At the beginning of the 2023-2024 academic year, approximately 600 veterans, military-affiliated students, spouses and dependents of veterans were enrolled at UTC, comprising more than 5% of the student population. “Our community is growing and getting stronger,” said UTC Veteran and Military Affairs Director Sylvana Matthews. “Military community often speaks word-of-mouth. They tell each other, they tell family, they tell their brothers and sisters, their next-of-kin. When they come to UTC and Chattanooga, they build a close-knit community here.”
UTC recognized as Military Friendly School
UTC has been designated a military-friendly and military spouse-friendly school by Military Friendly®, a national veterans organization. UTC received gold-level 2024-2025 Military Friendly designation for the University’s efforts in creating sustainable and meaningful education paths for the military community.
Making art accessible: UTC student opens The Art Closet to ‘continue the goodness of giving’
Shortly after Naomi White arrived at UTC, she saw a need. Good art supplies are not cheap and not always accessible. It prompted her to propose an idea to create a space for unused art supplies—which is how The Art Closet was born.
Math Kangaroo competition champions minds and numbers
For the first time since the pre-COVID days, the UTC campus was hopping with Math Kangaroo participants. On Thursday, March 21, over 100 students—from first graders to high school seniors—came to UTC’s Grote Hall to participate in Math Kangaroo, an international mathematics competition.
Grant writing done right: ORSP helping faculty and staff fund research
Behind the scenes of UTC faculty research sits the backbone of the operation: the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Faculty rely on grants and sponsorships to fund almost every project. Sometimes, rules and regulations within the applications and awards are hard to see or understand. That is where the staff of the ORSP come in.
UTC engineering group participates in “Read Across America Week” event at Orchard Knob Elementary
Four members of the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science—Dr. Murat Barisik, Dr. Sandra Affare and graduate research assistants Ege Can Ek and Atal Bhowmik from the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Nano-Engineering Research Group—visited Orchard Knob Elementary School on Friday, March 8, as part of “Read Across America Week.” The four read “Horton Hears a Who!” and participated in interactive activities and demonstrations to explore size and scale with the K-5 students.
Partnership with Erlanger providing job shadowing experience for 76 UTC students
During the 2024 spring semester, a collaboration between the UTC pre-health advising program, Erlanger and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine – Chattanooga is providing a new opportunity for students to gain much-needed and hard-to-find job shadowing experience. From early February through late April, 76 UTC students spanning 11 majors are getting the opportunity to job shadow in the Erlanger Baroness Hospital Emergency Department, obtaining valuable experience watching emergency room doctors and other medical personnel in action.
Wheels on the bus: Multidisciplinary UTC sociologist seeking a broader understanding of transportation accessibility
Without reliable transportation, some low-income people are isolated, socially excluded and forced to adapt by making a choice that further perpetuates their isolation: “I just don’t go nowhere.” Dr. Chandra Ward reports this finding in her paper, “How transportation disadvantage reinforces social exclusion,” published in the June 2023 Journal of Transport Geography.
Court is in session: UTC alumnus, faculty member named Tennessee Court Clerk of the Year
UTC alum Gary D. Behler, an adjunct faculty member in Criminal Justice, was recently named the 2023 State Court Clerk of the Year by the County Officials Association of Tennessee.
UTC Special Collections wins federal grant to process Dr. Tommie Brown’s personal papers
A $144,049 grant has been awarded to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Special Collections by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to process the papers of Dr. Tommie Brown, a former UTC professor, department head and state legislator.