The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Volunteer Hall parking garage on White Avenue.

During the event, commissioners from state government will discuss sustainable transportation, agriculture, environment, and business development.

Panelists include John Schroer, Tennessee commissioner of transportation; Jai Templeton, Tennessee deputy commissioner of agriculture; and Shari Meghreblian, Tennessee deputy commissioner of environment and conservation.

“The Leadership Summit will allow representatives of government, businesses, higher education, and nonprofit organizations, as well as interested citizens, to share insights and experiences that support sustainable development, environment, and quality of life for our region,” said Rachel Chen, director of the Center for Sustainable Business and Development and the organizer of the event.

For more information on the summit, visit  the event website.

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CONTACT:

Rachel Chen (865-974-0505, rchen@utk.edu)

Sepetys will be at UT on Tuesday, October 8, to talk about her two best-selling books for young adults. The event, at 7:00 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium in Hodges Library, is sponsored by UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature and the Knox County Public Library. It is free and open to the public.

Sepetys’s first published novel, Between Shades of Gray was inspired by her father, who escaped Lithuania when he was a young boy. The novel—in which fictional characters are involved in actual events—depicts what happened when the Soviet Union occupied the country in 1941.

“There are millions of people whose lives were taken or affected during the Soviet occupation. Yet very few people know the story,” Sepetys said. “I wanted to write a novel to honor the people of the Baltics and also to illustrate the power of love and patriotism.”

In June 2013, Sepetys was awarded Lithuania’s Cross of the Knight of the Order. The honor of “knight” was bestowed by the president of Lithuania in a formal ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius. This was in honor of her contributions to education and culture with her global efforts to share the history of totalitarianism in the Baltics.

Between Shades of Gray, a New York Times best-seller, was winner of the Golden Kite Award for Fiction and was named a Publisher’s Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2011 and an Amazon Top Ten Teen Book of 2011.

Also a New York Times best-seller, her second novel is Out of the Easy. The book is set in New Orleans in the 1950s. Its characters are fictional but inspired by actual people. The story involves a seventeen-year old girl, the daughter of a brothel prostitute, who gets entangled in a mysterious death and ensuing investigation.

Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan and graduated with a degree in international finance from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. She worked in the music industry in Los Angeles for nearly fifteen years. She later moved to Nashville to continue her career in the music industry but found that the relaxed lifestyle and scenery caused her to slow down and just read. Her adventures to more than forty-two countries on six continents left her with many stories, so she wrote a novel.

The Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature is part of UT’s School of Information Sciences. It promotes literature as essential to the literacy, learning, social, emotional, and aesthetic development of young people.

For more information about the CCYAL, please visit their website.

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CONTACT:

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

The 7:30 p.m. concert will be held in the Sandra Powell Recital Hall of the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center, 1741 Volunteer Boulevard. It is free and open to the public.

Earlier that day, from 11:10 a.m. to 12:25 p.m., Alash will host a workshop/master class in the band room. This event is open to students, faculty, and community members.

Tuvan throat singing is a unique practice where multiple pitches emanate simultaneously from a single performer’s voice.

Alash’s visit to Knoxville is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in Musicology. The group is from the Republic of Tuva, a tiny Central Asian nation. Since its first tour of the United States in 2006, the group has appeared on dozens of college campuses. It has performed at major music festivals, including Bonnaroo and South by Southwest, and collaborated with a wide range of prominent artists, from the Sun Ra Arkestra to Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

“The Tuvan throat-singing style was rarely heard in the West before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but has since become popular among aficionados of traditional music and first-time listeners alike,” said Rachel May Golden, UT associate professor and coordinator of musicology. “The ensemble’s visit to UT offers students, faculty, and members of the Knoxville community the opportunity to experience this music firsthand. Listeners new to this practice often describe the sound of Tuvan throat singing as eerie, haunting, meditative, or supernatural.”

The School of Music and the Ready for the World initiative are sponsoring the event.

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange initiative that awards about 1,100 grants to American scholars each year. Funded by the U.S. government, Fulbright Scholars are chosen based on their leadership and academic merits and their abilities to teach, conduct research, and contribute to solutions for shared international concerns.

