Author: primmc

KNOXVILLE — Alan N. Greenberg, former publisher of Esquire magazine and creator of many successful online and traditional media and interactive business services, was honored with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Communication and Information’s (CCI) 2010 Donald G. Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award.

The award was presented at a CCI alumni reception in Atlanta.

“Alan Greenberg has had a remarkable career as a media business person and entrepreneur,” said CCI Dean Mike Wirth. “He has set an outstanding example for our students about what’s possible as they graduate and become working professionals. Mr. Greenberg’s latest innovative venture, focused on private K-12 education, is indicative of his innovative ability to take a concept from the idea stage and make it a reality.”

Greenberg graduated from UT Knoxville in 1972 from the College of Communications with a degree in advertising.

Greenberg began his distinguished career by working in sales management at Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. From his role as publisher for the nationally recognized Esquire magazine to his vice chairmanship at Whittle Communications, where he launched a dozen publishing and broadcast ventures, Greenberg has been involved in launching numerous new media businesses and organizing strategic mergers, acquisitions and private equity funding.

In 1997 he launched Greenberg News Network and developed Medcast, an Internet medical information service, which he sold to Healtheon/WebMD Corp. in 1999 for $215 million.

Greenberg also has launched and expanded media businesses in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Among those was the creation of Travel Holdings Inc., a global interactive travel services firm, which currently does business in 13 languages and 100 countries. Greenberg served as CEO at Travel Holdings until 2008, when he decided to team up with his former business partner Chris Whittle and Benno Schmidt, the former president of Yale University, to establish Avenues, a global education company. Greenberg serves as president of Avenues, which will build the first worldwide system of high quality, private K-12 schools. The first of these schools will be built in New York City.

The Donald G. Hileman Award is named for the first permanent dean of the College of Communications, the forerunner to the College of Communication and Information. The award was established in 1994 in celebration of the college’s 25th anniversary. It is awarded to college alumni who have made notable contributions to the field of communication and information. Past recipients include two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and noted science writer for the New York Times, John Noble Wilford, and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

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C O N T A C T :

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — In honor of HERstory month, the Women’s Coordinating Council (WCC) is hosting the event “Stiletto Stampede: Walking Tall” to celebrate the power of women.

The walk begins at 12:05 p.m. on Monday, March 15. Participants will walk from the University Center Plaza to the Pedestrian Walkway. All women are invited to join this walk to show their appreciation for those who fought for women’s rights and to be encouraged to keep the fight going.

Men also are encouraged to join in the walk.

HERstory Month Chair Emily Curtis Wrinn anticipates a large crowd and said the event is intended to help people to understand how influential women are in society.

“Sometimes people find the sound of heels coming down the street or down a hallway annoying,” Wrinn said. “But we want to show that it can change a woman’s attitude and make her feel more confident. A lot of men don’t understand this feeling. We want this event to help women celebrate and encourage men to understand things they may not perceive about women.”

The WCC’s goal is to have 100 to 150 people participate in the Stiletto Stampede. Everyone not participating is invited to watch and cheer on the group.

“We hope it is a graceful walk,” Wrinn said. “We want, more than anything, for people to understand our cause: Women wouldn’t be in the place we are today without those progressive ones that paved the way. This walk is only a small token of our gratitude.”

To participate in the “Stiletto Stampede,” arrive at the UC Plaza at noon or simply join in while the women are walking. Also, contact the members of Women’s Coordinating Council, [email protected], for more information and to notify them that you are planning to attend.

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C O N T A C T :

Bridget Hardy (865-974-2225, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE – Early detection is key to more effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive impairment, and new research shows that a test developed at the University of Tennessee is more than 95 percent effective in detecting cognitive abnormalities associated with these diseases.

The test, called CST — for computerized self test — was designed to be both effective and relatively simple for medical professionals to administer and for patients to take.

