04/7/2022  
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Chancellor’s Update

The end of the semester is in sight!  How did time go so fast?  We have reached an exciting point of the year with a multitude of in person events for students, alumni, faculty and staff—as well as for prospective students and their parents.  It feels so good to see people in person again.

Speaking of events, it is a pleasure to introduce Tonya Love—most recently a University Center staff member—as the new Director of University Events.  We are very excited to have her serving campus as part of the Chancellor’s Office staff.

Thank you to all the faculty, staff and students who helped out with last Saturday’s Blue and Gold Preview Day, an event that brought more than 225 prospective students and their guests to campus.  Our UTC visitors had a great time and appreciated the friendly welcome from our student services groups, student organizations, department representatives and admissions staff.  Great job to everyone involved!

ReSEARCH Dialogues, the largest academic conference at UTC, will take place April 12-13.  Presenters from across campus, local community colleges and community partners will be exhibiting their research.  The conference events schedule, including a pair of new events—the Discovery Showcase for exhibitors and a Pitch Competition hosted in partnership with the Gary W. Rollins College of Business—can be found on the ReSEARCH Dialogues webpage.  Special thanks to Lisa Piazza and the Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor staff for all the hard work to organize this conference.

Gary and Kathleen Rollins are visiting campus today and participating in numerous events, including the SMILE Fund Investment Strategy Meeting, a lunch with the Rollins Scholars, the unveiling of the Rollins portrait in Fletcher Hall and tonight’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame ceremony.

This evening, two notable business leaders, O. Wayne Rollins and Olan Mills Sr., will be posthumously inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.  In addition, the 2022 Collegiate Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award will be presented to Devin Lay, a Rollins College of Business student majoring in management.

Also this evening, six UTC graduates will be recognized for personifying excellence through their professional achievements and community efforts at the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs’ Legends and Leaders awards celebration.  The banquet will celebrate Class of 2021 honorees Erika Milczek, Albert Woodard and Mike Costello and the Class of 2020: Dr. Pamela Ross, Lindsey Cochran and the late Richard Buhrman.  Congratulations to all, as the six epitomize what it means to be a Moc.

This afternoon at a University Center ceremony, the American Chemical Society’s National Historic Chemical Landmark program will bestow landmark status on Raney nickel, invented by the late Murray Raney in a laboratory in his Oak Street house across the street from campus.  Raney nickel is a fine-grained solid composed chiefly of nickel derived from a nickel–aluminum alloy.  The event will feature proclamations from the State of Tennessee, Hamilton County, and the City of Chattanooga.

A big round of applause to Takeo Suzuki, Yvonne Dunham Slobodenko and the Center for Global Education staff for their work with the English as a Second Language Institute.  This semester, 26 international students are participating in the UTC ESL program, including 13 undergraduates from J.F. Oberlin University—a private four-year institution near Tokyo.  Next Tuesday, April 12, the students are the stars of a Global Spotlight: Japan event at Lupton Hall.

Congratulations to the Counseling Center and the Center for Wellbeing for hosting yesterday’s Collegiate Recovery Academy program.  The Academy is part of a UT systemwide training to promote a greater understanding of recovery issues and reduce the stigma associated with help-seeking.  The Mocs Recovery Program was launched earlier this year to assist UTC students in recovery or seeking treatment for substance use.

For the sixth straight year, the SMILE Fund’s Chartered Financial Analyst Institute team won the Greater Tennessee Research Challenge.  Rollins College of Business finance majors Luke Johnson, Nicole Brill and Logan Painter analyzed Tractor Supply Company.  Congratulations to the three students, faculty advisor Hunter Holzhauer and industry mentor Ray Ryan for another outstanding CFA Institute performance.

Congratulations to the 144 UTC first-generation college students, faculty and staff inducted into the Alpha Alpha Alpha national honor society.  UTC is the first university in Tennessee with an honor society specifically for first-gen students.  A big “Thank You” goes out to Crystal Edenfield and Jason Harville in Student Success Programs for the work they do in overseeing first-gen programming.

Congratulations to Mocs men’s basketball guard Malachi Smith on being named the Lou Henson National Player of the Year, an award presented annually to the top mid-major player in Division I college basketball.  Malachi was just the second Southern Conference player to earn that prestigious honor.  Malachi recently announced his intention to enter the NBA draft. We are grateful for the way he has represented UTC and wish him the very best.

A big “Go Mocs” welcome to two new members of the UTC family, women’s basketball head coach Shawn Poppie and men’s basketball head coach Dan Earl.  Welcome to UTC!

Just a friendly reminder that UTC will observe the Spring Holiday next Friday, April 15.  We will all enjoy a much-needed three-day weekend!

 

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