Author: rbogle

Sixty years ago it was just a seed of an idea inside Bart Leiper’s head — a celebration of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Leiper, general manager of Gatlinburg’s Chamber of Commerce, wanted to develop an event that showcased the vast amount of flora and fauna in the park. He wrote Samuel Meyer, then head of the botany department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, requesting the department to arrange a so-called spring flower jubilee.

Seeing the opportunity to turn the park into a giant outdoor classroom for students, botanists and nature-lovers alike, Meyer agreed. He recruited UT professors Fred Norris and Royal Shanks to work alongside Great Smoky Mountains National Park naturalist Art Stupka and the city of Gatlinburg to organize the first ever Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Smokies.

The forecast called for rain the April weekend of the event, and that had Gatlinburg Garden Club member Lucinda Ogle worried. She feared that the wet weather would limit the pilgrims’ access to the trails and they would not get to experience the pristine beauty of the diverse flora and fauna that coat the mountainsides.

So Ogle improvised.

She washed a case of 24 glass Coca Cola bottles, picked some of the rarest flower specimens from her own woodland garden, placed them in the bottles and carried them to the pilgrimage meeting. Her Coke bottle flower garden saved the day and has remained a centerpiece of the pilgrimage.

Even though National Geographic magazine covered the 1951 pilgrimage, the event had humble beginnings. Little more than a 100 participants attended 10 tours led by 11 leaders over a two-day period.

But the pilgrimage grew wildly in popularity. Within 30 years, more than a 1,000 participants made the trek from more than 30 states to view the explosion of colors and variety of wildlife that call the Great Smoky Mountains home.

Today, the pilgrimage is a five-day celebration with 115 leaders and more than 150 programs, featuring natural history walks, motorcades, photographic tours, art classes and indoor seminars. The tours showcase the abundant varieties of plants, birds, reptiles and amphibians native to the Smokies. Some trips last all day, others but a few hours.

A team made up of members of UT Knoxville’s Division of Biology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Tennessee Valley Authority selects the trips each year. UT Knoxville provides the leaders and the other sponsors provide logistical support.

This year’s pilgrimage will be April 21 through 25. Online registration is now open at http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org.

UT Interim President Jan Simek will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 23, at the W.L. Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg. His talk, “Prehistoric Art in Tennessee,” will explore how prehistoric people in this area decorated their landscape with religious symbols both above and below the ground.

Along with outdoor programs and tours, the W.L. Mills Conference Center — the event’s registration site in Gatlinburg — will feature art exhibitions, merchants and related activities. Tickets are $75 per person for two or more days. Single-day tickets are available for $40. Student tickets are $10 and must be verified with a student ID.

The Wildflower Pilgrimage is a joint venture of the UT Knoxville Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the City of Gatlinburg Department of Tourism, the Friends of the Smoky Mountains National Park, the Gatlinburg Garden Club, the Great Smoky Mountains Association, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.

For more information, call 865-436-7318, Ext. 222, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or visit http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org. Lodging information is also available on the site.

To: UT Knoxville Faculty, Staff and Students

From: Sally McMillan, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Subject: End of the Semester Academic Procedures

As we enter April, we fast approach the end of the semester. Before we begin to think about summer, I write to remind you of the following policies, drawn from the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the Undergraduate Catalog. Thank you in advance for your cooperation, and please contact me at [email protected] should you have any questions.

Final Examinations

“Final exams must be given during the final exam period at the scheduled time, although alternative uses of the scheduled exam period may be designated by the instructor.” Professors assigning take-home final examinations and/or papers should make them due in class during the scheduled final exam period (see FERPA note below).

“Students are not required to take more than two exams on any day. The instructor of the last non-departmental exam on that day must reschedule the student’s exam during the final exam period.” Please note the following: “It is the obligation of students with such conflicts to make appropriate arrangements with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the end of classes” (meaning April 16 is the last day to make such arrangements).

And finally, please note this end of semester regulation:

“No in-class written quizzes or tests counting more than 10% of the semester grade may be given the last five calendar days prior to the study period” (meaning April 27 is the last day to give quizzes or tests counting more than 10% of the semester grade).

The Grade of Incomplete

“Under extraordinary circumstances and at the discretion of the instructor, the grade of I (Incomplete) may be awarded to students who have satisfactorily completed a substantial portion of the course but cannot complete the course for reasons beyond their control.” Also, please note that “the grade of I is not issued in lieu of the grade F or FX,” and that “students may not remove an I grade by re-enrolling in the course” (sitting in on the same course next semester).

