, Chamberlain Circle
• Wednesday (10/19): Red Flags Campaign Event, Chamberlain Circle, 1 p.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Red Flags Campaign Event, Chamberlain Circle, 9:30 a.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Step Up! Against Dating Violence, University Center Suite 350, 5 p.m.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Be On the Lookout

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. As helpful as it is to have a whole month devoted to cybersecurity, one month is never enough because hackers never take a day off.

Throughout October, you will be receiving a weekly email from KnowBe4 that is labeled, “Scam of the Week.” These emails are informational and will educate you on the tactics used by hackers to trick users. KnowBe4 is the company that UTC leverages to help train employees to recognize phishing emails.  

As a reminder, if you see something suspicious come across your inbox, please forward it to security@utc.edu or check phishbowl.utc.edu for the latest phishing emails going around. 

Commencement Marshals

A handful of faculty or staff (10-15) are being sought to serve as marshals at each of our three December 2022 commencement ceremonies:

• Friday, December 16: Graduate School (all colleges), 2:30 p.m.
• Saturday, December 17: Undergraduate – College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering and Computer Science, 9 a.m.
• Saturday, December 17: Undergraduate – Gary W. Rollins College of  Business and College of Health, Education and Professional Studies, 1 p.m.

Click here for more information, including the volunteer signup form.

Hatch It! Competition Taking Place November 2

Join the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at 3:30 p.m. on November 2 in Mapp Building Room 213 for Hatch It!—a high-energy competition where students will pitch their creative business ideas. Register here to attend and cheer on your favorite team.

The following six teams will be competing for prizes:

• Aqua Bella: Timothy Hawn (Music) and Adin Castle (Entrepreneurship)
• College Cleaners: Brooke McFarlin (Communication) and Alayna Grover (Civil Engineering)
• Instant Hem: Morgan Powers (Marketing), Kelly Jacinto (Finance) and Tierra Gwin (Marketing)
• Last Call: Kate Barry (Psychology) and Andrew Crockett (Marketing)
• Mocs Nest: William Baker (Marketing) and Jacob Cox (Marketing)
• SinceBirth Apparel: Devin Lay (Business Management) and Jaytonn Hunter (Computer Science)

The outstanding people of UTC

Benjamin Stein, left, and Amir Alakaam

Congratulations to UTC faculty and staff who received awards or submitted proposals for sponsored programs in September. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced that faculty and staff attracted $1,432,067 in external grant and contract awards during the month and submitted proposals for the potential to generate over $4,527,689 in external funding, if awarded.

Among those receiving awards in September:

• Assistant Professor Ben Stein (Chemistry and Physics) has received $322,375 from National Institutes of Health for the project entitled, “Characterization of non-canonical regulatory pathways in the Caulobacter NtrYX signaling system.” The NIH Research Enhancement Award, known as an R15, is only the second received by a UTC faculty member in recent years—and came in his first attempt.
• Associate Professor Amir Alakaam (Health & Human Performance) has received $332,500 from the Tennessee Department of Health for the project entitled, “Developing a Curriculum for Public Health Workforces in Tennessee.” The public health curriculum developed through this project will be disseminated to health professionals and providers across the state.

Check out these other Mocs making a difference:

• A research proposal by Professor of Computer Science Hong Qin has been selected to advance to the second of three rounds of review in the U.S. National Academy of Medicine’s Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge. The proposal earned him a $50,000 cash award for its selection to advance from the initial, “catalyst” phase, to Round 2, the “accelerator” phase of the competition.
• Assistant Professor Dawn Ford was selected as president-elect of the Tennessee Public Health Association.
• UC Foundation Assistant Professor Saeid Golkar was quoted for a story that appeared on newspaper websites around the globe, including ABC News, the Miami Herald, Yahoo News UK and Ireland, Voice of America and the New Delhi Times.
• Senior golfer Dorota Zalewska earned Southern Conference Golfer of the Week honors three times over a four-week span.
• Junior Paul Conroy tied the school record with a final-round 62 on Sunday to lead the Mocs men’s golf team to victory at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Campus Updates

The UTC Commission on the Status of Women is excited to offer an informal fall book club featuring “The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work.” There are different ways to participate, including joining a group led by commission member Sarah Canatsey that will meet at 4 p.m. on November 1, November 8, November 15 and November 29. Click here for more information, and email women@utc.edu to register.

UTC is an official host institution of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s annual Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education. So, what does this mean for you? It means you get to attend for free. Through this three-day event streaming live October 18, October 26 and November 3, you will have the chance to explore live interactive sessions, tune in to captivating keynote presentations, and engage in networking opportunities with thousands of other sustainability professionals and campus-change agents.

The Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs are hosting a forum with the Department of Emergency Medicine at Erlanger Hospital focused on research related to ending and alleviating the health disparities associated with homelessness. The forum will include representatives from Erlanger, the City of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Interagency Council on Homelessness. The event will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on November 4 in the University Center. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP by October 28.

ARKAI, an award-winning string duo comprised of violinist Jonathan Miron, left, and cellist Philip Sheegog, will perform at UTC on October 24. The free concert, open to the public, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall.

There are many faculty, staff and students on campus who play the trumpet, and trumpeters of all abilities are invited to participate in the TAPS Project. On Friday, November 11, beginning at 9:45 a.m., trumpets can be heard performing “Taps” in sequence around the UTC campus in honor of Veterans Day. Click here for more information and to register.

Thanks to generous donations from partners and sponsors, UTC Veteran and Military Affairs will host Veterans Day food trucks on campus on Friday, November 11. All are welcome to attend. Veteran and Military Affairs is calling on everyone to spread the news and support.

The Honors College invites full-time faculty members from all colleges to submit proposals for special-topics general education seminars to be taught in the 2023–2024 academic year. “We’re asking for your ‘dream courses,’ classes you’ve always thought would engage and transform students, but that may not fit easily into a departmental program,” said Will Kuby, associate dean of the Honors College. Click here for more information, including the application process.

A new course, MUS 3200 African American Music: An Introduction, will meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2-2:50 p.m. during the spring 2023 semester. The General Education course satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts subcategory of Fine Arts and Humanities and also counts toward the Africana Studies minor. For additional information, contact Erika-Schafer@utc.edu.

The Offices of Equity and Inclusion and Human Resources announced Search Committee Training dates for Fall 2022. Search Committee Training is mandatory for anyone serving on a faculty or exempt staff search committee at UTC, and the training must be repeated after two years. This Zoom training provides essential information and resources for search committee members.

The Undergraduate Admissions Office will be hosting the annual Blue and Gold Preview Day for prospective students and their families on Saturday, November 5. We anticipate hosting over 700 prospective students and their family members on campus for this event. Blue and Gold Preview Day includes a tour of campus, an academic department fair, a student organization showcase and a residence hall open house. Click here for a link to the online registration.

Mark your calendars for the 2022 Study Abroad Fair. If you’re interested in studying abroad during your time at UTC, stop by the UC Tennessee Room on November 9 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. to talk to partners from across the globe, chat with study abroad alumni, eat food from around the world and grab some swag—T-shirts, magnets, stickers and more. Learn more by signing up here for the Study Abroad 101 Canvas course.

Save the dates for the upcoming Grant Writing Workshop and individual technical assistance consultation sessions on February 2-3, 2023. The Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will again be partnering with The Implementation Group to bring valuable proposal development activities to campus. Stay tuned for the agenda and registration links.

WUTC Reaches Pledge Drive Goal

Thank you to the Campus Community for helping WUTC-FM 88.1 achieve its Fall Pledge Drive fundraising goal of $50,000. In addition to being Chattanooga’s NPR station, WUTC is proud to enrich UTC student learning experiences with on-the-air and behind-the-scenes opportunities, and to give University experts a platform to share important information with the community. Thank you again for your generous support.

Live in the Library

WUTC-FM 88.1’s Richard Winham is the host of “Live In The Library,” a weekly session and conversation with musicians recorded live downtown at the Chattanooga Public Library. He recently talked to the members of Sunshine Nights, a Brooklyn-based trio, who came to town to play in the MACC on Signal Mountain.

Looking ahead

Events posted to this week’s University master calendar include:

• Today (10/18): International Tea Time, Lupton Hall, 3 p.m.
• Wednesday (10/19): Be Well Health Fair, University Center Tennessee Room, 9 a.m.
• Wednesday (10/19): Inspiring the Innovation Mindset: Commercializing Innovation Through Partnerships, Mapp Building, 10:45 a.m.
• Wednesday (10/19): Field Day on Chamberlain, Chamberlain Field, 1 p.m.
• Wednesday (10/19): Red Flags Campaign Event, Chamberlain Circle, 1 p.m.
• Wednesday (10/19): Storytelling the Market Value Proposition is About Benefits, Not Technology, Mapp Building, 3 p.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Red Flags Campaign Event, Chamberlain Circle, 9:30 a.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Entrepreneurship Lunch and Learn, Mapp Building, noon
• Thursday (10/20): Dreams, Ghosts, Buddhism, and Skepticism: Vasubandhu’s Spooky Philosophy, Lupton Hall 389, 3:30 p.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Step Up! Against Dating Violence, University Center 350, 5 p.m.
• Thursday (10/20): Sunset Fall Festival, Lupton Hall, 6 p.m.
• Friday (10/21): What’s Grain Got To Do With It, Guerry Center, 7 p.m.

