Cutting the ribbon to officially open the new Sorority Village Center are Sorority and Fraternity Life Advisor Lindi Smedberg, Panhellenic President Mary Beth Overton, Sam Furrow, Ann Furrow, Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, Governor Winfield Dunn, and Vice Chancellor for Student Life Tim Rogers.

Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek joined alumni, sorority women, and other dignitaries today to dedicate UT’s new Sorority Village Center and Ann Baker Furrow Boulevard, the main street leading into the development.

Furrow, a 1967 alumna, celebrated the milestone. Chancellor Cheek said the event is the culmination of years of planning and the tireless work of many people.

“I’m happy that the sorority members will have a place to gather. Our sorority members are leaders on campus. Sorority women gain great leadership skills through their membership, and we are proud of the work they are doing on campus and in the community,” Cheek said.

Eight of the planned thirteen houses are occupied and three more are slated to open at the beginning of the fall semester. The new Sorority Village Center has offices for professional and graduate staff members from the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life. The building’s conference room and lobby are now available as meeting space for Sorority and Fraternity Life organizations.

Furrow is the first woman to serve on the UT Board of Trustees and is the first and only woman to receive a full men’s athletic scholarship. She was joined today by her husband, Sam, and her family and many friends, including longtime friend Governor Winfield Dunn. Governor Dunn appointed Furrow to the UT Board of Trustees in 1970.

“The successes that I have had are because of a culture and a community of support,” Furrow said. “I am proud to be a part of Sorority Village because it will enhance the lives and the education of sorority women for many years to come.”

As a UT student, Furrow played on the men’s golf team and received a scholarship for two years. She was also president of her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. She currently serves on the UT Development Council.

The university broke ground on the development’s infrastructure in 2011. Chapters began opening houses last fall. Once completed, thirteen of the university’s seventeen sororities will have chapter houses in the complex. The houses are funded through private donations and mortgage agreements that will be paid through residential rent and chapter fees.

The Chi Omega house has finished construction and plans to open in August. Pi Beta Phi and Zeta Tau Alpha are under construction and plan to open in August. Alpha Omicron Pi is currently under construction and is slated to open during the next academic year. Delta Gamma plans to break ground in late April.

The eight houses currently occupied are:

• Alpha Chi Omega
• Alpha Delta Pi
• Delta Delta Delta
• Delta Zeta
• Kappa Delta
• Kappa Kappa Gamma
• Phi Mu
• Sigma Kappa

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C O N T A C T :

Karen Simsen (865-974-5186, karen.simsen@tennessee.edu)

As the new year gets under way, take a look back at our most popular stories from 2012, based upon the number of people of viewed the story. The Today show broadcast live from Ayres Hall, Volunteers competed in the London Olympics, Lady Vols Legend Pat Summitt stepped down, and our campus landscape saw several changes. 2012 was an exciting year in Big Orange country. What could be in store for 2013?

Are Eco Cars Really Eco-Friendly?

Engineering professor studies the impact of electric vehicles in China.

Rocky Top’s Top Students

New Volunteers are well prepared for freshman year.

The End of an Era

Head Coach Pat Summitt hands over her whistle to new Head Coach Holly Warlick. Summitt is now head coach emeritus.

Inaugural Residents

Students move in to new chapter houses at Sorority Village on UT’s Morgan Hill.

A Legend Comes Home

UT alumnus and NFL quarterback Peyton Manning joins a crowd of thousands to celebrate the re-opening of the freshly painted Peyton Manning Pass.

Breaking Ground on a New Campus Address

The university breaks ground on its first residence hall in more than forty years. The hall is expected to open in the fall of 2014 and house 700 undergraduate men and women.

Carrying the Torch in London

There’s plenty of Big Orange pride on display at this summer’s Olympic games.

More Flora, Less Metal

Study suggests natural areas inspire more active, creative play in children.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The Today show’s fourth hour divas, Kathie Lee and Hoda, broadcast live from the Ayres Hall lawn.

Top 10

Our printmaking, logistics, and nuclear engineering graduate programs rank in the Top 10 among all public and private schools according to U.S. News and World Report (2013).

Fuel for the Journey

Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek shares results of our first three years since we announced our goal to become a Top 25 public research university.

A Jewel on the Hill

Alumnus and Garmin co-founder Min Kao helps dedicate engineering building named in his honor.

