Author: primmc

KNOXVILLE — Thirty high school seniors have been named as finalists for the 2010 class of Haslam Scholars at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The finalists will be on campus this weekend for the Haslam Scholars Program Interview Weekend. The 2010-11 class of Haslam Scholars will be announced in May.

Selection criteria include scholastic achievement, leadership potential, maturity and seriousness of purpose, and special talents.

Haslam Scholars will be part of an intimate academic and leadership group mentored by top UT faculty. Haslam Scholars Program benefits include a $1,500 laptop computer and a study-abroad experience valued at $4,000, as well as up to $5,500 to support honors thesis research and travel to present their work. In addition, each Haslam Scholar will receive a scholarship package that totals $15,300.

The UT program was created with $2.5 million from Jimmy and Dee Haslam. Jimmy Haslam is president and CEO of Pilot Travel Centers. Dee Haslam is CEO of RIVR Media and also chairs the UT Development Council. The Haslams chair the Campaign for Tennessee for the Knoxville campus.

Jim and Natalie Haslam contributed an additional $2.5 million to support the program. Jim Haslam is chairman of the board of Pilot Travel Centers LLC and chairman of the board and president of Pilot Corp.

The 30 finalists include a student from Ethiopia who was an exchange student in Chattanooga during his junior year, a Knoxville student who emigrated from China when he was in middle school, and students from Tennessee, Louisiana, Ohio, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia.

“What these young people have in common,” Associate Provost and Director of the Chancellor’s Honors and Haslam Scholars Programs Steven Dandaneau said, “is truly extraordinary academic achievement and exciting potential for leadership.”

The finalists’ academic interests include biomedical engineering, alternative energy research, food microbiology, philosophy, cultural anthropology, architecture, English, materials science, nuclear engineering, journalism and electrical engineering.

The finalists are:

• Ben Almassi, Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School, Nashville
• Bryan Bozeman, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge
• Ariel Buehler, Farragut High School, Knoxville
• Desta Bume, Awassa Tabor Senior Secondary & Preparatory School, Ethiopia, and Signal Mount High School, Chattanooga
• Melanie Carroll, Alexandria Senior High School, Alexandria, La.
• Kathleen Connelly, Knoxville Catholic High School, Knoxville
• Sarah Craig, West High School, Knoxville
• Marianela D’Aprile, Westview High School, Martin
• Matt Garbarino, Loveland High School, Loveland, Ohio
• Aubrey Hord, Franklin High School, Franklin
• Xin Huang, Bartlett High School, Bartlett
• Lindsay Lee, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge
• Melissa Lee, Brentwood High School, Brentwood
• Logan Lockner, Daniel Boone High School, Jonesborough
• Nate Massey, Corinth High School, Corinth, Miss.
• Brady Miller, Ooltewah High School, Ooltewah
• Joshua Moon, Westminter Academy, Memphis
• Blake Palles, Wilson High School, Florence, S.C.
• Brianna Rader, Halls High School, Knoxville
• Mark Remec-Pavlin, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge
• Katherine Rush, Gatton Academy of Math and Science, Bowling Green, Ky.
• Veronica Shreve, home school, Knoxville
• Noelle Sibley, Providence Academy, Johnson City
• Ashley Smith, Gulfport High School, Gulfport, Miss.
• Aditya Suresh, Dobyns-Bennett High School, Kingsport
• Katherine Walker, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge
• Elizabeth Williams, Science Hill High School, Johnson City
• James Wood, Fannin County High School, Fannin County, Ga.
• Shakara Wright, Kenwood High School, Clarksville
• Amy Yoder, Knoxville Catholic High School, Knoxville

For more about the Haslam Scholar program and the finalists, see http://honors.utk.edu/.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Jessica Jarrell, a 2009 graduate in agriculture economics who is now working on her master’s degree in agricultural leadership, said she admires Professor John Riley, not just for his teaching, but also for the extra effort he makes for students outside of class.

A professor of agricultural and resource economics, Riley is also the faculty adviser for UT’s National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) team.

Each year, the NAMA team invents a product and then builds a marketing plan for it.

“Dr. Riley and his team begin the first day of the fall semester and work intensely every other day or night on the project,” Jarrell said. “I was on the team for three years, and it was my most meaningful experience in college. It made every other class make sense. It was really theory in practice.”

