Spring is in the air with warmer temperatures and flowers in bloom. The pandemic has hit the one-year mark, but a return to normalcy is slowly occurring.
The search committee for the new Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Engagement has been hard at work, and the committee, led by CHEPS Dean Valerie Rutledge, narrowed the pool to a group of four finalists for virtual campus visits. Each candidate will participate in virtual open forums this month with the UTC campus community; information on the candidates and the open forums will be posted here no later than March 15. I invite you to participate and provide feedback to the committee.
Don’t forget that UTC has instituted a routine testing program to help manage the risk of COVID-19 on campus. The process is easy and quick. If you receive an email about routine testing, please follow the steps and sign up for your test. Rapid identification of community members infected with the virus is essential.
Our UTC celebration of Women’s History Month has already begun, and special events are scheduled throughout March—including games, panel discussions, workshops and a “March Through History” exhibit at Lupton Hall.
We are fortunate to have many outstanding women student leaders on our campus. The Inspiring Women in Lifelong Leadership Award (I WILL) gives recognition to UTC women students who show exemplary leadership skills by incorporating social justice and gender equity in all they do. Nominations for the I WILL Award are due March 10.
Congratulations to the SMILE Fund team on winning the CFA Institute Greater Tennessee Research Challenge for the fifth straight year. What speaks volumes about this year’s group is that the students—Jacob Snook and Daniel Trentham (finance), Reedhi Bamnelkar (accounting), Leanah Chestnut (creative writing) and Drew Reynolds (engineering)—come from different majors around campus. Kudos to SMILE Fund director Hunter Holzhauer and industry mentor Ray Ryan for all their terrific guidance.
UTC has been designated a Military Friendly School for 2021-2022. This program measures an organization’s commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefits for the military community, and a Military Friendly designation creates better outcomes for veterans.
Multiple UTC degree programs have been ranked among the nation’s best by Intelligent.com, a website that publishes information helpful to university students. The national recognition is a credit to our hard-working students, faculty and staff. The Master of Science in Engineering Management program was ranked as the nation’s second-best while also placing sixth overall for Best Construction Management degree. The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree was rated third-best among probation officer programs. The Master of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program was ranked fifth. The School of Nursing was cited for best nurse anesthesia program.
Congratulations to assistant professor Mengjun Xie and College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Daniel Pack who, in collaboration with Purdue University Northwest, have received $608,908 from the National Security Agency for the project entitled “Establishing a Workforce Development Consortium for a Pilot AI-Cybersecurity Certification-based National Training Program.”
The Mocs beach volleyball team will host its first-ever home match on March 16—a doubleheader against Carson-Newman at the UTC Sports Complex. The beach volleyball team, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, has 10 regular-season matches on its 2021 spring slate. Go Mocs!
A friendly reminder: Daylight saving time takes place at 2 a.m. next Sunday, March 14. Spring your clocks and watches one hour ahead.