Michael Pazzani, vice president for research and graduate professional education at Rutgers University, will speak from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 28, in the Toyota Auditorium at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

Pazzani has taught computer science at Rutgers since 2005. Prior to joining the faculty at Rutgers, he served as the director of the Information and Intelligent Systems Division of Computer and Information Science and Engineering for the National Science Foundation.

He also taught in the Department of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine, for eighteen years and served as chair of the department for six years. He has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Connecticut, and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

David Norton, associate dean for research and graduate programs for the College of Engineering at the University of Florida and Robert Scott, associate vice president for research at the University of Georgia visited campus last week and each held a public forum to share their views. Two more candidates are expected to visit campus in the next month. A schedule for the public forums will be provided soon.

For information on the candidates and to provide feedback, visit http://chancellor.utk.edu/interviews/research/.

Throughout my career, I have always made it a point that my life and my basketball program were an open book.

With that in mind, I have something I’d like to share with my Tennessee families – the university, boosters and fans of Lady Vol basketball.

Once last season concluded, I addressed some ongoing concerns regarding my health. After consulting with my local physicians, I decided to visit the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Earlier this summer, the doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed me with early onset dementia (“Alzheimer’s Type”) at the age of 59.

I plan to continue to be your coach. Obviously, I realize I may have some limitations with this condition since there will be some good days and some bad days.

For that reason I will be relying on my outstanding coaching staff like never before. We have always collaborated on every facet of Lady Vol basketball; and now you will see Holly Warlick, Dean Lockwood and Mickie DeMoss taking on more responsibility as their duties will change significantly.

I love being your coach, and the privilege to go to work every day with our outstanding Lady Vol basketball student-athletes. I appreciate the complete support of UT Chancellor Dr. Jimmy Cheek and UT Athletics Director Joan Cronan to continue coaching at the University of Tennessee as long as the good Lord is willing.

I’ve been honest and shared my health concerns with you and now we’ll move forward to the business at hand…coaching a great group of Lady Vols. For the time being, I hope you will respect my privacy regarding this matter.

Thank you.

Go Lady Vols!

– Pat Summitt

Mayor Bill Haslam made the announcement that Summitt would be honored after she won her 1,000th game as the Lady Volunteers coach last February.

Pat Summitt poses with her new star on the Riverwalk of Fame along with Knoxville Mayor and Governor-elect Haslam (l) and Susan Williams (r)

Each person on the Riverwalk will be honored with a large star that will include their name as well as a small, but significant, symbol of what that person did that made a difference in people’s lives. In Summitt’s case it was a basketball.

“We’re all proud of Pat Summitt and always happy to have an opportunity to let her know how much she means to us,” Haslam said. “She’s a great choice to be the person honored with this first star on the Riverwalk.”

The Riverwalk of Fame — which will stretch along Volunteer Landing — will honor people from Knoxville and the surrounding area who have made a great mark nationally or internationally and in doing so, brought honor to East Tennessee. The honorees can range from writers, musicians, actors, athletes and coaches to scientists, astronauts, statesmen and others of note.

It’s anticipated that there will be one ceremony annually at which up to three people would be inducted into the Riverwalk of Fame. Summitt, however, will be the only person honored during this initial ceremony.

Susan Richardson Williams approached the City of Knoxville early last year with the concept of a Riverwalk of Fame honoring accomplished individuals from Knoxville and East Tennessee. She also suggested to both the city and the University of Tennessee that Summitt would be a great first honoree.

Summitt was a 21-year-old senior at the University of Tennessee-Martin which she was offered the UT job in the spring of 1974. Less than a year later she directed UT to a 69-32 win over Middle Tennessee State University on January 10, 1975, for her first win as the Lady Vols coach. At the time she was also attending graduate school, teaching a full load of classes and getting ready to play for the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Since then her UT teams have won eight NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships, she coached the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team to an Olympic gold medal and all of her players who have completed their eligibility at UT have earned their degrees.

Classes have concluded for the semester, so this announcement only pertains to administrative offices.

The UT Early Learning Center will be closed.

Pay attention to local media outlets and the university’s website for updates on the university’s operational schedule.

More information on the university’s inclement weather closing policy is available online.

For a larger view, click any of the photos.