Jarrell said Riley was also a great classroom teacher.

“Any student who has taken his infamous ag finance class will tell you that he is willing to go back and reteach difficult concepts instead of pushing through so quickly that students get frustrated or give up,” Jarrell said. “He makes finance fun. It takes someone special for that alone.”

This past summer when Jarrell did a 12-week marketing internship with a large farm supply company, she learned how valuable her education has been.

“I was more prepared than several of their full-time employees to take on marketing projects,” she said.

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Beth Newman, a senior in statistics, said she’d like to say “thank you” to a number of faculty members:

• Melissa Morris, a lecturer in statistics, “for helping me discover my passion for statistics”;

• Joe Carcello, the Ernst & Young Professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Management and the director of research for the Corporate Governance Center, in accounting and information management, “for helping me discover my passion was not accounting, but that I could do anything I put my mind to”;

• William Seaver, associate professor in statistics, operations and management science, “for raising the bar by providing the most academically challenging courses I have ever taken”; and

• Elizabeth Gentry, lecturer in English, “for giving me the confidence to be heard and a strong voice through writing and speech.”

“These professors and lecturers went above and beyond curriculum and taught me life lessons, from perseverance to discovering what my own values and beliefs were,” she said. “They each challenged more than just my academics.”

But Newman said there are also two professors who made a significant impact on her although she never took a class from them — Frank Guess in statistics and Associate Professor Tim Young in Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries.

Newman said she networked with Guess in her sophomore year to learn more about future opportunities in statistics. Since then, she said, Guess has become an educational resource, a role model and a source of motivation.

“He always knew what to say to encourage me,” she said. “He spent time helping me create future plans. He was there with heartfelt congratulations for my achievements, and even more, he was there with an inspirational quote when I felt lost.”

Guess introduced Newman to Young, and Newman began working at the Forest Products Center on the agricultural campus.

“I loved being a research assistant there,” she said. “Working there led me to a deeper understanding of statistical concepts that I learned in class.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Nashville surgeon and UT alumnus William Harb credits Professor Otis Stephens for teaching him to love the law.

Faculty Appreciation Week is a new event intended to offer special recognition to faculty whose teaching, research and outreach activities have helped make UT Knoxville a great university.

In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Professor Joe Bartges tells his students to treat each patient as if it were their own little Nelle, Buddy, Cruella, Geri or Chloe.

“Most people view their pets as family members, so it is important to understand and respect this, and to give them that sort of attention,” said Bartges, a professor of medicine and nutrition in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of small animal clinical sciences.

Bartges, who describes himself as “a boxer man through and through,” said his household has included many dogs and cats over the years.

“Currently, we have two boxers — Nelle, who is 10 years old, and Buddy, who is around 8 years old,” he said. “Like many veterinarians, we have ended up with pets that had health issues. We have had a Dalmatian named Cruella who had stones, a Labrador named Geri who had muscular dystrophy, a boxer named Chloe who had pulmonic stenosis, and the list goes on and on.”

Bartges said he also tells his students that the science of medicine might be found in books, but the art of medicine is found in the day-to-day interaction with animals and their owners.

“Medicine is mostly shades of gray rather than black and white. Every patient is unique, requiring creativity in the diagnostic work-up and treatment. Every patient is a puzzle to be solved. But more importantly, every patient deserves the best care we can provide with compassion and dignity,” he said.

Bartges said he enjoys the many aspects of his work — practicing medicine, teaching and doing research.

“As a clinician, I enjoy the opportunity of seeing patients and clients and practicing medicine. As a researcher, I enjoy the potential to hopefully discover or create new things that may change the way medicine is practiced. As a teacher, I enjoy the opportunity to educate people on new things that improve our care of patients. I appreciate this responsibility to educate future and present veterinarians and to watch them grow in knowledge and confidence,” he said.

Jim Thompson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, says Bartges embodies the college’s ideals of knowledge, compassion and discovery.

“In the classroom and in the small animal hospital, Joe is powerfully engaging and promotes active learning among our veterinary students, graduate students, interns and residents. He’s a perfect fit for academic practice, because he does it all; teaching, clinical service and generating new medical and veterinary knowledge with exceptional enthusiasm.”