Wanda Costen, associate professor in Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for the 2013 –2014 academic year. She is studying gender inequality, specifically the social closure barriers that prevent women’s upward career mobility, in the resort industry in Jamaica. In addition to her research, Costen is teaching in the Department of Management Studies within the Mona School of Business and Management at the University of West Indies –Mona. Upon her return, Costen plans to write a book explaining how the barriers to women’s career progression are socially constructed.

Scott Frey, professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for the Study of Social Justice, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for the fall term of 2013. He is studying the adverse environmental, health, and socioeconomic consequences of pesticide use under export-focused rice production in Vietnam. In addition to his research, Frey is lecturing at the Vietnam National University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City on issues related to the environment and development. Frey is currently working on a book examining how and why hazardous products and wastes are displaced to the peripheral zones of the world economy.

Rebecca Klenk, lecturer in interdisciplinary programs and affiliated faculty member with the Anthropology Department and the Disaster, Displacement, and Human Rights Program, has been awarded a Fulbright grant for the spring term of 2014. She will lecture and work with graduate students in the Anthropology Department at the University of Delhi in India. Along with teaching, she will develop new research on global educational restructuring, and collaborate with colleagues in India to plan a project on community experiences of, and educational responses to, Himalayan climate change.

Timothy Young, a professor in the Forest Products Center at the Institute of Agriculture, also received an award for the fall term. Young is in Austria conducting research on cross-laminated timber and teaching graduate courses in design of experiments and statistical process control at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

Melanie Eldridge, formerly a research assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology,  received an award to carry out a research project in Brazil for the fall term of 2013. She recently accepted a position at another university.

Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given approximately 310,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research; exchange ideas; and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright US Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a division of the Institute of International Education.

For more information, visit the Fulbright program’s website.

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CONTACT:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

The UT–Pro2Serve Math Contest, hosted by UT will award ten lucky and bright students $4,000 annual scholarships to UT.

In its fifteenth year, the contest allows Tennessee high school students—public, private and home-schooled—to compete for awards and honors based on their mathematics skills. Students will compete on Thursday, November 14, on the UT campus.

Early registration for the competition has already begun and ends October 4. The cost is $10 per student. General registration is open through October 30 and is $15 per student. Participants must register before the event, and all fees must be received by November 1.

“The Pro2Serve Math Contest is important to fostering students’ interest in mathematics and encouraging them to pursue careers and education in science, mathematics, engineering, finance, and other fields,” said Conrad Plaut, mathematics department head. “The contest is also an opportunity to showcase UT and increase the likelihood that these talented students will attend the university.”

The contest has two parts. The first is the two-stage FERMAT. All participants take a multiple-choice test on algebra and geometry, called the Fundamental Exams of Remarkable Mathematical Ability and Talent (FERMAT I). The top fifty students move on to the next level of testing, called FERMAT II. This test has eight essay questions, requiring creative and original thinking. The ten students with the highest scores will each receive an annual $4,000 scholarship for four years of undergraduate study at UT Knoxville. FERMAT II exams are hand-graded by faculty members from UT’s Department of Mathematics.

The second part of the contest is the Math Bowl. A three-member team from each high school faces an opposing high school team in a double-elimination tournament in the style of the old GE College Bowl competitions. Sixty-four high school teams compete head-to-head to be the fastest to correctly answer ten math questions.

The championship round will be held from 3:30-3:50 p.m.

A full schedule is available online.

The contest is presented by the College of Arts and Sciences Mathematics Department and UT alumnus Barry Goss and his company, Professional Project Services Inc. (Pro2Serve).

“It is so important to continue to feed these students’ talent so they can go on and make positive contributions to Tennessee’s future,” Goss said. “Our goal is to have the brightest math minds in Tennessee high schools to further their education in Tennessee, hopefully at UT, and remain here after graduation to live and work.”

Pro2Serve provides technical and engineering services that support the infrastructures of government and private industry and help ensure our nation’s security. The media sponsor is the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Scholarships are funded by UT and Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek.

To register, visit www.math.utk.edu/MathContest or call 865-974-2461.