Supporters of Bill Haslam and Mike McWherter gather outside the University of Tennessee's Alumni Memorial Building before the two gubernatorial candidates met for their second debate. Photo by Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel

Gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam makes a point during the debate at the UT's Cox Auditorium on Thursday, October 7, 2010. Photo by Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel

Gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter makes a point during the debate at the UT's Cox Auditorium on Thursday, October 7, 2010. Photo by Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel

WBIR News Channel 10 anchor John Becker, center, moderates the debate between Tennessee gubernatorial candidates Mike McWherter, left, and Bill Haslam at the UT's Cox Auditorium. Photo by Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel

WBIR News Channel 10 anchor John Becker, center, moderates the debate between Tennessee gubernatorial candidates Mike McWherter, left, and Bill Haslam at the UT's Cox Auditorium. Photo by Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel

Beginning July 1, 2010, Caremark CVS will become the pharmacy benefits manager for all employees participating in the State of Tennessee Group Health Insurance Program. If you have not received your new prescription card, please call the Caremark call center on July 1 at 1-877-522-TNRX (8679). A customer service representative will order a new card for you and provide instructions on how to print a temporary card from the
Caremark website.

Walgreens Update

On June 15, 2010 employees were notified that Walgreens Pharmacy would not be included in the Caremark CVS pharmacy network.  However, Caremark and Walgreens now have reached an agreement and Walgreens will continue to be a part of the 30-day pharmacy network. However, Walgreens will not be part of the 90-day mail at retail network effective July 1, 2010.

90-day Mail at Retail

The Caremark 90-day mail at retail network is more limited than the Caremark 30 day network. This limitation provides savings to the health plans and allows the plans to preserve other valuable health benefits. You can locate a participating 90-day mail at retail pharmacy by visiting the Caremark Web Site.

Participants will have three options for filling maintenance medications:

• Use a participating 30-day retail pharmacy to fill prescriptions on a monthly basis.
• Use a participating 90-day mail at retail pharmacy to fill 90-day supplies for reduced co-pay.
• Use the CVS Caremark Mail Service Pharmacy to fill 90-day supplies for a reduced co-pay and have prescriptions sent directly to your home with no shipping costs.

If you have any questions, please call Caremark 24/7 at 1-877-522-TNRX (8679).

OIT will post status updates on the IT Traffic Center Web site.

Three faculty members arrived in Santiago, Chile, on Thursday and were in their hotel in the Central City downtown area at the time of the event.  They felt the earthquake, but are fine. All of the students and the rest of the faculty began their trip Friday afternoon and were en route to Santiago when the earthquake hit.  Those 67 students and four remaining faculty members were traveling on three different planes, all which were diverted to other cities en route due to the earthquake.

The full-time MBA trip is being rescheduled; all students and faculty are on their way back to Knoxville, according to college administrators.

The trip was set for Friday, Feb. 26 through March 6.  The program activities were set to begin today.

The purpose of the trip is to familiarize the class with the complexities of doing business internationally through experiential learning.  Students were expected to evaluate a specific business issue and meet with educators, government officials as well as with high-level leadership in both local and foreign companies to discuss how business is conducted in this specific global business environment.

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Contact:  Karen Collins (865) 216-6862

KNOXVILLE — Not many high school kids use their free time to ponder topics such as cardiac arrhythmias or wireless electricity transmissions, let alone devise research to better understand such topics. However students attending the 45th Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, do.

The symposium will be held from 1:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, in UT Knoxville’s Conference Center Auditorium (Room 406) in downtown Knoxville with student oral presentations being held between 1:30 and 6:30 p.m.

More than 20 students from high schools across the state will compete to determine who has the best research in sciences, mathematics and engineering. The presentations will be judged by a panel of UT Knoxville science and engineering faculty members. Three winners will be awarded a total of $4,500 in scholarships.

Dan Roberts, director of the Tennessee JSHS and professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology, says the students are very intelligent and highly motivated to determine why things work the way they do.

“As a professor, I’ll see college students who want to know the minimum amount so that they can get to the next stage,” said Roberts. “These kids have a very unique personality trait of people driven to do research, and to see this at such a young age is really unusual.”

Roberts says there are two ways students conduct research. In one way, research is done in the university setting where there is an established lab and mission. Mentors engage students, determine their interests, and the students will advance the project. The other way is more of a “backyard approach” where students conceptualize and execute the study and project on their own.

“I am not sure that all of this comes to them while they are sitting in their beds at night looking at the ceiling, but I think the part of this that is really amazing is that they take the seed of an idea and make it happen,” said Roberts.

