Black History Month is an opportunity to highlight Black leaders and celebrate those who have impacted the country and the world with their achievements. The Office of Multicultural Affairs, in partnership with divisions and organizations throughout campus and the community, has put together a robust and exciting calendar of events throughout the month. Please check the Black History Month web page for the most up-to-date schedule.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee gave his State of the State address on January 31 and released his budget for the coming year. Higher education is a huge beneficiary in the proposed budget for FY2023. Thank you to Governor Lee and each member of our Hamilton County delegation for placing such a high value on education. A special shout out to Senator Bo Watson, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, for helping us understand the process and compete for state capital funds.
Mocs student-athletes are great ambassadors for UTC, both on the field of play and in the classroom. The Southern Conference recently announced its Fall 2021 Academic All-Conference team, and UTC led the conference with a league-high 52 Mocs student-athletes earning spots on the team. UTC also led the way with 11 student-athletes posting perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs: Tyron Arnett and Christian Snyder (football); Jonathan Boyd, Eric Mitchell and Eamonn O’Bryant (men’s cross country); Kate Neill and Maia Rackel (volleyball); Julianna McReynolds, Morgan Ouellette and Emma Russum (women’s cross country); and Grace Klippenstein (soccer). Well Done!
The Mocs men’s basketball team will play in front of a nationally televised audience this Saturday (February 5) as part of a doubleheader at McKenzie Arena. UTC will host Mercer in a 12 p.m. ESPNU tipoff, followed by the women’s team taking on Samford in a 3 p.m. game. Let’s all cheer on our Mocs!
A big round of applause goes to sophomore guard Malachi Smith, who was recently named the Southern Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time this season. Malachi is the first player in Mocs program history to win weekly honors four times in one year and the first SoCon player to accomplish that feat since Stephen Curry—now an NBA all-star—won the award eight times while playing for Davidson during the 2008-2009 season.
Mocs offensive lineman Cole Strange will participate in the Senior Bowl on February 5, a postseason college football all-star game in Mobile, Alabama. Congratulations Cole!
More exciting news from Athletics. Last March, the Mocs Club had 467 members before launching a bold initiative to bring the figure to 1,500 by the end of the year. They not only met that goal but exceeded it, with membership now standing at 1,517—a 225% increase from a year ago! What a fantastic achievement! Mocs Club support benefits more than 300 UTC student-athletes.
Congratulations to senior Samantha De Armas, a digital media and virtual reality artist, on being one of five local artists selected by ArtsBuild to receive awards from the Racial Equity Grants for Individual Artists (REGIA) program. The REGIA grant will support equipment purchases to complete her senior thesis project.
What a neat story about spring 2021 graduate Chanceton Lindsey, whose senior capstone project turned into a short film worthy of being entered into film festivals. The communication major turned his COVID-19 quarantine time into an idea for a screenwriting class, and the result was “Time Off,” a film recently released on YouTube and Vimeo. Kudos to Chanceton and his instructor, Angelique Gibson.
Congratulations to Joshua Tyler, who is pursuing a master’s in electrical engineering, on having two papers he wrote based on his thesis research presented at two prestigious conferences—the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers’ Global Communications and its Conference on Communications. Both papers focused on enhancing the ability to identify radios using their transmitted signals.
We all have a role to play in student recruitment and retention. We continue to create a coordinated campus-wide Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, starting with the Executive Leadership Team, the deans, and department heads. As this plan comes to fruition, we are excited about the many ways all of us can impact enrollment and this campus’ trajectory.
A round of applause for UC Foundation life trustee Fred Decosimo on being reappointed to the UT Chattanooga Advisory Council by Governor Bill Lee, subject to legislative confirmation. Decosimo and his family have been fervent supporters and allies of UTC.