Senior Dorota Zalewska and the Mocs women’s golf team are playing at The Ally in West Point, Mississippi. Photo Credit: Don Luzynski/GoMocs.com.

This week’s Mocs Athletics calendar:

• Tuesday (10/18): Women’s Golf at The Ally (West Point, Miss.)
• Wednesday (10/19): Women’s Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regionals (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Thursday (10/20): Women’s Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regionals (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Friday (10/21): Women’s Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regionals (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Friday (10/21): Soccer at Wofford (Spartanburg, S.C.), 2 p.m.
• Friday (10/21): Volleyball at Wofford (Spartanburg, S.C.), 5 p.m.
• Friday (10/21): Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet (University Center Tennessee Room), 6 p.m.
• Saturday (10/22): Women’s Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regionals (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Saturday (10/22): Men’s Golf at Furman Intercollegiate (Greenville, S.C.)
• Saturday (10/22): Wrestling—Blue-Gold Match (First Horizon Pavilion), 10 a.m.
• Saturday (10/22): Men’s Tennis—Alumni Match (UTC Tennis Center), 10 a.m.
• Saturday (10/22): Football vs. Mercer (Finley Stadium), 1:30 p.m.
• Saturday (10/22): Volleyball at Furman (Greenville, S.C.), 7 p.m.
• Sunday (10/23): Women’s Tennis at ITA Ohio Valley Regionals (Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Sunday (10/23): Men’s Golf at Furman Intercollegiate(Greenville, S.C.)
• Sunday (10/23): Soccer at Furman (Greenville, S.C.), 1 p.m.

Looking back

Katherine Hewitt, left, and student Jayda Fowler at Be Well’s Take Carrot of Yourself event.

Katherine Hewitt, assistant director of health education and wellness promotion in the Center for Wellbeing, is chairperson for Be Well—a coalition working to support the UTC community’s personal, academic and social wellbeing.

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

• “Songbirds: A Documentary” delves into the historical importance of the guitar museum in Chattanooga. The documentary was directed by UTC alum Dagan Beckett.
• Tom Waters, an intellectual property and business startup executive and an alum of UTC, headlines the program for the University’s first-ever Research Commercialization Day: Inspiring the Innovation Mindset.
• The premise that American wheat changed the balance of world power is the subject of a panel discussion being hosted by the Department of History on October 21.
• Sophomore computer science major Maxwell King helped digitally archive and catalogue the massive collection of artifacts at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center.
• The draw of Chattanooga, especially its cultural history, is one of the reasons Micah Chapman created the Chattanooga Hip-Hop Week, a series of events from October 9-15 that included a UTC-only concert October 13 in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall.

Be Well Tip of the Week: Exercise is Medicine

Almost anyone can exercise safely at any age. Consult a health professional if you are unsure of the kinds and amounts of physical activity that are best for you. There are numerous advantages to regular exercise. Along with physical health benefits, exercise has positive effects on mental health as well, including raising self-esteem, reducing stress and increasing energy.

• Look for ways to reduce time sitting and increase time moving. Whenever you can, walk, bike or run instead of taking the car.
• Federal guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week for adults. Start slowly and work your way up to more time or more challenging activities. You might split that into 30 minutes, five days a week.
• Remember the “FITT Principle:” Frequency-Intensity-Time-Type. Endurance exercises increase your breathing and heart rate (i.e. walking, swimming). Strength exercises make your muscles stronger (i.e. lifting weights, using a resistance band). Balance and flexibility exercises stretch your muscles and help prevent injuries and falls (i.e. yoga, tai chi, ballet).

Check out these fitness-related events for students, faculty and staff:

• Exercise is Medicine Month
• “Be Well” Health Fair

If you have news, events or announcements you would like shared in UTC Campus Weekly, Campus Updates and the University events calendar, please email Chuck Wasserstrom in the Division of Communications and Marketing.

• Please submit your information by 3 p.m. on Friday for placement in the following Tuesday’s newsletter.
• The Division of Communications and Marketing will work with campus calendar users to ensure events are properly posted so they can be featured in the newsletter.