For the past 44 years, students’ projects have covered a wide spectrum, and this year is no different. One project by Oak Ridge High School student Yajit Jain examines electric field calculation for fluid simulation. Roberts says the project is very sophisticated and admits its mathematics may even scare some judges. Conversely, Cleveland High School student Lillie Brown headed to her backyard for her project analyzing sedimentation in creeks.

Roberts adds that while these students are extremely smart, they are also typical high school kids with various interests, noting one past winner who was also a state tennis standout.

“These students are bright, driven and creative. The judges who are tenured faculty are always blown away by how good these kids are,” Roberts said.

The symposium is one of 48 in the United States, and the only one in Tennessee. The winners will advance to the national competition in May; national winners advance to the international contest in London this summer.

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C O N T A C T:

Whitney Holmes (865-974-5460), wholmes7@utk.edu)

Even during challenging economic times, we’re making progress on key strategic goals by adding as many as 77 new graduate assistantships and fellowships in just this past year.

Graduate students contribute significantly to our research and teaching mission. Our proportion of graduate students to undergraduate students is significantly smaller than the ratio found at both our peer research universities, and comparable flagship state universities. Offering competitive assistantships and fellowships is critical to recruiting talented students who will contribute to our knowledge-based economy.

As we plan for anticipated budget reductions, we must work to sustain support for graduate programs and take creative approaches for meeting this and all strategic priorities.

Through private dollars, and by reallocating existing funds and partnerships for new revenue sources, we’ve been able to add the following:

• Twelve new slots for top graduate students in science and engineering through the recently announced UTK-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distinguished Fellowship program. Recruiting is now under way and the deadline to apply is Feb. 1

• An additional $800,000 in support from the UT Athletic Department for graduate stipends. The funds allow each college dean to create new slots or enhance existing positions for both master’s and doctorate students, depending on the college. The new $1 million revenue stream for the academic programs of the campus was made possible through the new television contract with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and ESPN, and we thank UT Athletics for their support for our goals. This funding will eventually create 40 new graduate slots. Because of the timing of receiving the new funds, most deans chose to supplement existing positions, with plans to create new slots in subsequent years. The additional $200,000 from athletics went to support our student success efforts and the new Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center.

• Twelve new fellowships spread among all the colleges through the new J. Wallace and Katie Dean Fellowship Fund program. This one-time allocation will provide four years of funding for the students, with each college matching the private gift through a fee waiver or existing grant or contract. While students will pursue specific degree programs, they will be mentored by faculty, who encourage interdisciplinary connections, international collaboration and scholarly training.

• Thirteen new fellowships for doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences through the new Newton W. and Wilma C. Thomas Graduate Fellowships program. This one-time allocation will allow the campus to support 13 additional graduate students in the incoming class of Fall 2010 over and above existing totals in these areas. These students will receive four years of guaranteed support, and will not have a teaching obligation during their first year.

In this strained economy, we’ve seen a surge in applications for our graduate programs, as people look to broaden their skills or change career paths. Providing opportunities and funding for top notch students will ensure that we grow our graduate programs to the maximum benefit of the university.

Michael Zemel

Expertise:

Michael Zemel is known nationally for his research linking calcium consumption to weight loss. He is an expert in cell calcium regulation, obesity genetics, insulin and hypertension. He founded Tennessee on the Move, the state chapter of America on the Move, an organization dedicated to helping educate individuals about healthy lifestyle choices.

Expertise Categories: Calcium | Diabetes | Health | Weight loss

Contact Information

Email: mzemel@utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-6238
Web: http://myprofile.cos.com/mzemel

Tami Wyatt

Expertise:
Tami Wyatt’s area of expertise includes the use interactive narrative to improve health in children and instructional technology in nursing education. Instructional technology tools of interest include academic electronic health records, mobile computing, online synchronous and asynchronous learning, virtual worlds and Web 2.0 tools.

Expertise Categories: Nursing

Contact Information

Email: twyatt@utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-6804
Web:

Torch Night will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Thompson-Boling Arena.

A candlelight ceremony, Torch Night typically draws around 2,000 students each year. During the ceremony, seniors pass the “Torch of Preparation” to new students. Faculty, staff and members of the community also are invited.

The event will be hosted by Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, in his first year with the campus, and his staff of vice chancellors and deans. Student Government Association President Laura Nishida will pass the symbolic torch to freshman representatives from each of the Knoxville campus’ colleges.