Academic Standards of Conduct

Students must keep the honor statement in mind as they prepare for final examinations and papers. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, “copying without proper documentation written or spoken words, phrases, or sentences from any source,” “collaborating on a graded assignment without instructor’s approval,” and “submitting work, either in whole or part, created by a professional service.” Contact the Office of Student Judicial Affairs at http://judicialaffairs.utk.edu or 974-3171 for more information and links to campus resources.

A Final Note Concerning the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA):

In light of the provisions of this act, please do not ask students to submit assignments in open mailboxes or in any other unattended public venues (boxes in the hallway, envelopes taped to doors, and the like). Graded assignments for student retrieval likewise should not be made available in such public venues. Grades should not be posted publicly using student ID numbers or Social Security Numbers, nor should the students’ names be linked with their IDs in any public manner. More information on FERPA can be found by clicking “F” on the A-Z index of the UT homepage.

Thank you, and have a great end of the semester!

KNOXVILLE — In light of the recent earthquake activity worldwide, does East Tennessee face any increased danger of having a quake?

Bob Hatcher, distinguished scientist and professor of structural geology and tectonics in earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will touch on this question when he presents this week’s UT Science Forum lecture.

Free and open to the public, Hatcher’s presentation — “Evidence for a 25,000-year History of Earthquake Activity in Eastern Tennessee” — will begin at noon on Friday, April 9, in Thompson-Boling Arena Dining Room C-D. Attendees are welcome to bring their lunches or purchase lunch at the Café at the Arena.

The UT Science Forum is a weekly event where leading science researchers share their discoveries and discuss the frontiers of their fields in a way that the general public can understand.

Hatcher’s research focuses on the question of whether there were large earthquakes in the East Tennessee seismic zone in prehistoric times and, if so, how frequently they occurred.

“The East Tennessee seismic zone is the second most active in the eastern U.S.,” Hatcher said. “It’s a large area. There are earthquakes that occur all the way from north of Knoxville into northwest Georgia into northeastern Alabama. One of the reasons we wanted to work in this area is to see if there have been prehistoric earthquakes of larger than a magnitude five, because magnitude five is the threshold of damage.”

With a research grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Hatcher and his team have found evidence of larger earthquakes in the area in prehistoric times, but have not yet determined the recurrence rate. He will present these findings in his discussion. In the video, Hatcher describes why his research is important to residents of East Tennessee and how it affects the area.

The UT Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research. Upcoming presentations include:

• April 16: Soren Sorensen, professor and head of physics and astronomy, presents “The End of the Universe.”

• April 23: Forbes Walker, associate professor of biosystems engineering and soil science, presents “Developing Conservation Agriculture Systems in Africa.”

• April 30: Suzanne Lenhart, professor of mathematics, presents “The Power of Optimal Control: From Confining Rabies to Improving CPR.”

For questions about the UT Science Forum, contact Mark Littmann, [email protected] or 974-8156, or Mike Clark, [email protected] or 974-6006.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Two alumni of the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are being inducted into the 2010 Junior Achievement of East Tennessee’s Business Hall of Fame.

William “Billy” Carroll Jr., president and CEO of SmartBank, and Tim Williams, co-founder and CEO of 21st Mortgage Corporation will be inducted Thursday, April 8, at the Knoxville Marriott.

Carroll graduated from the college in 1990 with a degree in accounting. In 2007, Carroll and his father, William Y. Carroll Sr., founded and organized SmartBank in Pigeon Forge. SmartBank has now expanded to Sevierville, Gatlinburg and Knoxville.

Tim Williams earned an accounting degree from the college in 1986 as well as an MBA in 1993. 21st Mortgage is the highest volume lender in the manufactured home industry, with a portfolio totaling $5.6 billion. The company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Co. and is headquartered in Knoxville.

This is the 22nd year for the Hall of Fame, which recognizes business leaders from East Tennessee who have shown an ability to build businesses into an organization vital to the health and progress of the East Tennessee area.

The Junior Achievement of East Tennessee aims to prepare tomorrow’s business leaders through programs that increase financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurialism.

KNOXVILLE – Playing the violin has been a way of life for Rachel Grubb.