Rex Cannon, an adjunct research assistant professor of psychology at UT Knoxville, and Dr. John Dougherty, an associate professor in the UT Graduate School of Medicine, worked with a team of researchers to develop CST. The impetus for the test came from data showing that 60 percent of Alzheimer’s cases are not diagnosed in the primary care setting, and that those delays lead to missed treatment opportunities.

“Early detection is at the forefront of the clinical effort in Alzheimer’s research, and application of instruments like CST in the primary care setting is of extreme importance,” said Cannon.

The CST is a brief, interactive online test that works to asses various impairments in functional cognitive domains – in essence, it’s a “fitness test” of sorts for the basic functions of thinking and processing information that are affected by Alzheimer’s and milder forms of cognitive impairment.

Cannon and Dougherty’s research, published in the April issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and in an early online edition of the journal, showed that the CST was substantially more effective and more accurate in detecting the presence of Alzheimer’s and other forms of cognitive impairment in patients than other existing tests. The CST had a 96 percent accuracy rate compared to 71 percent and 69 percent for the tests that are currently in use.

Part of the goal in developing the test, according to Cannon, was to ensure that the test is useful in the primary care setting, where physicians may not have detailed training in recognizing cognitive impairments, but where an early diagnosis may do the most good for patients.

“Computerized testing is a developing and exciting area for research,” said Cannon, who noted that the test can provide an objective way to determine what diseases may affect the patient and provide information to begin treatments that can blunt the effects of Alzheimer’s.

Cannon and Dougherty, who also are affiliated with the Cole Neuroscience Center at the UT Medical Center, collaborated with Medical Interactive Education in developing the CST over the past two years.

The journal article is titled “The Computerized Self Test (CST): An Interactive, Internet Accessible Cognitive Screening Test For Dementia” and can be found at http://iospress.metapress.com/content/a1242×878323454x/fulltext.pdf.

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C O N T A C T:

Whitney Holmes (865-974-5460, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — John Marks, president and founder of Search for Common Ground in Washington, D.C., will speak about “Peace Building and Conflict Resolution” at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on March 16.

Marks’ talk, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, is part of the Great Decisions Program, coordinated by the Center for International Education and funded by the Ready for the World initiative, which brings speakers from around the country to UT this semester to address our nation’s most pressing foreign policy issues.

Marks will make a multi-media presentation on how nongovernmental entities play a substantial role in peace building, and will show a series of short video clips and music videos to illustrate his points.

In a letter on the Search for Common Ground’s Web site, Marks describes the organization, which is now active in 20 countries:

“We began in 1982 at the height of the Cold War, and we focused on building bridges between East and West. Back then, we had two employees, a handful of supporters and a minuscule budget.

“We currently work in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia and the United States, and we have a staff of almost 400. In addition, thousands of people directly participate in our programs, and we reach millions more through media projects,” he wrote.

“The methods we use vary as greatly as the places where we work. However, our methodology is based on one fundamental principle: Understand the differences; act on the commonalities.”

Many of Search for Common Ground’s programs involve the media, education and the arts and culture. Some specific examples include the soap opera for social change in 15 countries; youth community and mediation centers in Morocco; building bridges between the Muslim world and the West; and the use of sports to find common ground.

Future Great Decisions Program lectures, all to be held at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of the International House, are:

• April 6 — Raymond Fisman, the Lambert Family Professor of Social Enterprise and research director of the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia (University) Business School, “Global Crime.”

• April 20 — David Michael Lampton, dean of faculty, George and Sadie Hyman Professor, and director of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, “U.S.-China Security Relations.”

The last lecture will be held in the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy:

• April 28 — Retired Ambassador Barbara K. Bodine, lecturer in public and international policy, director and scholar in the Nation’s Service Initiative, The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, “The Persian Gulf.”

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, [email protected])

This article in the Moultrie (GA) Observer tells the story of a group of UT Knoxville students who came to town to work on humanitarian aid projects during UT’s Spring Break.

KNOXVILLE — Driving in her car one day, Mattie Jackson, daughter of country music singer Alan Jackson, came up with a unique idea that gave her the opportunity of a lifetime.