Bartges serves as the Acree Chair of Small Animal Research at UT, and is a member of the Veterinary Medicine Editorial Advisory Board. He received the Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teaching Award, a Pfizer Animal Health Award for Research Excellence, and a 2007 UT National Alumni Excellence Teaching Award.

Bartges’ clinical and research specialties include internal medicine with emphasis on urology and nephrology, and clinical nutrition with an emphasis on the role of nutrition in the management of diseases.

He has written more than 200 articles, book chapters and reviews, and has spoken at more than 200 meetings.

Bartges earned his veterinary medicine degree from the University of Georgia along with a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Linda Mefford believes in the power of nursing to heal, and as a professor in the College of Nursing, she feels it is important to pass that power on to the next generation of nurses.

Though at heart she is primarily a nursing clinician specializing in neonatal intensive care nursing, Mefford changed her career focus to nursing education and now teaches one of the hardest parts of the nursing program — pathophysiology, the study of change in the body caused by injury or disease.

“I enjoy teaching pathophysiology because professional nurses need to have a solid understanding of what is happening in their patients’ physical bodies in order to anticipate the complications that may happen and then act promptly to prevent those problems whenever possible,” she said.

“In times of crisis, people trust nurses and invite nurses to enter with them into the most private and painful places of their lives,” Mefford continued. “Nurses hold a sacred responsibility to honor the trust which their patients place in them by delivering compassionate and professional nursing care based in a solid foundational knowledge of both the art and science of nursing practice.”

Mefford applies these beliefs in the standards she sets for her students.

Teaching 100 to 125 junior nursing students, 30 to 40 master’s degree students, and six to seven doctoral students is no easy feat, but College of Nursing Dean Joan Creasia recognizes Mefford’s ability.

“Linda is an extremely effective teacher at all levels. She teaches some of the most difficult content in the nursing curriculum and often provides individual help to students who find the material challenging,” Creasia said, adding that Mefford consistently receives outstanding evaluations from her students.

“The best thing about being a professor is the privilege of supporting students as they work to achieve the professional goals that they have chosen for themselves,” Mefford said. “I want my students to know that I believe in them. I also want my students to believe in themselves.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, come to the classroom with their lifetime of knowledge, and it’s the job of the faculty to help them explore new ways of thinking and relating to the world.

Eric Haley, a professor of advertising in the School of Advertising and Public Relations, says the classroom experience is only part of what students learn during their time at the university.

“When I think of how we contribute to the development of students, there are two parts. First, we try to impart the skills that a liberal arts university can teach, to help people be able to self-govern, to think critically and to lead good lives,” Haley said. “Sometimes we forget that the function of public education is to create people who can run the country some day. The second part is to prepare them for a professional career, and that’s what we do here.”

Each year, Haley leads students on a tour of advertising-related businesses in New York.

“This is the 18th year of the program, and we picked New York because it’s the advertising capital of the world,” Haley said. “We have had success in placing students in internships and jobs in the New York area, but more importantly, we’ve succeeded in showing them that the world doesn’t end at Nashville or Atlanta — that there’s a huge world of opportunity out there for them to succeed and make a difference on a big scale.”

In a recent survey of UT Knoxville students and their attitudes about their professors, Haley was described as “an excellent teacher and scholar and an outstanding citizen of the university.”

A professor at UT Knoxville since 1992, Haley also has held several administrative positions in the College of Communication and Information, including development associate to the dean and associate dean for undergraduate studies. Haley says those jobs were a part of the behind-the-scenes duties of professors and administrators that the world generally doesn’t know about.

“There are a lot of hidden aspects to a professor’s life that people don’t see. They see us in the classroom and in our face-to-face interaction with students,” he said. “But what they don’t see is all the work we do at various times of the day and night, weekends, working from home, preparing material for the classroom and also trying to fulfill the research mission of the university.

“A lot of neat things happen through that. We can take our research skills and impact a lot of issues such as health, economics and social justice. That’s another fun part of this job that is more seen by graduate students than by undergraduates, because another career track we prepare our students for is the academic track, preparing students to be professors of advertising, who go on to teach in small colleges and large universities all over the country and throughout the world.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Sarah Proffitt, who recently graduated with a degree in communications studies, says her hero is Professor John Haas, director of the School of Communications Studies.

