On Saturday, May 4, Jannat Saeed will graduate from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga—as a Brock Scholar triple major receiving bachelor’s degrees in history, humanities: international studies and software systems. Photo by Angela Foster.
As she approaches her undergraduate commencement, Jannat Saeed has been reflecting on the journey that brought her to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“I have a plethora of experiences and insights to share,” said Saeed, who—as a triple major receiving bachelor’s degrees in history, humanities: international studies and software systems as well as being a Brock Scholar in the UTC Honors College—will undoubtedly have one of the most extended introductions in crossing the McKenzie Arena stage at commencement this Saturday, May 4.
Consider Saeed’s wild ride during her time at UTC. Her experiences have included:
- being elected the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature Executive Council’s statewide Secretary of State;
- winning first place in the National College Honors Council’s poster competition in the Arts and Humanities category for “Circe to Desi: The Five Stages;”
- visiting Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a group of UTC researchers (she was the only student in the group);
- being one of the honorees at the Division of Advancement’s 2023 Scholarship Luncheon;
- and spending two months at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs after being awarded a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI) Fellowship
Not too shabby of a college career for a 21-year-old.
“I do my best to always remain humble, but I am very proud of the opportunities and the experiences I’ve had at UTC,” said Saeed—who took her last Cleveland (Tennessee) High School class at the age of 15 and then, after turning 16, immediately started taking classes at Cleveland State Community College.
“I was actually going to graduate early with just one degree, probably sophomore year, and I was on a very fast-paced track to just get out of here,” she continued, “and then I started enjoying my time here, made friends and found opportunities. Half of the things I’ve been involved in here would not have been possible if I had not stuck through staying at UTC.
“I’m very thankful to be able to have gone to UTC. I’m going to miss it a lot because of the great experiences that I have had.”
Coming to UTC, Saeed admits, was a safe option. It allowed her to be close to home.
As it turned out, UTC became “the right size and right fit for me.”
Her family moved from Cleveland to Chattanooga before she came to UTC, and her first opportunity to live away from home didn’t take place until the summer of 2023 when—as the result of landing the coveted JSI PPIA fellowship—she spent two months at Princeton University.
“Being able to go to PPIA and living in dorms for two months was the jumping point for me to be able to be an RA (resident assistant) this year,” she said. “Serving as an RA hasn’t just been living on campus. It was having access to being a normal college student that I didn’t have as a freshman. I got that as a senior, and I felt that I really needed it.
“Staying on the fast track is a big thing, but you do miss out on many things. The ability to walk straight down to my classes from my residence hall this year has been a blessing that I didn’t know was possible.”
Saeed lauded her Honors College experience for affording her opportunities “to go on a plethora of trips,” including treks to Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans and Ecuador.
“The Honors College cohort has been amazing,” Saeed said. “It was so great to have people of the same age, the same backgrounds, the same interests. We all kind of blended together. That was so nice to have.”
Dr. Linda Frost, dean of the Honors College, said Saeed’s “exuberance for education and meaningful learning is truly admirable.”
“Jannat is someone who could have easily prioritized a quick graduation from UTC,” Frost said, “but instead, she took full advantage of all of the opportunities available to her, including attendance at national honors conferences, application to and winning nationally competitive awards, and involvement in our honors community in all kinds of ways. She is a remarkable young woman who is about to take wherever she goes by storm.”
How does someone major in three subjects? Saeed said it takes a team effort.
Associate Professor Kira Robison, head of the Department of History, was Saeed’s first UTC class instructor.
Saeed credited Robison for the “amount of effort and dedication” she put into supporting “my goal of graduating with a degree in history.”
“What Jannat is doing is pretty incredible; it takes a lot of grit and tenacity—as well as a ton of passion—to be able to balance a series of disparate majors on a good day, let alone to the level of being a Brock Scholar,” Robison said. “I know she has impressed my colleagues in their classes, and she is the type of student who recognizes faculty efforts. In other words, we teach classes and make comments on papers and do our best to guide our students, but often it can feel as if we are projecting our energy into a void.
“Janaat, however, is the kind of student to let you know she sees and appreciates the things you do to make a student’s experience with you worthwhile.”
Professor of Spanish José-Luis Gastañaga, the coordinator of UTC’s Humanities: International Studies program, wrote Saeed’s letter of recommendation for the Princeton JSI PPIA opportunity.
“I met Jannat the day she came to my office to talk about the Humanities: International Studies major,” Gastañaga recalled. “She didn’t know it at that time, but she already had the ideal profile for the major: thirst for knowledge across disciplines and a passion for cultures and languages.
“It has been a pleasure to witness how Jannat took advantage of every possibility college created for her and how she matured into a promising citizen of the world.”
Saeed pointed to two Computer Science and Engineering faculty members, Lecturer Roland Howell and Adjunct Faculty Curtis Campbell, for their roles in her software systems pursuits.
“Professor Howell has been my honors thesis director and Dr. Campbell, I’ve always had a great bond with her,” Saeed said. “I think her overall expertise made me more interested in other aspects of UTC and the other majors the school had to offer.”
“Jannat is a diamond who sparkles brilliantly with ambition and intelligence, motivation and determination,” Campbell said. “I noticed early on that she was forging her own path of excellence and setting a very high bar to make an impact in this world. She is a wonderful example and inspiration to all young women who wonder if they can achieve new heights and realize their dreams.”
In addition to being her thesis director, Howell had Saeed as a student in two classes.
He mentioned that he was especially pleased with how she handled herself on a recent UTC pilgrimage.
“On the recent CECS trip to Oak Ridge National Labs in February, Jannat was the only student who came with all the faculty up there for the visit,” Howell said, “and she asked insightful questions to the presenters we heard from—which was quite impressive.”
Saeed said the three majors are intertwined. That connectedness was the basis of her Honors College thesis on artificial intelligence and data governance.
“I feel like everyone’s being challenged by these AI topics,” Saeed said. “I have the AI software aspect of computer science. I have the policy and law from the general knowledge I gained from my political science classes. I have the historical background for the case studies. And then I have the international laws and information from international studies.
“So this is probably the most comprehensive way of combining all those and ensuring that everyone is getting a little piece of me.”
Expectations of participants in the PPIA program are that they go on to attain a graduate degree from a PPIA consortium school in public policy, public administration and/or international affairs and pursue a public service-related career.
Count Saeed in. But first, she wants to take a gap year or two after the frenetic academic pace she’s been on.
“I feel like now is a perfect time and opportunity for me to see what’s outside of school,” she said. “Right now, I don’t know what I want to be. I want to be everything. I want to do everything. I know it sounds corny and cringy, but whatever I end up doing, I just know I want to be happy; that’s always been a goal of mine.
“But I will be going back to grad school—that’s for sure. I like the sound of Dr. Saeed. I want that doctorate.”
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Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Office of National Scholarships