Jackson, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in English, wrote the script for her dad’s new music video, “It’s Just That Way.”

“It was more that I stumbled upon the idea than it being a conscious decision,” Jackson said. “I’d been listening to the album and my dad said to me and my sisters, ‘If you think of something cool for the video, let me know.’”

Her idea has the main character seeing the world topsy-turvy because he’s in love, and it isn’t until he sees his girlfriend that the world is right again. The man sees the moon rising in the morning, sees boats sailing down the street and sees people in office attire work construction.

“It’s really simple lyrics that express how simply you love someone,” Jackson said. “The script is contradicting that in a way. It was very strange, the whole backwards idea. It was really fun and different.”

When Jackson told her dad about her idea, he encouraged her to research how directors formatted their script treatments, which combine the basic ideas for a screenplay, and submit it to the record label executives. Although her dad was optimistic, he was apprehensive at first.

“He’s always been the super supportive dad, so he was obviously excited and proud,” Jackson said. “But he actually said when he sent it to the label that he considered taking my name off of it so there would be no bias.”

Much to her surprise, the record label loved it and hit the ground running with the idea.

“I really didn’t expect much to happen,” Jackson said. “I was really shocked that they liked it a lot. It made me feel really honored.”

Jackson participated in the video shoot, which consisted of one day in Nashville and a second day in Tampa Bay, Fla. She said the directors and producers seemed, “genuinely appreciative of the idea. That was, honestly, the coolest part.”

“The most unique feeling was watching professional directors and producers creating this,” Jackson said. “To see something from my mind come out in real life was very surreal. It was rewarding because I could see the product and it was amazing.”

Jackson said she enjoys writing and hopes these experiences will jumpstart a career in writing screenplays.

“I haven’t had very much experience with creative writing,” Jackson said. “I just recently decided that I wanted to be an English major and be a writer. I would like to do more script writing, especially after doing this. It’s completely different from writing a paper for a class. You can put yourself and your voice in it.”

With Jackson’s high-profile dad and her recent success, she is still a down-to-earth girl who loves reading, music and concerts.

“I love doing the normal things that any 19-year-old college student enjoys,” Jackson said.

Check out Alan Jackson’s video for, “It’s Just That Way” on People.com.

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C O N T A C T :

Bridget Hardy (865-974-2225, [email protected])

This USA Today story on the housing market in Knoxville quotes UT Knoxville economics professor Matt Murray, who says the stability of the local job market is helping stabilize housing prices.

KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Black Alumni Weekend is scheduled for April 9-10 and spaces are filling up fast.

The event will take place on campus and includes a welcome reception and mixer on Friday evening and a continental breakfast, a choice of workshops, lunch and a gala event on Saturday.

Participants can choose from three workshop sessions including using technologies such as Twitter, blogging and Google Dashboard to enhance leadership skills; managing assets and debt, as well as investing and tips for entrepreneurs; and managing career change and identifying resources and skills to navigate through a tough job market.

The weekend ends with the “Honoring Our Heritage” gala at the UT Visitors Center on Saturday night.

The cost for the weekend is $60, $10 for Friday evening only or $35 to attend only the gala. More information and online registration is available at http://alumni.utk.edu/programs/blackalumni/. The registration deadline is April 5.

The reunion event is sponsored by the UT Knoxville Alumni Association.

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C O N T A C T :

Phyllis Moore (865-974-3011, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — UT students and staff are invited to submit their paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, films/videos, mixed media and installations for a juried exhibit to be held in conjunction with the “Poverty and Health Care” mini-summit to be held on March 31 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The theme of this exhibit, which will be displayed at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy from March 31 to April 2, will be health care and/or poverty, and it is meant to provide a visual representation of these issues through art and creative dialogues.

To enter, submit any number of works to Room 208 of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy no later than 5 p.m. on March 26. All work must be framed or otherwise ready for display.

Artists will be notified of acceptance on the evening of March 29, and those artists must be available to set up their display at the Baker Center at 2 p.m. on March 30.