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CONTACT:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

Bryan Self (865-974-2461, cself1@tennessee.edu)

Stacy Clark, a research forester with the US Forest Service, will present “American Chestnut Restoration: Can We Bring Back the Mighty Giant?”

The Science Forum is a weekly brown-bag lunch series that allows professors and area scientists to discuss their research with the general public in a conversational presentation.

The presentations begin at noon on Fridays in Room C-D of Thompson-Boling Arena. Attendees can bring lunch or purchase it at the arena. Each presentation is forty minutes long and is followed by a question-and-answer session. Science Forum presentations are free and open to the public.

The American chestnut was one of the most widely distributed and important tree species in eastern North America until decimated in the early part of the twentieth century by an exotic fungus from Asia, the chestnut blight.

“Planting trees that have been bred for blight resistance using Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) has led to some important discoveries,” Clark said. “The return of the American chestnut into forests of the eastern United States will face challenges from native and nonnative plants, animals, insects, and diseases, in addition to the chestnut blight.”

Future Science Forums will feature a variety of topics:

• October 11: Chad Duty, group leader of Deposition and Technology Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discussing “3D Printing: The Next Generation of Manufacturing”
• October 25: Kasey Krouse, urban forester for the city of Knoxville, presenting “Knoxville Urban Forestry—Year One”
• November 1: Gerry Dinkins, curator of malacology and natural history at the McClung Museum, discussing “Rediscovery of the Nearly Extinct Alabama Lampmussel in the Emory River”
• November 8: Devin White, senior research scientist of geocomputation Oak Ridge National Laboratory and assistant professor of anthropology, discussing “Archaeological Discoveries from Space”
• November 15: Phil Colclough, director of animal collections and conservation at Knoxville Zoological Gardens, discussing “Eastern Hellbender Conservation and the New Role of Zoos”
• November 22: Nathan Schmidt, assistant professor of microbiology, discussing “Infection with the Malaria Parasite: Malaria Is Only Half the Problem”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research and Quest, an initiative to raise awareness of UT’s research, scholarship, and creative activity.

For more information, visit scienceforum.utk.edu.

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CONTACT:

Amanda Womac (Amanda@HellbenderPress.org)

Mark Littmann (865-974-8156, littmann@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

The first lecture will feature UT professors Erin Darby and Robert Darby, who will talk about their recent archaeological excavations at ‘Ayn Gharandal, Jordan.

The 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. event will be in the McClung Museum’s auditorium.

Robert Darby, a lecturer in art history in the UT School of Art, and Erin Darby, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, direct the ‘Ayn Gharandal archaeological project that has uncovered rare new details about an ancient Roman fort in southern Jordan.

The lecture series invites scholars from around the world to present the latest archaeological discoveries. It is free and open to the public.

Upcoming lectures this fall include the following:

• November 7: “Cultural Interaction and Reaction in the Courtly Art of the Hellenistic World” by Kristen Seaman, Kennesaw State University, Georgia
• November 19: “The Neolithic Alepotrypa Cave: Past Findings and Present Research” by Anastasia Papathanasiou, Greek Archaeological Service.

The McClung Museum is located at 1327 Circle Park Drive. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Free parking is available on Circle Park Drive in front of the museum.

The Archaeological Institute of America is North America’s oldest and largest archaeological organization. The East Tennessee Society was founded in 1973 as the local chapter of the organization and aims to promote the knowledge, study of, and interest in archaeology and related subjects.

For more information about the McClung Museum and its collections and exhibits, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Erin Darby (865-974-6977, edarby1@utk.edu)

Catherine Shteynberg (865-974-6921, cshteynb@utk.edu)

The university community is invited to attend. The dedication will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 4 at the John D. Tickle Engineering Building on Neyland Drive.

Tickle and his wife, Ann, will join Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, President Joe DiPietro, and other officials to celebrate the building.

The $23.1 million, five-story, 110,000-square-foot building houses the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. The project began in December 2009. The building opened to students this semester.

The building contains 24 laboratories, three conventional classrooms, one lecture hall, three student work spaces, and 63 faculty and graduate student offices. The laboratories include a high-bay area for both structural testing and asphalt road surface testing. There is also a geotechnical laboratory. The three classrooms promote collaborative learning through the use of movable chairs and Smart Boards.

