Convocation is a welcoming event held at McKenzie Arena that recognizes the beginning of new students’ college careers at UTC. Photo by Angela Foster.
The fall 2024 semester is swiftly approaching as University of Tennessee at Chattanooga staff and faculty diligently prepare for the arrival of the campus’ new Mocs.
While the official “Welcome Week” festivities don’t begin until Aug. 18, UTC has prepared a plethora of activities for new students as they start their college careers. These events range from Operation Move In to ice cream socials to petting zoos.
Director of Student Success Programs Crystal Edenfield knows the value of activities like playing wiffle ball on Chamberlain Field and how important it is to start building relationships with classmates early.
Her office coordinates First Flight, a pre-welcome week experience created to help new students navigate life on a college campus.
“We are an office dedicated to helping students feel more accepted,” Edenfield said. “Eventually, we hope they are developed personally and professionally and engaging in and out of the classroom. So we do a lot of social activities to help students find their community on campus, and we help first-generation college students.”
Operation Move In for incoming first-year students will take place on Thursday, Aug. 15.
One of the many introductions to UTC programs is Operation Move In, which will look slightly different this year compared to past iterations. Instead of a multiple-day move-in option for first-year and transfer students, it is now on a singular day: Thursday, Aug. 15.
Returning students’ move-in dates will be Aug. 16 and 17.
Kathryn Mortensen, the associate director of residence education for Residence Life, expressed that Operation Move In wouldn’t be possible without the help of over 100 volunteers.
Those volunteers, she said, are vital to the move-in process.
“I think helping the students with that de-stress piece between the students, family members, parents or people helping them move in is definitely a huge part of it,” Mortensen said. “It’s also because we are moving in a couple of thousand people in a very short amount of time, and the organization helps streamline that process.”
For many of the incoming students, Convocation is their first UTC opening ceremony.
Convocation, which will be held at 10 a.m. on Aug. 16 at McKenzie Arena, is the symbolic launch point as incoming freshmen and transfer students start their academic careers at UTC.
Director of University Events Tonya Love, calls it the “kickoff” of the school year.
“It gives them an opportunity to connect with others,” Love said. “Students are going to meet our campus leaders and really get involved with the University. We’ll have the pep bands, the cheerleaders and games to get students excited.”
Starting this fall, new incoming freshmen can involve themselves on campus through “A Moc’s First Year”—a program aimed to ease the transition into college academics through learning communities. These communities include up to 24 students with two to three common courses.
Dr. Delight Yokley, assistant provost for Student Success, mentioned that these cohorts are filling up quickly.
“This takes you connecting with people, not just doing the classwork, but taking the classwork and making it alive in the community—or taking the classwork and then finding people you can study with,” Yokley said.
She said one student cohort will go hiking and kayaking as part of a biology focus. This out-of-classroom activity will connect students with the learning material and with classmates around them.
Other pre-Welcome Week activities at UTC include a Mocs Resource Fair, a cookout at Coolidge Park and Scrappy’s Carnival.
“If you attend all these various events, that’s a great chance to meet people,” Yokley said. “Figure out who is going to be your core group of friends. I’ve been hosting the parent panel, and there are undergraduate students who say most of their friends have been from Welcome Weekend. They’ve attended the events and carried those friends for their time in college.”
Learn more
Introducing “A Moc’s First Year”
One of the many pre-Welcome Week UTC activities is First Flight’s Nooga Nights.