Ten $100 awards will be given to the most outstanding works, as determined by the faculty jurors.

Ready for the World, UT’s international and intercultural initiatives, has devoted this academic year to “Our World in Need” with a particular emphasis on the issue of poverty.

The “Poverty and Health Care” mini-summit is being sponsored by Ready for the World.

The summit will include showcases of graduate student and faculty research dealing with health and health care issues facing those in or near poverty. It also will include a forum featuring representatives of local nonprofit health care organizations and a panel discussion of lessons learned from 15 years of TennCare. The day’s keynote address will be delivered by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper.

C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, [email protected]@utk.edu)

KNOXVILLE — Local high school students attending the 45th Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, last week dominated the top spots.

More than 20 students from high schools across the state competed to determine who had the best research in sciences, mathematics and engineering. They were judged by a panel of UT Knoxville science and engineering faculty members.

Yajit Jain, a junior at Oak Ridge High School, won first place with his presentation, “Electric Field Calculation for Fluid Simulation.” Jain’s research focused on using mathematic and computational methods to model the effects of an electrical field on the break-up of fluid particles. Judges said the paper stood alone in terms of the sophistication of the approach and the excellent grasp Jain displayed on complex mathematical and computational modeling.

The award earned Jain a $2,000 college scholarship and a spot to compete in the National JSHS held in Bethesda, Md., April 28-May 2. If Jain wins in the national competition, he will then compete in the International Youth Science Forum this summer in London.

Niral Sheth, a senior at Farragut High School, won second place. His presentation, “Understanding Cardiac Arrhythmias through Cellular Automata,” focused on the computational modeling of heart arrhythmias. Sheth earned a $1,500 college scholarship.

Ariel Buehler, also a senior at Farragut High School, won third place. Her presentation, “Effectiveness of RT-PCR for Detecting the Presence of Listeria monocytogenes, a Food-borne Pathogen,” worked on methods of copying DNA sequences to detect small amounts of bacteria in food. She earned a $1,000 college scholarship.

Lillie Brown, a senior at Cleveland High School, won an honorable mention for her presentation, “Relationships and Effects of Sedimentation and Channelization of Mouse Creek.”

Ashley Fuqua, a senior at Greenbrier High School, also received an honorable mention for her presentation, “Kinetics of Ethanol Production during Fermentation of a Variety of High Starch Plants.”

In contrast to the top three winners, the honorable mention award winners conceived and executed their work without assistance from a mentor in a university laboratory setting.

Finally, Cristen Peterson, a senior at Farragut High School, was the poster award winner. Her presentation, “Evaluation of Novel Auxin Herbicides through the Synthesis and Screening of a Small Molecule Library,” featured an interdisciplinary research approach which merged organic synthetic chemistry with plant physiology.

The symposium is one of 48 in the United States and the only one in Tennessee.

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C O N T A C T:

Whitney Holmes (865-974-5460, [email protected])

Howard Hall
Governor’s Chair Professor
Nuclear Engineering

Expertise:
Howard Hall is a UT-ORNL Governor’s chair and an expert in global nuclear security. He is a leading researcher on issues including detection of nuclear and radioactive weapons, preventing the spread of nuclear material and how best to respond to the use of weapons such as “dirty bombs.” He can speak on issues relating to nuclear proliferation, radioactive weapons, detection of nuclear devices and dirty bombs, as well as the role of nuclear energy in the U.S.

Expertise Categories: Nuclear Engineering | Nuclear Weapons | Nuclear Proliferation | Nuclear Energy

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 865-974-2525
Web: http://www.utk.edu/govchairs/hall.php

Jeremy Smith
Governor’s Chair Professor
Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

Expertise:
Jeremy Smith is a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in computational biology. Smith uses the power of high-performance supercomputers to find solutions to pressing biological problems. He also uses tools such as ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source to analyze molecular structure on an atom-by-atom level. He has studied areas from pollution remediation and mercury cleanup to the ways that proteins fold improperly, which is at the cause of a broad spectrum of diseases.