For more information on the building, visit www.engr.utk.edu/tickle. For more information about the college, visit www.engr.utk.edu/175.

Sigma Chi is on probation due to hazing activities involving food and garbage on August 27. The two-year probation bans the chapter from all social events and requires each member to perform community service. The chapter also must present a fraternity-wide hazing re-education and prevention program and pay to install security cameras in the public areas and exterior of its house. The chapter accepted the sanctions and has agreed to comply with the terms.

Lambda Chi Alpha has been placed on interim suspension pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation involving hazing on September 10. The investigation surrounds reports of alleged forcing of pledges to perform a militaristic exercise regimen. One pledge sustained a minor injury.

The chapter may not engage in formal activities on or off campus. At the conclusion of the investigation, the university will recommend sanctions, which the chapter can accept or request a hearing on. The interim suspension will remain intact until the process is complete.

“We will not tolerate hazing of any kind. We take immediate action to investigate any reports and take the appropriate action,” said Jeff Cathey, associate dean of students.

In April, a UT task force released a report with recommendations for improving fraternity and sorority life and culture on campus. The group of alumni, students, faculty, and staff recommended several changes that have resulted in more mandatory member and chapter education and increased communication among chapters as well as with the dean of students. The task force’s work also led to changes in the judicial process involving fraternity and sorority organizations to resolve cases sooner.

Additionally, all on-campus fraternities are required to have security Thursday through Saturday evening at the houses. The Dean of Students’ Office has also expanded its Standards of Excellence program to make all activities, positive and negative, of each fraternity and sorority chapter public on its website.

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CONTACT:

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

The luncheons will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays through December 5 in the UT Visitors Center on Neyland Drive.

The cafe is a full-service international dining experience. Lunch consists of intermezzo or small appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert.

Cost is $12 and the faculty-staff discount does not apply. Advance tickets are required. For tickets, see Marcia Johnson in 110 Jessie Harris Building, call 865-974-6645, or email rhtm@utk.edu. Cash, checks, and credit cards are accepted.

The first luncheon Thursday will feature Italian fare. The menu is as follows:

First course: Traditional Italian antipasto with cured meats and cheeses from southern Italy served with homemade margherita pizza

Second course: Spinach and goat cheese ravioli with roasted garlic cream sauce

Third course: Chicken cacciatore served with creamy polenta

Dessert: Tiramisu

The dates and themes for the remaining luncheons are as follows:

• October 10—Italy
• October 24—France
• October 31—France
• November 7—Japan
• November 14—Japan
• November 21—Spain
• December 5—French-Japanese fusion

The luncheons are produced through a collaboration of HRT 445 (the Advanced Food Production and Service Management class), the UT Culinary Institute, and the Pellissippi Culinary Institute.

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CONTACT:

Marcia Johnson (for tickets): (865-974-6645, rhtm@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

Chambliss will speak at noon in the Baker Donelson Classroom (Room 132) of the College of Law. Part of the Joel A. Katz–Sun Trust Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the college and SunTrust, his talk is free and open to the university community.

Chambliss served in the US House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He was elected to the US Senate in 2002 and is now serving his second term. He has announced he won’t seek re-election.

The Washington Post named Saxby and the “Gang of Six” one of the Best Leaders of 2011 for attempts to craft a bipartisan deficit reduction package. The Gang of Six included three Democrats (Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Dick Durbin of Illinois, and former Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota) and three Republicans (Chambliss and Senators Mike Crapo of Indiana and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma).

GeorgiaTrend magazine has repeatedly named Chambliss as one of its Most Influential Georgians, calling him “a highly visible and well-respected presence in Washington” with a “reputation as an affable but straight-talking lawmaker.” In January 2009, the magazine named him its Georgian of the Year.