“During the course of my time in college, I struggled from a severe eating disorder,” Proffitt said.

Because of her health struggles, she was often late for class, or missed it altogether.

“It was very hard for me to keep my focus on my school work and my grades suffered,” she said.

Things were so bad, she said, that she got her days confused and missed the final.

Realizing her spring 2009 graduation would be delayed because she’d have to retake the class, she went to Haas and told him everything.

“I met him in his office, head hung low and desperate for some advice,” she said.

Haas helped Proffitt arrange to retake the class during the summer. He also talked to her about attending graduate school and helped her figure out her career options. Proffitt plans to get her master’s degree in counseling psychology and specialize in substance abuse and military combat stress.

“I wish I would have met with Dr. Haas on my first day at UT,” Proffitt said. “He actually cares about his students and is willing to do whatever it takes to see them succeed.

“I wish I could do something to thank him… but he said that me being successful would be the best thank-you gift I could give.”

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Lori Caudle is the preK-K program coordinator for the child and family studies department in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UT Knoxville and will complete her doctorate this summer. She taught elementary school for one year after completing her teacher education internship and then returned to graduate school. Her goal is to work with early childhood preservice teachers in a faculty position at a university.

As she finishes her doctorate and prepares to move into academia, Caudle said she’s sad to be leaving her mentor, Mary Jane Moran, associate professor of child and family studies.

“Not only is she a mentor, but she is my friend, colleague and advocate,” Caudle said. “Dr. Moran not only inspired me to fulfill my dreams, but she guided me down the right path — picking me up when I stumbled, pushing me along when I grew tired, motivating me when I felt hopeless, giving me advice when I needed it, and inspiring me by being such a successful researcher and teacher in the field.”

Caudle said she lost her mother during the course of her studies, and she recalls the empathy she felt from Moran.

“I immediately called Dr. Moran, but she was traveling so I left a message. She called me right back from the airport when she got off a plane. I remember telling her that my mother had passed away. I was so upset I don’t remember the entire conversation, but I do remember that she said, ‘Oh Lori!’ and then expressed such sorrow and understanding that it renewed my hope that everything would be OK. After my mother passed, Dr. Moran took care of me in ways that were above and beyond, always checking in with me and showing a deep concern for my well-being. Without her support, I don’t know that I would have continued in graduate school during that heart-wrenching time.

“I have always told Dr. Moran that I strive to be like her; she is filled with such vast knowledge and is still able to relate to others in such passionate ways.”

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Paul Norris Wolf Jr. is completing the alternative teaching program while pursuing a master’s degree in education. He is now a special education teacher at Walnut Hill Elementary School in Roane County. He credits Deborah Wooten with helping him through some rough spots in the classroom.

Wooten is an associate professor of reading in the Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Department. Before coming to UT in 2002, she taught elementary school for 23 years, both in the rural schools of Mississippi and in the urban classrooms of New York City.

“Two years ago I found myself at the crossroads of being both a teacher and a student at UT,” Wolf said. “I was having a terrible time in my classroom, and felt like I had little support from my school district supervisors. Dr. Wooten realized that I was having a difficult time, and took time after class to listen to my concerns and offered me a great deal of much-needed support.

“During the next year I was in a new school system where I used many of the techniques Dr. Wooten taught in class. My experience with her ‘Writing and Sharing Connections,’ a strategy to prompt reading in grade school, helped me aid struggling readers and writers in both elementary and middle school classrooms.

“I still routinely consult with Dr. Wooten regarding instruction techniques and, through our conversations, continue learning to become more professional.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Student Zeb Phillips thanks vocal professor Lorraine DiSimone for helping him find his voice.

Faculty Appreciation Week is a new event intended to offer special recognition to faculty whose teaching, research and outreach activities have helped make UT Knoxville a great university.

In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Professor David Patterson said he borrows a page from noted cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien when he tells students that the best way to succeed in class and in their future careers: Show up, pay attention, tell the truth and don’t be so attached to the results that you can’t see the outcome.

“The greatest gift you can give is the gift of your presence and willingness to sit with and be present with people as they struggle to change their lives,” he said.

