Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and two-term U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will deliver a free, public lecture titled “The Role of the Humanities in Our Personal and Civic Lives” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, in the University Center Tennessee Room. The event is presented as part of the O’Dea Lecture in the Humanities series.
If these walls could talk: Brock Hall
The United States’ involvement in World War II elevated science to a national priority, and this was reflected in the curricula of higher education institutions across the country in the postwar years. The University of Chattanooga was no exception, and Brock Hall, dedicated in November 1949 as a science building housing the Biology, Chemistry, Engineering Drawing, Geography, and Geology Departments, is a physical reminder of that era.
Master’s student April (A.P.) Horn turns undergraduate research into a future in teaching
With the start of the spring semester, December 2025 UTC graduate April Horn is now enrolled in Graduate School thanks to the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship, a competitive National Science Foundation-funded fellowship that provides STEM graduates with a fully funded pathway to earn a master’s degree in secondary education from UTC in just 14 months.
Mocs Flight Plan takes flight: UTC enrollment strategy moves from planning to action
UTC leaders, faculty and staff gathered Monday, Jan. 12, for the kickoff meeting of the Mocs Flight Plan, marking the start of a coordinated, campuswide effort to implement the University’s Strategic Enrollment Plan approved in fall 2025. The Mocs Flight Plan establishes UTC’s roadmap for reaching 15,000 students by 2030 while strengthening retention, student outcomes and the overall student experience.
UTC earns national recognition for community engagement
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has been nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to community engagement, earning the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification—awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in collaboration with the American Council on Education.
Winter Welcome Week rings in the new semester
New and returning students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are heading back to campus for the spring semester with opportunities to connect during the 2026 Winter Welcome Week. The week of festivities will begin Monday, Jan. 12—when students start classes—and continue through Friday, Jan. 16.
Two UTC Honors College students win big at national conference
Vio Midgett’s research was driven by two childhood memories. The first came from the Japanese nursery rhymes her grandmother—who grew up on a United States Navy base in Japan—sang to her when she was a child. The other memory derives from her second-grade history textbook.
Writing the right way: UTC Composition Program receives national honor
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has received national recognition for doing something most universities do, but rarely do this well. The Department of English’s Composition Program has been awarded a 2025–26 Conference on College Composition and Communication Writing Program Certificate of Excellence—the highest honor given by the CCCC, a constituent organization within the National Council of Teachers of English.
Top 20 of ’25: A year’s worth of cheers
A lot of great things happened at UTC during the 2025 calendar year. We celebrated student and faculty research, welcomed new faces (including Chancellor Lori Bruce), broke ground on new buildings and commemorated big wins. With so much happening across campus, the UTC newsroom published 427 stories over the course of the year. Here are our top 20 personal favorites in chronological order of website publication.
Dr. Mina Sartipi named interim vice chancellor for research at UTC
Dr. Mina Sartipi has been appointed interim vice chancellor for research, effective January 2026. Sartipi currently serves as the executive director of the UTC Research Institute and as the founding director of the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP). She is a Guerry Professor and UC Foundation Professor in UTC’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering and holds a joint faculty appointment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.