Expertise Categories: Molecular Biology

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 865-974-5148
Web: http://www.utk.edu/govchairs/smith.php

Frank Loeffler
Governor’s Chair Professor
Microbiology

Expertise:
Frank Loeffler is a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in using bacteria to cleanup pollution. His work centers on the use of both new and existing bacteria to breakdown harmful pollution resulting from man-made activities. He also works to understand the qualities of new forms of bacteria and understand their implications in a wide variety of applications from environmental to medical.

Expertise Categories: Microbiology | Pollution | Environment

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 865-974-3441
Web: http://www.utk.edu/govchairs/loeffler.php

Yilu Liu
Governor’s Chair Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Expertise:
Yilu Liu is a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair, and an expert in energy transmission. Specifically, her work focuses on the creation of the “smart grid” technologies that are key to the country’s energy future. Liu can discuss power transmission issues, the national power grid, changes in electricity consumption and generation, and the future of our national energy network.

Expertise Categories: Energy | Technology

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 865-974-3461
Web: http://www.utk.edu/govchairs/liu.php

Thomas Zawodzinski
Governor’s Chair Professor
Chemical Engineering

Expertise:
Thomas Zawodzinski is a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in energy conservation and storage. His work has focused on the creation of more efficient and effective fuel cells to power vehicles with no emissions. He’s also an expert in the development of battery technology along similar lines. He can discuss these technologies and growing trends in the future of energy storage.

Expertise Categories: Energy | Conservation

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 865-974-2421
Web: http://www.utk.edu/govchairs/zawodzinski.php

KNOXVILLE –Three University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty members remain in Santiago, Chile, after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocked the nation Feb. 27 and tremors continue to rattle the ground.

The faculty members, who are due to return to Knoxville this weekend, have been sharing their experiences of the past week via e-mail.

“I thought the building was going to fall down around us. That was by far the scariest moment of my life to date,” said Tara Mohrfeld, full-time MBA program manager of operations and global initiatives.

Mohrfeld, Dick Reizenstein, associate professor emeritus of marketing, and Jack Mills, lecturer and former Procter & Gamble executive, were in their hotel at the time of the massive quake. All three of them were unhurt.

They were part of a group of 67 students and four other faculty members from UT’s full-time MBA program headed to Chile for a 10-day international immersion experience. The students and other faculty were en route when the quake occurred and their planes were rerouted before landing in Chile.

Mohrfeld, Reizenstein and Mills had arrived in Santiago the day before the quake.

For Mills, this was not his first earthquake experience. He had lived through one in Indonesia and another in Los Angeles, but he said this one was by far of the scariest.

“I was awake when the quake hit,” he said. “I immediately moved to the bedroom door with one foot in the hallway and one in the bedroom. I honestly thought the hotel might fall. The experience lasted maybe 45 seconds. The scary part was the earthquake’s growing in energy and intensity. It was impossible to know when it would stop or when it had peaked.”

All three faculty credit Santiago’s sound building structures for their safety. Due to strict seismic building codes, their hotel suffered only minor, cosmetic damage such as cracked plaster.

“We are very, very lucky. We were able to drive around the city on March 1 and, although some of the older buildings did suffer damage, the city is amazingly intact and functioning,” said Mohrfeld.

The three remain amazed at the resilience of the Chilean people. Just a day after the quake, Reizenstein said business was back to normal.

“The city looked like a normal day with businesses and restaurants open, people going to work, our hotel fully cleaned up and staffed, grocery stores open and shelves fully stocked,” observed Reizenstein. “It has been a remarkable experience to see how an event that could have wrecked Santiago has been dealt with so effectively by its courageous citizens.”

However, southern coastal cities did not fare so well. Near to the epicenter, the region suffered extensive damage from the quake and flooding from five tsunami waves approximately seven feet high.