Chambliss has been involved in homeland security and intelligence issues during his time in Washington. He is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Previously, while in the House, he chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which investigated intelligence issues related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Chambliss also has been involved in agricultural issues. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was a lawyer who specialized in representing farmers’ legal interests in South Georgia. While in the House, he helped draft two farm bills and reform the federal crop insurance program. He now serves on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

He also serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Chambliss received the National Guard Association’s Harry S. Truman Award for contributions to national defense and security, the Naval Reserve Association’s National Legislative Advocacy Award for leading the effort to reduce the age at which members of the National Guard and Reserve can receive retirement pay, the Air Force Association’s W. Stuart Symington Award for outstanding contributions to national security, and the Reserve Officers Association’s Minuteman of the Year Award.

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CONTACT:

Tanya Brown (865-974-6788, tgbrown@utk.edu)

UT also recognized several alumni for their service and achievements at the annual awards banquet on Friday. For the full list, visit tiny.utk.edu/pU2Vt.

The 2013 top honorees were:

• Charles C. Anderson Jr., a College of Business Administration alumnus, is chief executive officer of Anderson Media Corporation, operator of Anderson Merchandisers, the nation’s largest distributor and merchandiser of consumer magazines, books, and prerecorded music.
• Dee Bagwell Haslam, a College of Education alumna, is chief executive officer of the RIVR Media companies. She has led the team in the production of more than eighty series and documentaries.
• Jimmy Haslam, a College of Business Administration alumnus, is chief executive officer of Pilot Flying J and Pilot Logistics Services, the largest operator of travel centers and travel plazas in North America.
• James J. Powell Sr., an agriculture alumnus, is founder of Johnson City–based Powell Construction Company, a giant in the construction, mining, energy, and hospitality industries.

Four Hollywood producers currently working in development and production will talk about their work and explain how projects like The Hunger Games, World War Z, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Gangster Squad get made.

Participants include Matt Milam, a UT graduate who is currently a senior vice president of motion picture production and development for Skydance Productions, which recently released World War Z and has Mission Impossible 5 in development. Other participants include Jon Silk, who works at Warner Bros. as a senior vice president of production at Lin Pictures, where he co-produced Gangster Squad; Will Russell-Shapiro, a senior executive for Aversano Productions, which has been involved with Safe House (starring Denzel Washington) and The Last Airbender (directed by M. Night Shyamalan); and Bryan Unkeless, senior vice president of production and development at Color Force, where he co-produced The Hunger Games and also helped develop the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise.

A reception will follow in the Mary Greer Room on the second floor of Hodges Library, Room 258. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 974-6963.

CONTACT:

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, charles.primm@tennessee.edu)

The book, Low Impact Development: Opportunities for the PlanET Region, was prepared for the City of Knoxville and the Plan East Tennessee (PlanET) Consortium, a regional planning initiative supported by a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It addresses Anderson, Blount, Loudon, Knox and Union Counties.

For three years, faculty and graduate students of the UT College of Architecture and Design conducted research and created design solutions in collaboration with PlanET. The publication encourages communities to embrace low-impact development in watershed planning, community design, and site development. This means addressing stormwater issues at their source by reintroducing natural hydrologic functions and biological processes into developed landscapes. The Knoxville County Metropolitan Planning Commission funded publication of the research.

View the publication online.

“In East Tennessee, water is a resource that defines the landscape and sustains the region economically, socially, and environmentally,” said Brad Collett, an associate professor of landscape architecture and plant sciences. He co-authored the publication with lecturer Valerie Friedmann and program alumna Wyn Miller. “Precipitation, streams, rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater are all part of an interconnected system. As the East Tennessee population grows, the health of the region’s water resources, such as that for drinking, industry, recreation, and tourism, will face increasing challenges.”

The health of water resources is threatened by the amount and quality of the stormwater runoff in urban and rural watersheds, each of which is affected by prevailing development patterns, activities on developed properties, and existing infrastructure, Collett said.

Through the impact avoidance, minimization, and management methods outlined in the publication, East Tennessee communities can learn how to promote and protect the health of the region’s shared water resources. The research demonstrates water management solutions for existing and new development in rural, urban, and residential areas.

“By implementing ‘green’ stormwater infrastructure, developed landscapes can perform as part of the solution to water resource challenges and help communities meet new stormwater management regulations by reducing, cleaning, retaining, and infiltrating runoff,” Collett said.