For the past 19 years, Patterson has taught graduate classes in forensic social work, substance abuse treatment and group psychotherapy. He describes teaching social work to undergraduate and graduate students as a way to prepare people to change the lives of others in beneficial ways.

Patterson, who is past president of the UT Knoxville Faculty Senate, recently was recognized as the Middle East Region, Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare Professional Advocate of the Year.

In 2004, Patterson, along with Roger Nooe, professor emeritus in the College of Social Work, received initial funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and partnered with the City of Knoxville, the East Tennessee Coalition to End Homelessness, Knox County and Comcast to begin the Knoxville Homeless Management Information System (KnoxHMIS), an Internet-based system connecting local agencies that provide services to the homeless. Patterson, whose focus is applied information technology, is the principal investigator and director of KnoxHMIS.

Since its implementation, KnoxHMIS has been very successful. Every major local agency in Knox County is now using the system, and each agency has access to a secure, Web-based date system that is administered by the UT College of Social Work Office of Research and Public Service. Under the direction of Patterson, KnoxHMIS has become an invaluable tool of practice throughout the homeless community.

Patterson received his bachelor’s degree from Kent State University and his master’s degree and doctorate in social work from the University of Utah. He is the author of several multimedia computer programs, as well as two books, “Personal Computer Applications in the Social Services” and “Data Analysis with Spreadsheet.” His research is published in numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics including treatment with groups, artificial neural networks and information technology applications in social work. Patterson is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Technology in Human Services, Best Practices in Mental Health, and Currents: New Scholarship in the Human Services.

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

As the head of Research Services for the University Libraries, Jane Row loves the feeling she gets from interacting with the students.

“My favorite thing is the connection you make with the students,” said Row, who has been a part of the Hodges Library team for 23 years. “Just the excitement of seeing them discover new concepts is great. Even with the limited resources we think we have, we feel we are making huge strides with new technology.”

Row is a frequent guest lecturer for social sciences courses, both undergraduate and graduate. She is most proud of a Ready for the World grant she received a few years ago. The project highlighted civil rights and other issues of injustice in the South. The grant allowed the team to develop a timeline of events for the Highlander Research and Education Center. The exhibit is now traveling around the United States.

When Row isn’t assisting students and faculty with their research needs, she enjoys tennis, golf and the outdoors. But her heart lies with the library.

“I work with very interesting, smart and dedicated colleagues that want to help students have a successful outcome in their academics,” Row said. “I continue to be impressed with the dedication of the faculty in the library and the teaching faculty. It makes me proud to be part of the institution because they care about doing things right.”

Linda Phillips, professor and head of scholarly communication with University Libraries, said Row is incredibly well-informed about global current events and serves as a liaison between the library and campus groups.

University Libraries Associate Dean Rita Smith praises Row for her spunk and sense of humor while maintaining her work ethic.

“Jane and I have worked together for over 20 years, and I consider her a trusted friend and colleague,” Smith said. “So many times when I worried about decisions or direction, she has patiently listened and given me sound advice, often keeping me grounded. Jane exemplifies the best in academic librarianship through her collegiality, her dedication to excellence in service, her advocacy of civic engagement, and her sense of responsibility for leadership. She is generous with her time and is unfailingly there to give students that extra bit of research assistance, to consult with faculty in support of their research and teaching, and to advise a colleague.”

Row received her undergraduate degree and some did graduate work at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her master’s in library and information sciences from UT.

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

This article in Deutsche Welle reports on a fungal infection spreading through bat populations in the U.S. The article quotes UT Knoxville ecology and evolutionary biology professor Gary McCracken, who says the “white-nose” fungus, Geomyces destructans, may reach Tennessee this winter.

Leila Pinchot, a doctoral student in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, knows firsthand how difficult understanding statistics can be for non-statistics majors. But, thanks to Professor Arnold Saxton, Pinchot has actually learned to enjoy statistics.

Saxton teaches statistics in the Department of Animal Science and is a member of the Intercollegiate Graduate Statistics Program.

“Dr. Saxton breaks statistics down by giving practical examples and avoiding the usual abstract theoretical examples used in all other stats courses I’ve taken,” Pinchot said. “I understand how and why, on a very practical level, to use it. While this may seem simple, none of the three other statistics courses I have taken have been able to successfully convey this.”