“The real tragedy is the impact that the earthquake has had on the people of Chile,” said Mills. “Most of the losses are in cities along the coast. We hear that more than 1,000 lives have been lost, which, if my math is correct, would be like the U.S. losing 15,000 to 20,000 people on a per capita basis.”

Still, the faculty members are grateful for the support and concern extended to them from the UT Knoxville and Chilean communities. The three said the UT MBA students and program staff worked hard to keep everyone safe and informed, as did the hotel and its staff.

They are also thankful for each other’s professionalism and calm under pressure.

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C O N T A C T  :

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, [email protected])
Whitney Holmes (865-974-5460, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — As most college students prepare to hit the beach or travel to a relaxing destination for spring break, several groups of University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students will spend their days off doing volunteer work in communities across the country.

Forty-eight UT Knoxville students will head out Saturday morning, March 6, for the TeamVOLS annual Alternative Spring Break.

Students will gather at 7 a.m. in staff parking lot 30, located behind the Communications and University Extension Building, next to Andy Holt Tower. Vans will depart at 8 a.m. and will take teams of students, graduate assistants and staff members to their Alternative Spring Break locations: New Orleans and Charleston, S.C. The students will return on Thursday, March 11.

Students bound for New Orleans will help paint school classrooms in the city’s 9th Ward and spend time reading to students and repairing playgrounds. They will help landscape and clean up New Orleans’ City Park, which sustained $43 million in damage from Hurricane Katrina. Students also will lend a hand at the East Jefferson YMCA, Habitat for Humanity of New Orleans and Second Harvest Food Bank, performing clean up, office work, construction and restocking duties. While volunteering with Catholic Charities, the students will lead activities for senior citizens and mentally disabled individuals, as well as assisting in elementary classrooms.

In Charleston, students will assist in cleaning up historic sites such as Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. They will volunteer with the local Low Country Foodbank organization, and will spend time at the YMCA and the Ronald McDonald House, performing office work, cleaning and making repairs.

TeamVOLS isn’t the only organization on campus involved in outreach projects over spring break. Here’s a look at some of the other spring break service trips that are planned:

College of Nursing

Thirteen students and two faculty members from the College of Nursing are traveling to Peru as part of an international health care mission to provide primary care to some of Lima’s poorest residents. Under the leadership of Clinical Assistant Professor Karen Lasater, the trip will involve community assessments and home visits where the students and instructors will educate people on nutrition and dietary needs, prenatal care, proper sanitation, safe food and water storage practices and sanitary living conditions. They also will conduct physical exams.

The Cross

The Cross organization is planning to take 120 students to Moultrie, Ga., to work with a variety of social service organizations, including The Boys and Girls Club, and help area residents with housing needs.

The Cross is a nondenominational campus ministry that is not exclusive but is focused on reaching the Greek community.

“We will work with repairing roofs, as well as building handicap ramps,” said Owen Ragland, executive director of The Cross. This is the 11th year that The Cross has taken a trip during fall and/or spring break. “Students will have the opportunity to grow spiritual as well as make a difference in someone’s life.”

Baptist Collegiate Ministry

The Baptist Collegiate Ministry has teamed up with Calvary Baptist Church to send 120 UT students to New York City to perform “random acts of kindness.” Some of the scheduled service work includes cleaning up a cemetery, working with a homeless shelter, teaching English to Asians and working with East African children.

Fellowship Free Evangelical Church

Twenty UT students from the Fellowship Free Evangelical Church are heading to Tijuana, Mexico, where they will work with children in an orphanage, teaching them English and proper hygiene practices. The UT students also will help with construction projects at the orphanage.

Christian Student Center

The Christian Student Center will be taking its annual spring break mission trip to Jacksonville, Texas, where 16 UT students will work with Elijah’s Retreat. The 50-acre retreat is a place for families with autistic children to vacation and relax. The nonprofit retreat has six cabins for families, a recreation center, a playground, a small water park and several farm animals. The UT students will spend the week building additional cabins and helping around the camp.

