Perspectives 2011, The Raymond and Florence Witt Lecture Series: Getting a job, changing careers: navigating the world of work will bring personal-finance reporter Ruth Mantell to the UTC campus on Wednesday, March 30, 4 p.m., UTC University Center Auditorium. Mantell works for MarketWatch, a service of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network. This lecture is free and open to everyone.
Mantell will cover a variety of topics, including:
- Which occupations are expected to add jobs over the next five to ten years?
- Does it make economic sense to acquire a graduate degree?
- When should you take a job outside your desired field?
- How often (if at all) should you change occupations or jobs?
- How do you negotiate pay?
- Should you follow an employed boyfriend or girlfriend to a new city if you don’t have a job?
- Is it reasonable to take an unpaid internship and for how long?
About PERSPECTIVES: The Raymond and Florence Witt Lecture Series
In 1987, the late Raymond B. Witt wrote a letter to Chancellor Frederick Obear about his vision of the Witt-Bagley Endowment Fund.
“An early president of IBM pushed the use of one word –THINK. Every employee had that watchword on their desk. We would hope to have a part in UTC conveying a similar urgent message to all of its students in a convincing manner so that their future lives constantly reflect this attitude,” Witt said.
When they established the Witt-Bagley Endowment Fund, this prominent Chattanooga attorney and his wife Florence, an active volunteer leader, allowed UTC to annually invite a speaker who brings “into focus and emphasizing the concept of analytical thinking by individuals.” The interest from the Witt-Bagley Endowment fund annually provides funding for the lecture series.
A little history
A collaborative group including Raymond Witt, Student Government Association President David Chalker, Dr. Margaret Kelley of the UTC Office of Development and Dr. Rocky Renneisen of UTC Student Affairs decided students, faculty, staff and community friends would be represented on the planning committee.
Following PERSPECTIVES 1994, Raymond provided an additional gift to the endowment. “There is excitement in learning, and I hope that most of the students at UTC sometime during their career are challenged to have an experience of how exciting it is to be in the learning process,” he said in a letter.
Raymond continued to serve on the committee until his health no longer permitted. Following his death in 2000, Florence Witt began serving on the planning committee and the Witt family approved a new name for the annual event. PERSPECTIVES: The Raymond B. Witt Lecture Series honored Witt’s contributions to the Chattanooga community and to our University. With approval from the Witt family, a new era begins with PERSPECTIVES 2011: The Raymond and Florence Witt Lecture Series. Mary Alice Wyatt, the couple’s daughter, currently serves on the PERSPECTIVES planning committee.
Raymond and Florence Witt
Raymond Witt was a Chattanooga community leader, UTC Distinguished Alumnus, University of Chattanooga Foundation member and officer and a former University Echo editor.
Florence Witt has served on the boards of Hospice of Chattanooga, Partnership for Families Children and Adults, Girls Preparatory School, and First Centenary Church. Both she and Raymond were recipients of the Kiwanis Club Distinguished Service Award.
The couple has three children, Elder, Mary Alice, and Evans and four college-age grandchildren.
For more information, please visit http://www.utc.edu/Outreach/PerspectivesLectureSeries/About.php