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Claire Svoboda is a graduate student in teacher education.

“As a Spanish major in undergrad, there was one teacher who had the most significant impact on my life,” she said. “Her name is Laura Trujillo.

“When I went into her intermediate grammar class on the first day, I was terrified. She was strict, and she was going to make us work,” Svoboda recalled.

“It was one of the most difficult classes I ever took, but I learned more than I ever had. Laura pushed all of us to get out of our comfort zones, and she was there for each and every one of her students as we struggled.

“As a future teacher myself, I understand and fully appreciate her hard work and dedication to her students.”

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May Lamsen spent six years working in the food manufacturing industry before deciding to return to school. Now a second-year graduate, one faculty member stands out to her among the rest: Professor Federico Harte, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology.

“Upon starting graduate school, I was always very self conscious about asking the professor questions for fear of being looked at as dumb,” Lamsen said.

She remembers being really upset during one class because she didn’t understand how to do a problem.

“He kept motivating me,” Lamsen said. “He never makes a student feel dumb, and gives his time to truly help a student. What is great is that he believes in any student’s capability to better themselves. I can tell that he really likes to teach, and I wish that more professors could have that kind of approachable nature.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Student Anne Buckle and alumna Rachel Hickman talk about a faculty member they consider très magnifique: Sébastien Dubreil, professor of French.

Faculty Appreciation Week is a new event intended to offer special recognition to faculty whose teaching, research and outreach activities have helped make UT Knoxville a great university.

In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Associate Professor Becky Jacobs has caused some UT law students to become “Jacobholics.”

“There are students who call themselves the ‘Jacobholics’ and who take every class she offers, regardless of topic area,” said her colleague, Ben Barton, who is director of clinical programs and an associate professor of law. “This is because she is a brilliant and engaging teacher who makes endless time for the students. She is also a dedicated public servant.”

Jacobs took over the college’s mediation clinic and has since trained many law students to become mediators.

“Becky is a tireless worker, a passionate teacher and a person who is making a massive impact in our community. She is also an exceptional scholar. In sum, we are most lucky to have her with us,” Barton said.

Jacobs, who came to UT from a job in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been on the College of Law faculty since 2002. She also directs a mediation clinic as a part of the College of Law Clinical Programs.

“I am passionate about mediation. My students and I work with the Knox County Community Mediation Center,” Jacobs said. “It is a local nonprofit with a really amazing group of skilled volunteer mediators.”

With Dave Ostermeier and Don Hodges, Jacobs also co-pioneered the Environmental Law Practicum, which involves students and faculty from across campus. It works with the Cumberland Habitat Conservation Plan on clean water and other issues in the Cumberland Plateau and all over East Tennessee.

Jacobs was called “one of the most naturally enlightened people with whom I’ve had the pleasure of being associated” by law student Jeff Carter.

“As a law professor, she demonstrates the utmost effectiveness in teaching the most important skill a lawyer will ever possess: analysis,” Carter said. “The time spent in her classroom taught me to think about issues in different and more meaningful ways, leading me to more insightful, and ultimately more useful, conclusions. She is an astute academic and an exceptional teacher, and the university is bettered by her presence.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

Richard Bennett’s work is at the heart of efforts to enhance the UT Knoxville method of teaching freshman undergraduate engineering students.

As the director of the ENGAGE Engineering Fundamentals Division in the College of Engineering and a professor of civil and environmental engineering, Bennett oversees the vital work of helping guide freshmen through a core curriculum that is designed to prepare them not only for the rigors of an undergraduate engineering degree, but also for their future careers.

“I thoroughly enjoy teaching,” Bennett said. “I’m probably crazy to teach freshmen, but I enjoy helping them make that transition from high school to college.”

ENGAGE has been nationally recognized for its unique approach that allows student to gain practical experience by working on team projects involving physics, computer tools and engineering design. Bennett’s passion for the position is reflected in his work with students, according to Masood Parang, associate dean and professor in the College of Engineering.

“Dick is an excellent teacher and administrator,” Parang said.