Tyson House Episcopal-Lutheran Campus Ministry

Ten students from Tyson House Episcopal-Lutheran Campus Ministry will travel to the Atlanta area with Vicar John Tirro to visit and learn from three service-oriented religious communities.

“At each site, we anticipate that we’ll join in and help out, but also that we’ll build relationships, receive what the community has to offer, and learn to grow more fully into our own identity as a prayer-centered, service-oriented community at the University of Tennessee,” Tirro said.

The group will meet with the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Ga.

They’ll also visit Mercy Community Church in Atlanta.

“This ministry is mostly made up of people living on the street, and they intentionally blur the lines of who is serving and who is being served,” Tirro said. “I hope we will learn here about ministry with, by and for people living without homes.”

The group also will visit Church of the Holy Comforter in Atlanta, Ga., an Episcopal church where about 60 percent of the members are living with mental illness.

“We’ll be staying at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta, which has a strong emphasis on social justice,” Tirro said. “If the temperature drops below 29 degrees, we’ll be sleeping on the floor in the sanctuary, as this winter they began giving their beds to homeless people on cold nights.”

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C O N T A C T :

Rebekah Winkler (865-974-8304, [email protected])
Jamil Price (865-974-9673, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE – Tennessee truckers can get a major discount on the purchase of equipment that will save them fuel and keep air cleaner thanks to a program managed by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Under the program, called Idle Smart, certain Tennessee truckers can receive a rebate for 50 percent, up to $4,000, of the cost of an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). An APU is a device that decreases long-duration engine idling while the trucker rests in the sleeping berth by providing cooling, heating and electrical power to class 8 trucks.

Truckers taking advantage of the discount can expect to see savings on fuel immediately, and in a very short time period the savings will far outweigh the cost of the APU.

Long-duration idling is costly, racking up charges of more than $6,000 a year for fuel, according to the state of Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). On average, a gallon of diesel fuel is burned in an hour of idling. The APU uses an average of 0.2 to 0.3 gallons of diesel fuel an hour. Idling also increases engine maintenance costs, shortens engine life, adversely affects driver well-being and creates elevated noise levels. Idling, particularly on older engines, also releases harmful particulate matter into the air that can cause health ailments and have a negative effect on the environment.

UT Knoxville received $1.73 million in funding for the program from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through TDEC. The goal of the agencies is to increase the use of APUs in an effort to better the environment. The rebates are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis and are only available while funds last or until September 30, 2010. Participants must first fill out a Pre-Approval Application form, and only EPA-approved APUs are eligible for the rebate.

To be eligible, you must be a Tennessee resident and registered to do business in Tennessee. You must own 30 or fewer trucks that have a 1995-2006 model year engine and are equipped with a sleeper berth. Also, final approval must be obtained in writing before the APU is purchased and/or installed on the vehicle to be eligible for the rebate.

For more information about Idle Smart, including the Pre-Approval Application, visit http://www.state.tn.us/environment/recovery/der.shtml.

Send completed Pre-Approval Application for the Idle Smart APU Rebate Program to:

Dr. Jimmy Calcagno
Idle Smart APU Rebate Program for Truckers
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
64-B Perkins Hall
1506 Middle Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-2010

For additional information, please call (865) 974-7723.

Recipients of funding will be required to report data at a regular frequency, which will allow the state to calculate actual fuel savings and actual emissions reductions for each truck.

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C O N T A C T:

Whitney Holmes (865-974-5460, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — The College of Communication and Information (CCI) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will hold a ceremony at noon Friday, March 5, to recognize BB&T for establishing the BB&T/Martha S. “Missy” Wallen Dean’s Enrichment Fund. The $100,000 gift will be used to support a number of current and future needs of the college including visiting scholars, travel to disseminate faculty/graduate student research results and facility upgrades.

The ceremony will take place in room 314 on the third floor of the Communications Building, and is open to the public.

Wallen, the Tennessee state president for banking firm BB&T, is a 1974 alumna and has been a member of the College of Communication and Information’s Board of Visitors since 1999.

As an expression of gratitude, the college has named one of its classrooms, room 314, in their honor.