“My favorite part of playing violin is being able to play in orchestras. It is such a cool experience. And you get to play with all the different instruments of the orchestra–all the strings, the woodwinds, the brass–which is really cool because it is loud because I love loud music and the percussion,” said Grubb, a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Although she has been playing the violin since the age of 8, it was at UT Knoxville that the senior really mastered her craft and has grown as a musician.

“I have definitely grown so much here at UT, especially through my mentors and through the music programs that we have here, and we have great faculty,” Grubb said. “I have Professor Mark Zelmanovich, who I take weekly private lessons with, and also Professor James Fellenbaum, who I take lessons from for private orchestral conducting too. It is neat to be on both sides of the musical experience. Playing music and making sound and also being a conductor, which is more of the artistic leadership side of it, but you don’t actually make any sound.”

Grubb had the chance to display her gift at UT Knoxville’s first ever research week. The week put the spotlight on undergraduate researchers, scholars, artists and performers with a concert, an honors symposium, an art competition and a student paper competition. Grubb and hundreds of other students showed off their diverse talents in areas ranging from music to art to science to business.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a former governor and president of UT, gave the keynote address “Research and the Public Good,” and UT Interim President Jan Simek led the honors symposium’s “University in Crisis” discussion.

Research week also featured the 14th annual Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement, also known as EURēCA, where 219 undergraduate students displayed their work and competed for the top spot in their fields. Participants were judged by a combination of UT Knoxville faculty members and community professionals.

Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek introduced EURēCA, discussing the importance of undergraduate research for students’ education and achieving UT Knoxville’s goal of being a top 25 research institution.

Grubb and fellow EURēCA competitor Todd Skelton are seniors in UT Knoxville’s College Scholars program, an interdisciplinary honors program where students essentially develop their own curriculum and work with a faculty mentor on an in-depth research project.

“It is one thing to be a student in a classroom but this takes my academic work to another level. Events like EURēCA let you show what UT students are doing and that is important to me,” Skelton said.

Skelton believes the chance to pursue undergraduate research has not only enhanced his college career but also his future.

“It is not just regurgitating information on a multiple-choice exam but rather encourages a student to challenge themselves and also contribute to what, if you are working with a faculty member, they are developing in the lab and to what your own student portfolio is,” he said.

In fact, EURēCA and research week shed light on just a sliver of the undergraduate research being done inside the halls of UT Knoxville. Over the past two years, undergraduate research has skyrocketed due to more resources that are available to students including credit hours for research and paid research opportunities.

“UT is committed to undergraduate research. Whether it is offering EURēCA, giving student awards for their work, or providing summers grants for students to travel or buy lab materials. Whatever it may be, that displays UT’s commitment,” said Skelton. “Also, professors are really interested in working with undergraduates. So having that access with leading professors in their fields is something UT prides itself on and something students should take advantage of.”

Greg Reed, associate vice chancellor for research, says studies on undergraduate learning show the value of connecting students to faculty and their research as early as possible.

“Education research has shown that students who get involved in faculty scholarship tend to be retained at a higher percentage, they graduate in less time and their GPA goes up. So there is a direct benefit for that undergraduate student,” Reed said.

He adds there is a benefit for the nation as well. Undergraduate researchers can become intellectual entrepreneurs who make positive contributions to society and keep the United States competitive in the international sphere.

“As we come up with more and better ideas faster, we will be in the leadership position,” said Reed. “By inspiring, instructing and giving opportunities, students will have the confidence to seek and create the next best idea in whatever areas they are working in.”

The UT Knoxville Office of Research coordinates the EURēCA competition to encourage, support and reward undergraduate participation in the campus research enterprise. Top awards are funded by the UT Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and the William Franklin Harris III Undergraduate Research Award.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Bill Dockery (865-974-2187, [email protected])

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the UT Libraries and many of its friends and benefactors recently celebrated the acquisition of the Libraries’ 3 millionth volume, “TSVLVKI SQCLVCLV, A Cherokee Spelling Book.”

The Cherokee speller was published in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1819. The Libraries’ copy is one of only three known to exist.

During remarks at the celebration, UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek and Provost Susan Martin praised the Libraries and its staff for their contributions to scholarship on the Knoxville campus and around the world. Dean of Libraries Barbara Dewey outlined other notable milestones in the Libraries’ history and reflected on the importance of collecting and preserving historical Tennessee documents.