In addition to overseeing the program, Bennett has taught courses in ENGAGE for 10 years, and his work, combined with that of other faculty, has improved student performance, reflected in progressively higher rankings for the program overall. In addition, ENGAGE coordinated preparation for the national Fundamentals of Engineering exam, and UT Knoxville students have scored above the national average on the test for five straight semesters.

Bennett’s dedication to helping his students achieve their goals is a principle that he has had throughout his 27 years at UT.

“Once a student slept through his final exam and came in at the end of class in a panic,” Bennett said. “I decided to let him take the exam. It ended up that my daughter babysat his kids and he ended up giving her a real job because he remembered how I let him take the final. I guess I made the right decision that day 15 years ago.”

Bennett enjoys woodworking and building furniture in his spare time. But, above all, he loves his job and hopes to continue teaching for a long time.

Bennett has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Cleveland State University and a master’s degree and doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His specialties include masonry design and structural dynamics.

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

This article in Knoxville Magazine profiles Smokey IX, the blue tick hound that has served as the Volunteers’ mascot since 2004, and recounts the history of Smokey the mascot, instituted in 1953.

Nicole Benjamin is a ‘08 graduate of UT Knoxville. She now attends law school at the University of Memphis.

“I was the first person in my family to attend college and I had no clue what to expect. I was a nervous wreck when I entered my first class as a freshman. It was political science 101,” Benjamin said.

“Professor Mike Fitzgerald, or ‘Doc’ to his students, entered the room. I sat in the first row. He began to speak about the ‘honorable ladies and gentlemen of the Orange and White,’ something he would reference again and again. It made me proud to be part of the university community as a one-day freshman. I felt I belonged there,” she said.

“From his first lecture to his last lecture, I sensed his passion and dedication for his students.”

Benjamin said she once challenged a grade she got on one of Fitzgerald’s exams.

“I sent Doc an e-mail. He could have been pretentious, but he wasn’t. Instead, he complimented me for speaking up about what I believed to be correct,” she said. “He even said I should think about being an attorney, which has been my lifelong dream,” Benjamin said.

In time, Fitzgerald became Benjamin’s adviser.

“I met with Doc many times over the course of my college career. We would talk about my career aspirations, world events, etc. One meeting lasted at least two hours. I felt that I had found a faculty mentor.

“Through our discussions, Doc realized that I really wanted to focus on American studies. I eventually changed my major, but I did get a second major in political science.”

Benjamin took the special course Fitzgerald taught about Winston Churchill, which coincided with an international conference sponsored by UT’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

“I was in a class mixed with graduate and undergraduate students. It made me work harder and pushed me to know my own potential,” she said. “I wish that I could have taken more of Doc’s classes. He remains as one of my greatest memories of being a UT student.”

Benjamin said Fitzgerald wrote a letter of recommendation for her to attend law school.

Now working to fulfill that career goal, Benjamin said she has a message she’d like to send Fitzgerald:

“Doc, I will make you proud,” she said. “And I will always be an honorable lady of the Orange and White.”

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Allison Elledge is a graduate student in history at UT Knoxville. She said history Professor Palmira Brummett has been a “true inspiration for me professionally and personally.”

Elledge was a teaching assistant for Brummett in a world history class and subsequently took two of Brummett’s classes.

“She is open to different points of view, she’s engaging, and offers criticism constructively rather than harmfully. She has a strong affinity for creativity, experimentation in the classroom, and academic freedom.”

One of the courses Elledge took from Brummett is “Teaching World History,” which requires students to create and defend a yearlong world history syllabus, complete with specific assignments, paper topics, discussion topics, lecture topics and sources.

With Brummett’s encouragement, Elledge said, she’s presented her work from that class at a conference in Boston and has applied to present it at another conference this year.

“Dr. Brummett is encouraging of her graduate students and she remembers our work; she treats us like colleagues. Academia is a large network of scholars who read and depend upon each other for good scholarship. Dr. Brummett has made efforts to bring graduate students into that network,” Elledge said.

“On a personal level, Dr. Brummett has been supportive of me because I am a full-time graduate student with a full teaching assistantship, but I also have a family. My husband and I have five daughters. Sometimes, life seems overwhelming, but Dr. Brummett has encouraged me during those stressful times to stay with it, put one foot in front of the other, and keep the goal in sight.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today is featuring stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Mississippi educator and UT Knoxville alumna Susan Bunch thanks “her favorite teacher in the whole wide world,” Lynn Cagle, associate dean for professional licensure and director of the Graduate School of Education.