Low-impact development practices also present an opportunity for stormwater management systems to become an aesthetically pleasing part of a landscape instead of a buried function. According to Collett, developers around the country are reaping savings by using similar approaches.

The research was made possible through the coursework of landscape architecture graduate students. They investigated and designed for regional growth through grayfield redevelopment and low-impact alternatives to managing stormwater runoff and re-introducing natural water cycle processes on developed sites in Knoxville’s First Creek/White’s Creek Watershed. Several of the projects received awards in 2012 from the American Society of Landscape Architects Tennessee Chapter.

The UT Landscape Architecture Program is the only accredited landscape architecture program in Tennessee. It is a partnership between the College of Architecture and Design and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The program’s commitment to PlanET is valued at $1 million, an estimate based on students’ time, facilities, and faculty resources dedicated to the project through six graduate-level studio courses.

To learn more about PlanET and UT’s involvement, visit PlanET’s website. Information about the UT Landscape Architecture is available on its website.

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CONTACT:

Kiki Roeder (865-974-6713, kroeder@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

The college is one of nine Habitat partners in East Tennessee to be nominated for the award and one of sixteen partners to be recognized overall. Award winners will be announced at the Governor’s Housing Summit Oct.7 and 8 in Nashville.

Tennessee’s Best is an annual statewide award program sponsored by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. The Excellence in Partnership Award recognizes the achievement of organizations working together to promote or expand access to affordable housing.

Since 2003, the UT College of Business Administration has partnered with Knoxville Habitat in building eleven affordable homes for families in Knox County.

“In the last twenty-eight years, Habitat has partnered with many individuals, corporations, and faith groups to build affordable homes,” said Kelle Shultz, president/CEO of Knoxville Habitat. “But the partnership with the UT College of Business Administration is special because of its innovative nature and the opportunity to involve so many UT students and faculty in our work.”

The partnership began in 2003 when a UT Master of Business Administration student suggested that the Tennessee Organization of MBAs (TOMBA) sponsor a home as part of its philanthropic mission, said Michael C. Ehrhardt, the Paul and Beverly Castagna Professor of Investments in the UT Department of Finance. Ehrhardt has been involved in builds with students for the past eleven years.

“With enormous dedication and hard work, TOMBA successfully raised all the necessary funding and recruited all the needed volunteers to build all eleven homes,” Ehrhardt said. “Volunteers have included faculty, staff, students, athletic teams, fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations across the Knoxville campus.”

More than 800 individuals have likely volunteered over the last decade, Ehrhardt said.

“A substantial number of volunteers had never seen the realities of the low-income marketplace,” he said. “By the end of the build, I could see the changes in their demeanor, attitude, and perspective. It’s powerful to watch this transformation.”

In addition to eleven builds, Knoxville Habitat developed a second partnership with the UT full-time MBA program and Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Through the MBA program’s Innovation in Practice course, a team of MBA students worked with Habitat to maximize revenues from its retail store.

“The students’ recommendations provided an implementable set of guidelines for the store and will enable us to generate significantly more revenue in the next two years,” Shultz said.

She added that she was grateful for the support UT has given Habitat.

“The relationship with UT is much more than just building homes; it’s about people making a difference in the lives of others,” she said.

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

Mike Ehrhardt (865-603-3210, ehrhardt@utk.edu)

Cindy Raines (865-974-3993, craines1@utk.edu)

After exceeding last year’s goal of $605,000 by $15,000, the campaign challenges UT employees to band together and raise $610,000 by November 1.

The goal is set based on the amount of donations received the previous year and several other factors such as faculty and staff pay raises.

The campaign focuses on giving to social or health-related charities that directly benefit Tennessee or Knoxville. Campus Chest partners with United Way of Greater Knoxville and Community Shares, but employees can donate to any charitable organization that meets the requirements listed at campuschest.utk.edu.

Many UT employees have specific agencies they support for personal reasons, said Brian Browning, director of administrative and support services for finance and administration. Others choose to donate to United Way or Community Shares so their money can be used wherever it is needed. A full 100 percent of each donation to Campus Chest goes directly to the organization of the employee’s choice.