“This book strengthens our exceptional collections of early Knoxville imprints and material documenting the region’s history,” Dewey said, “including the history of the Cherokee and their removal from this area. It is our hope that the UT Libraries becomes a national center of research and historical materials on the Cherokee.”

Before guests visited the Special Collections area where the rare volume was on display, Vicki Rozema, author of several books on Cherokee history and culture, discussed the history of the book.

“TSVLVKI SQCLVCLV” was the work of missionary Daniel Butrick and David Brown, Butrick’s Cherokee student at the Brainerd Mission in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Brainerd Mission was one of many Christian missions founded in the early 19th century as part of the religious revival in America known as the “Second Great Awakening.” Butrick and Brown’s slim volume of only 61 pages, which uses the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Cherokee language, predated the well-known syllabary created by Sequoyah.

Daniel Butrick marched with the Cherokees on the “Trail of Tears” to Indian Territory in Oklahoma during the Indian Removals of the 1830s. Rozema told the audience that the journal Butrick kept along the way is one of the most poignant and thorough records of that tragic journey.

“The book is a compelling and important document of the early 19th century in East Tennessee, and a fitting symbol for this milestone in the progression of the University of Tennessee Libraries,” Dewey said.

KNOXVILLE – The leading undergraduate researchers of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were recognized last week at the 14th annual Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA) competition. More than 200 undergraduate researchers vied for the top spots in numerous concentrations ranging from engineering to music.

The Office of Research Top Undergraduate Research Award was given to College of Engineering students Charles Edmunds, Stephen Newlin and James White for their project “Dual Solar Roof.”

The William Franklin Harris III Undergraduate Research Award went to College of Arts and Sciences student Michael Jungwirth, a biological sciences major, for his project “Relative Tissue Expression of Homologous Torsins Can Explain the Neuronal Specific Importance of DYTI Dystonia-Associated TorsinA.”

The Top Three Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society Awards were awarded to College of Architecture and Design students Lauren Rogers, Steven Coley and Toby Thomas for their project “Team Tennessee Schematic Design Proposal for the 2011 Solar Decathlon”; College of Arts and Sciences student Oleg Ovchinnikov, a physical sciences major, for his project “Unlocking the Mysteries of the FORC”; and School of Music students Bonnie Farr and Rachel Grubb for their duet performance of “Concerto for Violin and Oboe by Bach.”

Awards also were given to numerous other projects in 12 different categories. On average, one award is given for every six entries per college. The standard award is $200 plus any division match or supplement. For a complete list of winners, visit http://research.utk.edu/eurca/winners_10.shtml.

Participants were judged by a combination of UT Knoxville faculty members and community professionals. Their research and creative activities were developed in collaboration with a UT Knoxville faculty mentor.

EURēCA was part of UT Knoxville’s first ever research week, which highlighted undergraduate researchers, scholars, artists and performers with a concert, an honors symposium, an art competition, a student paper competition and the launch of the university’s first undergraduate research journal, entitled Pursuit: The Journal of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee.

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C O N T A C T :

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

KNOXVILLE – On a sunny and warm Friday afternoon in March, about 100 students and staff at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, could be seen stacking aluminum cans, shot-putting phonebooks and throwing old Lane Kiffin bobble-head dolls down the TRECS intramural fields.

It was all part of Recyclympics, an event that featured nine interactive activities aimed at bringing awareness to recycling on campus in an entertaining way.

Recyclympics is part of RecycleMania, which is a 10-week competition among more than 600 college and university recycling programs. For this year’s competition, UT Knoxville’s recycling program took on the University of Florida. The goal was to recycle more than the Gators. According to the most recent data, the Volunteers have recycled 4.86 pounds per person and the Gators have recycled 7.13 pounds per person. The competition ended on March 27 and final results will be posted April 16.

“Recyclympics was a fun event. We really just wanted people to come out, enjoy the beautiful day and learn a bit about recycling in the process,” said Jay Price, UT environmental coordinator. “Recycling is fun. It’s easy. It saves resources and that fits into the overall plan of being climate neutral because everyone contributes.”

Price said the university aims to make recycling as easy as possible.

“Instead of putting things in the trash bin, just put them in the recycle bin,” he said. “Recycling is important because all of us generate waste. And recycling is a way that we can take that waste and do something with it.”

The Recyclympics was sponsored by UT Recycles, Make Orange Green and UT Athletics. For more information about the Recyclympics, RecycleMania and the UT Knoxville recycling program, visit http://www.pp.utk.edu/Recycle.

