On behalf of the UTC Executive Leadership Team, I want to thank every student, faculty and staff member for all they are doing to help us manage during this challenging period. Students are concerned about the impact of online instruction on their degree, and their future. Many faculty members have never taught online and are spending countless hours to move their courses online. At the same time the world around us is spinning, seemingly out of control. We will be OK. We will see this through together.
The health and well-being of our campus community is our top priority. The coronavirus (COVID-19) health crisis fluctuates by the day, and oftentimes by the hour. We are working to provide as many answers as we can—and as quickly as we can. Wednesday evening, we found out that a member of our campus community tested positive for the virus – the individual had been off campus since March 11th. Please keep checking the UTC website for the most up-to-date information.
We must continue to step up and help each other, our campus, and our community deal with this health crisis. This will not be easy, but we can do this together. Social distancing means physical distancing — so check on your friends and family. Thanks to phones, email and social media, we can be sociable and safe at the same time.
This week we made the painful decision to postpone our commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 1st and 2nd. This is the highlight of every semester and our students deserve an opportunity for our campus community to celebrate their achievements. We are considering several options to celebrate the achievements of our graduating students, including a commencement ceremony in the fall. Our graduating students received an online survey earlier this week so we can hear their thoughts about what they prefer. Information on commencement will be forthcoming in the next one to two weeks.
Amid a difficult week we do have some uplifting news – the types of things normally found in my C-Notes.
The UTC MS in Engineering Management program has been ranked third in the nation, ahead of Arizona State, Purdue, UT-Austin, Michigan, Duke and others, and “BEST in the South” by the Intelligent company, a company that ranks colleges and programs in the nation using aggregated publicly available data to help students to find the right colleges. Congratulations to Dr. Nasab and his entire department.
Congratulations to Ashwyn Sam on being admitted into the 2020 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University. Ashwyn will be pursuing a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics when he begins his graduate school degree at Stanford in the fall. This is a tremendous achievement for him and a proud moment for the faculty and staff of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Way to go, Ashwyn!
For the third time in four years, the UTC Mock Trial Team has qualified for the National Championship. Congratulations to the team and its coaching staff. What a tremendous achievement!
A tip of the cap to the Office of Communications and Marketing for placing in a recent print design competition. The Graphic Media Alliance, a regional print design consortium, gave the “Right Place Right Time” publication a Gold Award. The winning piece, an oversized folder with an insert—complete with a die-cut map of Tennessee—was created for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs to promote the out-of-state tuition reduction for bordering states plus South Carolina.
UTC senior softball player Aly Walker is one of just 30 NCAA Division I student-athletes to be named a national candidate for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate softball. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have notable community, classroom, character and competition achievements. Aly, a communications major, carries a 3.55 GPA and ranks in the Top 10 in UTC history in numerous batting categories. Go Mocs!