Faculty Appreciation Week is a new event intended to offer special recognition to faculty whose teaching, research and outreach activities have helped make UT Knoxville a great university.

In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today will feature stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

By designing projects that include sustainable homes, a visitors’ center and an observation platform for a local state park, Assistant Professor Tricia Stuth and her students are improving the world one project at a time.

“The most important thing to teach future designers is to think critically and creatively about the world to which their work will contribute,” said Stuth, a faculty member in the College of Architecture and Design and a registered architect.

Her work — both inside and outside of the college — has not gone unnoticed. Stuth has been recognized nationally for her contributions to both academia and the profession. She recently recognized with a significant national award: the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 2010 New Faculty Teaching Award. Her firm CURB, which she runs with architecture Professor Ted Shelton, won an Award of Excellence from AIA Tennessee.

Stuth also led some of her students to impressive honors. She was a faculty co-adviser to a UT student group that won top honors at the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual P3s student design competition for sustainability. The same team also was honored at UT Knoxville’s 2009 EUReCA competition, as was the group of students who worked on the visitors’ center at Panther Creek State Park.

“She has truly made outstanding contributions in teaching, research and service and is a wonderful representative of our college,” said Dean John McRae.

Stuth also takes seriously being a mentor to students, both those already in the program and those aspiring to pursue design in college. Three years ago she started a summer design camp for high school students interested in architecture and design. The camp, Design Matters, continues to be a success in attracting and recruiting prospective students.

“The best thing about being a professor of architecture is the ability — necessity really — to research and theorize, to apply concepts to design, and then to reflect on them through critical writings, discussions and direct experience,” Stuth said. “The process of knowledge seeking, dissemination and refinement is what I value most, and the university culture, faculty and student body, and visitors to the campus, add to this experience.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today is featuring stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.

Deans and administrators from each college suggested one of their faculty members who deserves special “kudos” during Faculty Appreciation Week.

For Chris Craig, successful classroom education comes down to two words: love and respect.

“My approach is first and foremost you have to love the material you’re trying to impart. Second, you have to respect the people with whom you are sharing it. If you fall down on either of those, then you’re wasting someone’s time,” he said.

Craig, a professor of classics since 1980, said one of the great things about teaching at UT Knoxville is the students who come to the university from a variety of backgrounds but who all share a seriousness of purpose.

“There is enormous diversity, both cultural and socioeconomic, and at the same time a common bond of dedication. Working with these students, we begin to see the meritocracy that Thomas Jefferson envisioned so many years ago,” he said.

As an educator, Craig says creating the right classroom atmosphere is important.

“I want people to know that they should be serious about the common enterprise of education, and that I am actively glad that they choose to be a part of it,” he said. “Education is an exchange. I respect the students for the people they are, and I need to hear what they have to say.”

Craig also is the director of UT’s College Scholars program, an interdisciplinary honors program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“College Scholars to me crystallizes everything that is best about our mission as both a land-grant institution and the research-intensive flagship public university in Tennessee,” he said. “We get the best undergraduates, with drive, talent and a determination to get the most out of their undergraduate experience. We then help these students find faculty, usually our most distinguished faculty, who are ready to spend time and care on them, for no reward other than the joy of seeing them succeed.

“In American undergraduate education, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

As a faculty member in the Department of Classics since 1981, Senior Vice Chancellor and Provost Susan Martin worked closely with Craig for many years.

“Chris Craig is an exemplary faculty member,” she said. “He has set the highest standards for himself and his students. He was recognized early in his career as an Alumni Outstanding Teacher and his students continue to be inspired by him to do their best work. His dedication to training a new generation of Latin teachers has borne fruit as many of our students have moved on either to graduate school and university careers or into the high school Latin programs of Tennessee. His achievement in all areas of faculty endeavor would be hard to match.”

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In honor of Faculty Appreciation Week, Tennessee Today is featuring stories and videos based on comments about great faculty members submitted by students, alumni and others.

You can send a shout out to your favorite faculty member or read what others have written.

Also this week, area merchants will offer a variety of discounts for UT faculty.