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C O N T A C T:

Jay Price (865-974-9409, [email protected])

KNOXVILLE – Teams from Knoxville and Nashville took top honors at this year’s Tennessee Science Olympiad State Tournament. Thirty-six middle and high school teams from across the state competed in the event held on March 27 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to determine the state’s pre-eminent science scholars.

Students from Bearden Middle School in Knoxville won the middle school division. Students from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville won the high school division.

The first place winners received trophies, medals and financial support to compete in the 26th annual Science Olympiad National Tournament May 20-22, 2010, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Teams battled in a broad range of scientific disciplines such as environmental design, forensics, remote sensing, meteorology and protein modeling. Competitions included exams, building events and laboratory exercises. More than 100 UT Knoxville faculty and students served as coordinators and judges for the 47 events.

The 2010 state tournament was sponsored by the UT Knoxville College of Arts and Sciences with support from the University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory Science Alliance and the UT Knoxville College of Engineering.

For more information including a detailed schedule and list of participating schools, please visit http://www.artsci.utk.edu/outreach/Academic_Olympiad.asp.

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C O N T A C T :

Jeffrey Kovac (865-974-3444, [email protected])

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

KNOXVILLE — John E. “Jack” Rooney, president and CEO of U.S. Cellular, and Myra Kruger, founder of the consulting firm Esler Kruger Associates and co-author of the book “The Pursuit of Something Better,” will serve as guest lecturers on March 30 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Full-time MBA Program.

Their presentation to MBA students and faculty, local U.S. Cellular leaders and other guests will focus on ethics, leadership and business transformation as well as “The Pursuit of Something Better: How an Underdog Company Defied the Odds, Won Customers’ Hearts, and Grew Its Employees into Better People,” which chronicles the success of U.S. Cellular under Rooney’s 10-year term as CEO.

The book by consultants Dave Esler and Kruger presents a case study for CEOs, executives, consultants and entrepreneurs. It tells the story behind the leadership of U.S. Cellular, a regional wireless service provider with nearly 9,000 associates. While most companies are using traditional recession-era tactics, battling unfavorable press and earnings reports, this organization is giving millions of dollars to its communities, revamping its infrastructure and planning for the future. Ninety-five percent of its associates have confidence in the U.S. Cellular leadership, and associates report that they have become better spouses, parents and citizens because they work in this company.

Knoxville serves as the east region headquarters for U.S. Cellular and is the location of one of the company’s five Customer Care Centers. Regional vice president and local leader Tom Catani, as well as the Knoxville Customer Care Center, are highlighted in “The Pursuit of Something Better” as early champions of the new business model and corporate culture transformation.

U.S. Cellular employs more than 700 associates in East Tennessee and has contributed more than $1.2 million to Tennessee nonprofit organizations and schools over the past five years. Local associates have volunteered more than 2,900 hours over the past three years. U.S. Cellular was named “Best Wireless Phone Service” and “Best Place to Work” in the 2009 Knoxville News Sentinel East Tennessee’s Best Readers Poll.

The mission of the College of Business Administration is to provide innovative leadership in management research education and practice. The college consistently breaks new ground with both its scholarship and award-winning, integrated curriculum that is taught within its nationally recognized undergraduate, graduate and executive education program. The college is fully accredited by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

For more information about the College of Business Administration, visit http://bus.utk.edu.

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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])

Faculty and staff at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have until Thursday, April 1, to order reading materials for their fall courses. To speed the process, the UT Bookstore has added a new feature on their Web site called Online Faculty Adoption. Faculty and department coordinators can submit book requests electronically, saving time and paper. The bookstore will continue to accept book requests via hand delivery, campus mail and fax, but encourages faculty to use the online method by visiting http://web.utk.edu/~bkstore/?p=adoption and following the instructions.

In 2007, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law designed to control textbook costs at Tennessee public higher education institutions. The book order deadlines of April 1 for fall semester and October 31 for spring semester need to be observed by all faculty members to meet legislative requirements.

When publishers provide free examination copies of a textbook, state law says that one copy be placed on library reserve or in a place of easy student access. UT Knoxville faculty are encouraged to donate extra examination copies to the Black Cultural Center’s Book Loan Program, which helps meet the needs of students who struggle with the cost of textbook purchases.