This year’s freshman class of 3,723 is one of the most academically accomplished and diverse UT has seen. While admissions numbers won’t be final until the 14th day of class, the freshman class is expected to be 17 percent minority, compared to about 13 percent last fall. The class is projected to be 9 percent African American. There are 40 National Merit scholarship winners in the incoming freshman class, nearly double last year’s 22.

Houston played basketball for the Volunteers from 1989 until he graduated in 1993 as the university’s all-time leading scorer. He was selected 11th overall in the 1993 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, and in 1996 he signed with the New York Knicks as a free agent. Houston spent nine seasons with the Knicks before announcing his retirement in 2005. He currently serves as the assistant to the president for basketball operations for the Knicks, while devoting much of his time to various charity and nonprofit organizations, including his Legacy Foundation, which partners with a variety of community and corporate organizations to empower and serve the needs of young people.

Houston also continues to build and expand Allan Houston Enterprises, which serves as an umbrella company for a variety of business ventures in the areas of media, youth development and fashion, among others.

Torch Night was first held in 1925 when it was started by Victor Davis, a former UT alumni secretary, as the Freshman Pledge Ceremony. In 1929, the name changed to Freshman Torch Night. A bugler positioned in Ayres Hall Tower called the freshman class to the “Hill,” then proceeded to the main entrance of the campus to “give a yell” for the sophomores and then for the juniors.

Seniors met the freshmen at the top of the Hill where the freshmen took the oath of loyalty to the university. The freshmen formally were declared part of the student body and received lighted candles to symbolize the “torch of preparation.”

By the early 1980s the ceremony had become more subdued with a select senior passing the torch to a select freshman at halftime of a basketball game. In 1984, a ceremony reminiscent of the first one was initiated and held in Alumni Memorial Gym.

C O N T A C T :

Rebekah Winkler, UT Media Relations, (865-974-8304, rwinkler@utk.edu)
Traci Leonard, Student Affairs, (865-974-3440, tleonar1@utk.edu)

At around 4 p.m., we will send all UT ALERT subscribers a text and/or message (depending upon information provided by the subscribers) and activate the new loudspeaker capability of the newly upgraded “blue light” phones.

Because the university is upgrading the “blue light” phones in phases, only a portion will activate a loudspeaker and blue light during the test.

The test is just one in a series planned for this semester as the university adds several new emergency communication tools.

To sign up to receive UT ALERT messages via text message and/or email go to http://www.utk.edu/utalert/.

The UT ALERT system allows students, faculty and staff to “opt in” to be notified via text message in the event of an emergency or campus closure. The message can also be sent to a designated e-mail address, PDA or pager.

Individuals who have signed up to receive UT ALERTs should receive a text message and/or e-mail message within a few minutes after the system is activated. To report a problem after the test is conducted, please go to http://www.utk.edu/utalert/problems/.

To learn more about UT ALERT or to sign up for the service, please visit the UT ALERT Website.

When YouTube went looking for the best videos of commencement speakers available on its site they found Dolly Parton’s speech to the 2009 graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The Parton video was one of four commencement videos featured on the front page of YouTube.com this past Sunday. The exposure on the highly popular site (the third most trafficked site on the Internet behind Google and Yahoo) resulted in a huge spike in the number of times the video has been watched. Before the front page exposure, the video had been viewed just over three thousand times. By Monday morning, that number had swelled to over 160,000 viewings. It is now closing in on a quarter of a million views.

“Everyone wants to be featured on the front of YouTube,” said Erik Bledsoe,  assistant director of Creative Communications and the leader of the Web team for UT Knoxville. “We didn’t campaign for it. We knew we had a great video of an engaging speaker; we put it out there and it got noticed.” The exposure has had a substantial spillover effect on the other videos posted on the university’s official YouTube channel, with most of the videos tripling the number of their previous viewings in just over 24 hours. The number of subscribers who are automatically notified when the university adds a new video to the channel also increased dramatically.

“It’s great exposure for the university,” said Bledsoe. “They may have come to watch Dolly, but they are also watching videos about our students, our professors, and the great research being done here.”

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will conduct a test of its UT Alert system on May 26, 2009. The test is tentatively scheduled to occur at approximately 10:30 a.m.

The UT ALERT system allows students, faculty and staff to “opt in” to be notified via text message in the event of an emergency or campus closure. The message can also be sent to a designated e-mail address, PDA or pager.

To learn more about UT Alert or to sign up for the service, please visit the UT Alert Website.