“This generous gift to name CCI’s ‘classroom of the future’ and to create the BB&T/Martha S. “Missy” Wallen Dean’s Enrichment Fund is a tremendous boost for the college,” said Mike Wirth, dean of the College of Communication and Information. “We are proud to have this technologically advanced group and team classroom bear the name of one of the Southeast’s leading financial institutions along with one of our most distinguished alums.

“Private donations such as this have a remarkable impact by allowing us to invest in the innovative programs and ideas required to remain at the forefront of communication and information education,” Wirth said.

The classroom has been redesigned to create a classroom for team-based teaching and learning. Student teams can cluster around six wall-mounted flat screen monitors, glass boards and computers that they can share and collaboratively control. Also in the room are movable tables for small-group projects; videoconferencing equipment; a portable and adjustable lectern for the instructor; and dimmable lights.

For more information on the college, visit http://www.cci.utk.edu/.

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C O N T A C T :

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will close the university’s bus transfer facility and an additional portion of Phillip Fulmer Way on Monday, March 8, the first day of Spring Break, to accommodate the current phase of renovations to Neyland Stadium.

The transfer station and Phillip Fulmer Way will reopen prior to the start of the fall semester.

Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) buses and campus shuttles running “The T” routes will be detoured to new pick-up and drop-off locations during the closure.

The new locations will be:

• on the agriculture campus on Joe Johnson Drive in front of the Pendergrass Library near Service Drive; and
• on Volunteer Boulevard just west of Circle Park Drive.

Both locations will provide connections to The T: East-West. The Circle Park location also will provide connections to The T: North-South.

The T: North-South route will detour one block from Phillip Fulmer Way, turning onto Andy Holt Avenue at the University Center, then turning left on Volunteer Boulevard, then left on Lake Loudoun Boulevard, then left on Phillip Fulmer Way, then left on Peyton Manning Pass back to Volunteer Boulevard and its regular route through Fort Sanders.

Due to construction on Middle Way Drive, The T: East-West will remain on detour until the construction project is finished. The East-West line will take Volunteer Boulevard to Cumberland Avenue and serve the upper portion of The Hill.

This phase of stadium renovations will provide improvements to the stadium’s Gate 21 Plaza, an amphitheatre near Alumni Memorial Building, and brick façade work along the front of the stadium. Once the renovation work is complete, the transfer station will reopen in the same location in the plaza.

Several changes have been made to accommodate motorists and pedestrians during this phase of renovation. Peyton Manning Pass serves traffic to accommodate motorists parking at the north end of Staff Lot 30, adjacent to the Hearing & Speech Center.

Peyton Manning Pass also serves as the south entrance/exit of Staff Lot 9. Faculty and staff who park in Staff Lot 9 and exit from the south will need to leave campus by way of Peyton Manning Pass and Volunteer Boulevard.

Commuter students who use the G-10 garage cannot travel north on Phillip Fulmer Way to enter or exit the garage. Students using the G-10 garage are encouraged to use the entrance and exits from Neyland Drive to avoid heavier traffic on the portion of Phillip Fulmer Way in front of Thompson-Boling Arena.

Pedestrians who normally travel north or south on Phillip Fulmer Way may use Circle Park Drive, Volunteer Boulevard or the alley parallel to Staff Lot 9 — known as Margaret’s Alley.

Stairs have been expanded at the northern entrance to Staff Lot 30 (from Phillip Fulmer Way) behind the Communications & University Extension Building to accommodate people walking north. Pedestrians may use the stairs to reach Circle Park Drive and Volunteer Boulevard.

For more information on bus routes, visit http://www.ridethet.com/ or call 974-4080. Members of the campus community who have questions or concerns should contact UT Police at 974-3114. People who need special assistance should contact Disability Services at 974-6087.

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C O N T A C T :

Jeff Maples (865-974-3061, [email protected])

Brian Browning (865-974-3061, [email protected])

Mary Lynn Holloway (865-974-6031, [email protected])