The search committee for the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has been hard at work, and four candidates have been invited for campus interviews—Rhonda Lewis, Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, Lori Underwood and Peggy Stockdale. Candidate materials and a finalized interview schedule are available here. The campus community is invited to attend open forums with the candidates; I encourage everyone to participate and provide feedback to the committee. I also want to thank Dr. Joe Wilferth for the outstanding work he has done as interim dean.
Great news! The SMILE Fund’s Chartered Financial Analyst Investment Research Challenge team has won the regional challenge in Nashville for the fourth straight year. The team—Melissa Mueller, Mattie Strozak, Ben Trussel, Alex Lindsey and Ethan Howard—now is New York-bound for the America’s Round and the finals. Congratulations to the group, faculty advisor Hunter Holzhauer and industry mentor Ray Ryan.
Also on the SMILE Fund front, congratulations to seniors Casey Szatkowski and Stephen Zurlo on winning the first annual Equity Research Report College Challenge. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush awarded them the cash portion of their prize at the Noble Capital Markets Investment Conference in Miami. The competition, sponsored by Salem Media Group, Tribune Publishing, NetworkNewsWire, Kelly Staffing, NASDAQ, E.W. Scripps and Channelchek, focused exclusively on small and microcap emerging-growth companies. Well done, Casey and Stephen! Hats off to the excellent faculty and staff in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business.
What fun news to share! The UTC School of Nursing’s Michelle Rosano was recently awarded Teacher of the Month by 103.7 KISS FM, a Chattanooga music station. Michelle was nominated for going above and beyond every day for the students. This was the first time the radio station visited UTC for this achievement. Michelle’s prize-winning package included a three-day vacation getaway.
It is time once again for nominations for the University of Tennessee Alumni Association’s UTAA Public Service Award, which recognizes an individual for outstanding achievement in public service. All UTC full-time faculty and exempt staff are eligible except previous award winners and those whose primary job responsibilities are in public service. Nominations must be submitted to Jayne-Holder@utc.edu by Monday, March 16.
As part of his UT Promise scholarship initiative, UT Interim President Randy Boyd is recruiting volunteer mentors to serve as a resource and source of encouragement to UT Promise scholarship recipients. Mentors will be paired with two-to-five students and will be asked to spend one hour a month with each mentee for a two-year period. While the time commitment is small, mentors can make a life-changing impact. I encourage you to volunteer for this noble cause at the UT Promise mentoring site.
Best of luck to the Mocs basketball teams as they both head off to the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville, North Carolina. The women’s team grabbed a share of the SoCon regular-season championship for the 22nd time, and the men’s squad heads to the tournament looking to reach and surpass the 20-victory mark. Go Mocs!
UTC is continuing to monitor the latest developments on the coronavirus outbreak. For more information on the coronavirus and precautions you can take to help protect yourself, click here.
A friendly reminder: Daylight saving time takes place at 2 AM this Sunday, March 8. Spring your clocks and watches one hour ahead.
It is hard to believe that spring break is next week. When classes resume Monday, March 16, there will be just five more weeks until Reading Day and final exams. Where does the time go? Have a wonderful spring break!