For more information on donating books, contact Tanisha Jenkins, associate director of Minority Student Affairs, at 974-6861 or [email protected] to make alternative arrangements.

For more information on the UT Bookstore’s Online Faculty Adoption program, contact Shirley Streeter at 974-1047 or [email protected], or Abbie Shellist at 974-1048 or [email protected].

KNOXVILLE — The U.S. Department of Energy has extended the contract for the University of Tennessee and Battelle Memorial Institute to co-manage Oak Ridge National Laboratory for another five years, a decision that will significantly impact UT Knoxville.

UT-Battelle, a joint venture between the two institutions, first won the management contract for the lab on April 1, 2000. The contract was renewed in April 2005. DOE has consistently given top grades for UT-Battelle’s management of the lab. ORNL was the only DOE lab to receive marks of “A” in all eight evaluation categories for the 2009 annual report card.

Officials at the lab and the University anticipate that the partnership between UT Knoxville and ORNL will continue to grow during the new contract. In January, the legislature approved the creation of a new interdisciplinary center that will house a new joint graduate degree program in energy sciences, and that will greatly facilitate collaborative education and research between UT Knoxville and ORNL. The center is expected to add hundreds of joint faculty appointments between UT Knoxville faculty and ORNL staff and attract a large number of top graduate students to the new program.

In addition, UT Knoxville is home to seven of the eight UT-ORNL Governor’s Chairs.

Battelle is the world’s largest, independent scientific research and technology development organization. It manages seven national laboratories for the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security.

Under UT-Battelle management, the lab has grown from 3,700 to 4,700 employees. Research funding has increased from $640 million to $1.6 billion. In 2009, UT-Battelle received American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding worth more than $338 million that has enabled construction of a new chemical material sciences building and upgrades to the Jaguar supercomputer.

Physically, ORNL has vastly changed in appearance from a site that included Quonset huts and chain link fences to state-of-the-art research buildings in a campus-style setting. With support from DOE and the state of Tennessee, ORNL has been transformed into one of the most modern labs in the DOE system.

ORNL’s modernization included a major upgrade in science and technology facilities. The most prominent is the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source, the world’s most powerful pulsed neutron accelerator used in the study the structure of materials at the molecular level.

During UT-Battelle’s tenure, Oak Ridge has become the world’s leading center for high-performance computing. ORNL’s Jaguar supercomputer is the world’s most powerful. UT Knoxville’s Kraken supercomputer, housed at ORNL, is the world’s fastest academic computer and third-fastest overall.

Under UT-Battelle, the lab also has become a national leader in climate and bioenergy. A collaboration among ORNL, UT and the state has combined breakthrough research in cellulosic ethanol with a new state-funded biorefinery in Vonore, Tenn., built through a partnership with DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol.

UT’s relationship with the lab dates to the 1940s, when Oak Ridge was part of the Manhattan Project. In the following years, the UT-ORNL partnership continued and expanded.

The University’s partnership with ORNL today includes approximately 60 faculty members with joint appointments and more than 100 students working at the lab.

Joint research endeavors reached more than $90 million in 2009. The University and ORNL have five joint institutes, and eight distinguished scientists have been appointed as UT-ORNL Governor’s Chairs.

UT-Battelle contributed more than $2 million toward an effort to rebuild Oak Ridge High School, believing a modern high school is vital in attracting more young scientists to the lab.

The new program is designed to increase the number of doctoral students in science, technology, engineering and math, and will add about 200 Oak Ridge researchers to the UT Knoxville faculty.

Chanting “W-O-M-E-N” as they walked, the Women’s Coordinating Council (WCC) held the Stiletto Stampede on Monday, March 15, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Men and women walked from the University Center Plaza to the Pedestrian Walkway in celebration of the courageous women who broke barriers in our society.

In this video, WCC member Leigh Schlactus talks about why the event was important to her.

For more information about events during HERstory month, e-mail the WCC at [email protected].

When using Tmail from your browser, have you ever been writing an email and your session timed out? Based on user feedback, OIT will be expanding the default timeout for the public/shared computer option from 15 minutes to 1 hour. The timeout settings for the private computer option will remain 24 hours.

OIT will be implementing this change at midnight tonight, during the regularly scheduled maintenance window. Once the change has been made, you will have up to 1 hour when composing an email message before the system times out. If you need more time, you can choose the private computer option when logging into Tmail.