Employees can choose to make donations through payroll deduction, cash, or check. Next year, an online payment option may be available.

“We’re always trying to improve,” Browning said.

For more information, visit campuschest.utk.edu.

CONTACT:

Ashley Payne (865-974- 3061, ashleypayne@utk.edu)

Tricia Hepner, associate professor of anthropology and co-director of the college’s new Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights program, will present “Anthropology as a Tool for Improving the Human Condition.”

Now in its twenty-fourth season, the Pregame Showcase—sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences—gives fans the chance to hear from esteemed UT faculty prior to each gridiron matchup. This week’s showcase will be held at 10:21 a.m. in the Carolyn P. Brown University Center Ballroom (Room 213).

Free and open to the public, the showcase will feature a thirty-minute presentation and a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session followed by a brief reception. Door prizes will be awarded.

Through the new DDHR program, faculty and students are developing collaborative methods to analyze crises, from coal ash spills and refugee flows to mass grave excavations and postwar reconstruction. Hepner will talk about some of the work she’s done, as well as some of the work done by her colleagues and students.

“Anthropology is a very diverse discipline, encompassing human biology and culture in the past and present,” Hepner said. “DDHR unites cultural anthropology, archaeology, and biological anthropology to generate new insights into pressing global problems.”

In addition to teaching and co-directing the DDHR program, Hepner is vice chair of the college’s Africana Studies program. She authored the book Soldiers, Martyrs, Traitors and Exiles: Political Conflict in Eritrea and the Diaspora, co-edited two books and wrote several journal articles and book chapters.

Here’s the lineup for the rest of the season:

October 5—”Tick Tock: Sleep Across the Lifespan and the Role of the Internal Clock.” Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a biopsychologist who has researched the importance of sleep and the internal clock, will talk about research that explains how sleep patterns vary across a lifetime and what is “normal.”

October 19—”Haunted Bangkok: Angry Spirits, Buddhist Power, and Popular Media in Thailand.” Rachelle Scott, associate professor of religious studies, will talk about the role of ghosts and other supernatural beings in Theravada Buddhism and how these stories continue to impart ethical lessons to Buddhists across Asia and around the world.

November 9—”Making the Cuts: Austerity Policies and Their Social Implications.” Jon Shefner, head of the Department of Sociology, will look at the effects of spending cuts, tax hikes, and other measures governments use to reduce their budget deficits during adverse economic conditions.

November 23—”Simulations of Solutions: Solving Problems Through Scientific Computing.” Steven Wise, associate professor of mathematics, will discuss the evolution of scientific computing and look at the challenges that lie ahead, including how we might—and might not—be able to solve some of our biggest problems with the help of computers.

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CONTACT:

Lynn Champion (865-974-2992, champion@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Mike Wirth, dean of the College of Communication and Information (right), presents Wendell Potter (left) with the Accomplished Alumni award.

Wendell Potter, a veteran journalist, public relations executive, author, and advocate for health care and insurance reform, received an Accomplished Alumni award yesterday.

The 1973 journalism graduate was honored by UT with the award. The Accomplished Alumni program recognizes notable alumni.

Potter is a senior analyst at the Center for Public Integrity, an organization that produces investigative journalism on issues of public concern. He also is a senior fellow on health care for the Center for Media and Democracy, and serves as a consumer liaison representative for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Potter began his career as a reporter at the Memphis (Tenn.) Press-Scimitar, and eventually was promoted to the Scripps-Howard News Bureau in Washington, DC, where he covered the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. Transitioning into public relations, Potter served as press secretary to a Tennessee gubernatorial candidate, headed advertising and public relations for an East Tennessee health care system, and was a partner in an Atlanta public relations firm.

He later headed the communications department for Humana Inc., and was then recruited to Cigna Corp., where he served in a variety of positions over fifteen years, culminating in leading its corporate communications team and serving as chief corporate spokesperson.

Potter then left corporate communications to advocate for meaningful health care reform, testifying before a congressional committee in 2009 on rising health care costs and writing a book on lobbying efforts by the health insurance industry to influence public opinion and public policy.