This change will only affect you when you are accessing Tmail from a web browser. It does not affect the Microsoft Outlook Client access.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact the OIT HelpDesk at 974-9900 or online at http://help.utk.edu.

FYS 129 seminars are a change from ordinary. They give students the chance to enjoy small-group learning while transitioning to college. They also allow professors to enjoy engaging with students on topics of mutual interest while receiving $1,500 for research support.

Faculty members interested in teaching 129 seminars are invited to submit proposals by April 16. For more information on the seminars, see http://www.utk.edu/freshmanseminar.

“If you are looking for ideas, consider topics that are consistent with the Ready for the World initiative. Or think about building on themes from the 2010-2011 Life of the Mind book: ‘Mountains beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.’ Topics include Haiti, health, poverty, science, religion and more,” said Sally McMillan, vice provost for academic operations.

For a review of “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” see http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/books/a-season-in-hell.html.

McMillan said the Provost’s office will be setting up a Blackboard site where faculty teaching 129 courses can share ideas and find resources for helping freshmen succeed at UT Knoxville. In addition, the Provost’s office will actively recruit students for all FYS 129 sessions.

KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, wants to beat the University of Florida Gators and help the environment at the same time. That’s why UT Knoxville is hosting its first ever Paper Purge Party, where everyone on campus is invited to get rid of their unwanted paper.

Every day for the week of March 22-26, volunteers with the Facilities Services department will be making the rounds to buildings on campus, going door to door and picking up paper for recycling. The volunteers will do all the heavy lifting. All you have to do is gather your paper in a box, bin, pile or bag, mark it for “recycling” and set it outside your door.

The party is part of RecycleMania, a 10-week competition among more than 600 college and university recycling programs. For this year’s competition, UT Knoxville’s recycling program has decided to take on Florida in an effort to recycle more than the Gators.

“Many people are just like me and keep old catalogs, directories, files of old information and magazines around their office. It’s time for all of us to purge all that old non-confidential paper. By doing so, we’ll reduce clutter, stress and waste,” said Jay Price, environmental coordinator.

If you have so much paper that it will block a hallway or it is an especially large load, please call 974-3480 to arrange for a special pick-up. If for some reason, your recycling is not picked up, please call to schedule a pick-up.

The latest tally shows the Volunteers have recycled 4.16 pounds per person, while the Gators have recycled 7.13 pounds per person.

RecycleMania aims to increase recycling participation by students and staff and raise awareness about the significance of waste reduction programs on campuses. It is part the university’s efforts to become “climate neutral.”

The Paper Purge Party is sponsored by UT Recycles, Make Orange Green and UT Athletics. For more information about RecycleMania and the UT Knoxville recycling program, visit http://www.pp.utk.edu/Recycle.

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C O N T A C T:

Jay Price (865-974-9409, [email protected])

A series of meetings have been set for UT Knoxville faculty, staff and students to provide input on VOL Vision, the campus’ strategic plan, which is now under development.

To keep the groups to a manageable size, colleges and specific employee groups will have their own meetings. However, two open sessions for faculty and staff have been planned, as well as one open forum for students.

A first draft of the VOL Vision document has been produced, and these meetings provide an opportunity for the campus community to share suggestions that will help campus decision-makers refine the plan.

To access a copy of the VOL Vision draft, an up-to-date list of discussion group times and places, and a list of questions that will guide the group discussions, visit http://www.utk.edu/strategic-planning/.

Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Susan Martin said VOL Vision is needed to help us “understand as a campus who we are, where we are going, and how we will get there.

“As we plan for the future, we need a clear sense of shared priorities for the campus for two important reasons,” she said. “First, we know that the future will require us to make choices, and those choices must be guided by our common understanding of campus priorities. Second, these priorities will provide a united and clear focus for our communications to external constituencies. We must have a strong and consistent message in order to advocate for our best interests.”

The open sessions for faculty and staff will be held on April 14 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and on April 27 from 1:30 to 3 p.m., both in the Shiloh Room of the University Center.

The open forum for students will be held on April 15 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Shiloh Room of the University Center.

For college and specific group meeting times, visit http://www.utk.edu/strategic-planning/discussion-groups/.