“I am thrilled to be back on campus and remember my time here and the mentors that had a profound impact on my life,” Potter said. “I am the person I am today because of my training, experiences, and mentors I had while attending the University of Tennessee.”

The award was presented by Communication and Information Dean Mike Wirth prior to Potter’s public talk on the value of higher education.

Potter joins a variety of outstanding alumni who have been featured through the Accomplished Alumni program, including CEOs of major corporations, Olympians, authors, lawyers, musicians, US ambassadors, and civic leaders.

To view other Accomplished Alumni, visit the VolsConnect website.

CONTACT:

Charles Primm (865-974-5180, primmc@utk.edu)

Haylee Marshall (865-974-5801, hmarshall@utfi.org)

Matthew Mench, head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, (right) presents Peter Hoffman (left) with the Accomplished Alumni award.

Peter Hoffman, a protector of intellectual property at the world’s largest aerospace company, received an Accomplished Alumni award yesterday.

The 1984 graduate in the mechanical engineering master’s program was honored by the award, which recognizes notable alumni for their success and distinction within their field.

Hoffman is vice president of intellectual property management for The Boeing Company. He is responsible for strategies that protect and generate the highest possible value from Boeing’s intellectual property. Hoffman manages the company’s patent portfolio through licensing of its technical data, images, consumer products, trademarks, and patents.

Hoffman joined Boeing in 1984. Before moving into his current position he served as director of global research and development strategy, where he was responsible for developing technology collaboration relationships with companies, universities, and national laboratories. He has also played a leadership role in the expansion of Boeing’s global technology activities and the establishment of research centers and numerous technology relationships worldwide. Prior to coming to Boeing, Hoffman held positions in international business development and spent fourteen years conducting research in the area of advanced materials and structures.

“I’m honored to be recognized with this award and much of the credit for what I have been able to accomplish professionally goes to solid educational foundation I received at the University of Tennessee,” Hoffman said.

The award was presented by Matthew Mench, head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, during an aerospace engineering senior design class.

Hoffman joins a variety of outstanding alumni who have been featured through the Accomplished Alumni program, including CEOs of major corporations, Olympians, authors, lawyers, musicians, US ambassadors and civic leaders.

To view other Accomplished Alumni, visit the Office of Alumni website.

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C O N T A C T:

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

Haylee Marshall (865-974-5801, hmarshall@utfi.org)

The four-day event will feature panel discussions on a wide range of diversity and inclusion issues. Rickey Hall, vice chancellor for diversity, will deliver the keynote address, “Does Diversity Really Matter?,” at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, October 2, in the Communications Building Auditorium (Room 321).

The week concludes with the annual CCI Diversity Festival, Thursday, October 3, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in Circle Park. The festival will include a barbecue, music, dance, a photo booth, and performances by students from the college and Knoxville area entertainers. Click here for more information and a complete schedule.

“Diversity and Inclusion Week is an all-college event that allows us to come together to celebrate and discuss diverse ideas and concepts across a broad array of issues,” said CCI Dean Mike Wirth. “The sessions stress the importance of dialogue, open–mindedness, and inclusion as important tools for solving problems and building communities.”

Seven panels plus a workshop and an open forum will take place throughout the week in the CCI Auditorium and Scripps Convergence Lab (Room 402).

Discussion topics include:

• “Accepting Each Other,” featuring panels on families and diversity and profiling.
• “Working Together,” with sessions on diversity in public policy and the workplace, plus an open forum on diversity and inclusion.
• “The Mediasphere,” with discussions on diversity in both traditional media and the emerging world of social media.
• “The Power of Words,” with a workshop on hate speech and a panel on humor and diversity.

“Understanding how to work and interact with those who are different from us is a critical part of being successful in the workplace,” said Alice Wirth, chair of the college’s Diversity and Inclusion Week planning committee and a lecturer in the School of Communication Studies. “This week, along with everything else we are doing in this area, helps provide our students with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully enter and thrive in an increasingly diverse workplace.”

All sessions are free and open to the public and will be streamed online.

CONTACT:

Donna Silvey (865-974-6727, dsilvey@utk.edu)