The UT Knoxville Department of English is sponsoring a series of events this week featuring Richard Halpern, professor of English at Johns Hopkins University. Halpern will lecture on “Greek Theater and Democratic Thought: Arendt to Rancière,” 4 p.m. Thursday, March 18, in 1210 McClung Tower, followed by a reception. Halpern will lead a seminar on his recent essay, “Hamlet and the Political Economy of Playing,” noon Friday, March 19, in 1210 McClung Tower.

Both events are free and open to the public, and graduate students are encouraged to attend the Friday event.

At both talks, Halpern will speak about his current book project, “Eclipse of Action: Tragedy and Political Economy,” which traces the dilemma of modern tragedy to an economic context that elevates making or production over doing or action, and uses this context to cast a retrospective glance over the history of tragic drama from Aeschylus to Beckett.

Halpern’s research interests include 16th- and 17th-century literature, especially drama; Shakespeare; modernism; literary theory, especially Marxist and psychoanalytic theory; aesthetics; science and literature. His books include “The Poetics of Primitive Accumulation: English Renaissance Culture and the Genealogy of Capital” (Cornell, 1991), “Shakespeare Among the Moderns” (Cornell, 1997), “Shakespeare’s Perfume” (Penn, 2002), and “Norman Rockwell: The Underside of Innocence” (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Halpern has taught at Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He won a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship in 1993-1994 and is currently on the editorial board of English Literary History.

Halpern’s visit is part of the 2009-2010 Visiting Speakers Series sponsored by the Department of English.

For more information, e-mail Mary Dzon at [email protected].

KNOXVILLE – Jon Butler, a leading historian of American religion from Yale University, will deliver a lecture on Puritans in American history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Thursday, March 18, at 5 p.m. in the Baker Center’s Toyota Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Butler’s lecture, “Whatever Happened to the Puritans–and to Colonial American History?” will examine why historians have become seemingly less interested in studying the New England Puritans, and how this has influenced the importance of colonial American history within the historical profession.

From the 1950s to about 1990, Butler says, Puritan studies dominated early American history. But since 1990, he has noticed a great decline in interest in New England and its Puritanism as evidenced by the decreasing number of books and articles on the subject. This decline is paralleled by another: the decline in the influence of colonial American history within the American historical profession.

“Substantially fewer books were published in colonial American history in the past decade than, say, in the 1970s, and it strikes me that the field no longer sets the agenda for American history generally as it could be said to have done between 1955 and 1990,” said Butler.

In his lecture, Butler will address why this has happened and what should be done about it.

Butler is dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Howard R. Lamar Professor of American Studies, History and Religious Studies at Yale University. He has written numerous books in the American and religious studies fields.

His visit to Knoxville is sponsored by the UT Knoxville’s history department and the Milton M. Klein Studies Endowment, which was established in 1993 to support a visiting scholar series and seminars in the fields of early American history, American legal history and historiography.

For more information, contact the history department at 865-974-7090.

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C O N T A C T :

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

KNOXVILLE — In the spirit of friendly competition and going green, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is hosting its first-ever Recyclympics on March 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the TRECS Intramural Fields. Students, faculty and staff will compete in various events such as a recycled phone book shot-put, dumpster dive, aluminum can crush and recycle pong.

Participants can register on site. The cost of participation is a bag of recyclable material such as empty bottles and cans. RecycleMania T-shirts will be given to the first 50 participants to register, and prizes will be awarded to the individual and team participants who score the most points in a variety of activities.

RecycleMania aims to increase recycling participation by students and staff and raise awareness about the significance of waste reduction programs on campuses. It is part of the university’s efforts to become “climate neutral.”

“We hope that people get the vision that they can do something about recycling,” said Jay Price, environmental coordinator. “Recycling is important for the environment and for us economically, too, because it helps save money and resources.”

Recyclympics is part of RecycleMania, which is a 10-week competition among more than 600 college and university recycling programs. For this year’s competition, UT Knoxville’s recycling program has decided to take on the University of Florida. The goal is to recycle more than the Gators. The latest tally shows the Volunteers have recycled 4.16 pounds per person, while the Gators have recycled 7.13 pounds per person. The Recyclympics is the Vols’ chance to boost UT Knoxville’s standings before RecycleMania ends on March 27.

The Recyclympics are sponsored by UT Recycles, Make Orange Green and UT Athletics. For more information about the Recyclympics, RecycleMania and the UT Knoxville recycling program, visit http://www.pp.utk.edu/Recycle.

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C O N T A C T:

Jay Price (865-974-9409, [email protected])