Several UT Knoxville facilities are being renamed as they transition to new uses. All of the names approved will honor families or individuals who have made a significant contribution to the university and its history. One of the names marks a first in UT history.

Fred D. Brown

The new Fred D. Brown Residence Hall is the first building on the UT Knoxville campus to be named for an African-American person.

“We are proud that we can carry on the legacy of these individuals who have contributed to UT’s rich diversity and inspiring history,” said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek.

Approved by the board were proposals to name:

• The new residence hall currently under construction on Andy Holt Avenue to the Fred D. Brown Jr. Residence Hall in honor of the longtime staff member who created the Office of Diversity Programs in the College of Engineering. The construction project is the first new residence hall to be built in forty-three years, and the hall will accommodate 700 men and women when it opens in 2014.

Now in its fortieth year, the Office of Diversity programs has recruited and supported more than 900 students from underrepresented groups who have graduated from the college. Brown founded it with just seventeen students, and his work has had a significant impact on the engineering profession.

Brown with students Robert Phillips and Marily Horhn in September 1973.

Brown graduated from Hall High School in Alcoa, Tennessee, and earned his college degree from the Tuskegee Institute. He did post-graduate work at UT, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, and Vanderbilt University. He taught at Hall High School in Alcoa and Oak Ridge High School. He was the first African-American teacher at Oak Ridge High soon after it was integrated and became the first African-American member of the Alcoa Board of Education.

• The former Student Health Center, 1818 Andy Holt Way, to Temple Hall in honor of Oliver P. Temple and his daughter, Mary Boyce Temple. The new Student Health Building opened last year on Volunteer Boulevard. The former health center is currently being renovated for College of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences programs.

Two previous buildings and a street have been named for the Temples throughout UT history. Temple Hall once served as an assembly center on the Agriculture Campus but no longer exists. The main route through campus, Temple Avenue, was renamed Volunteer Boulevard. Temple Court, which housed Career Services on the corner of Cumberland and Volunteer Boulevard, was razed in late 2012 to make room for a larger Student Union now under construction.

Oliver Temple was a trustee of East Tennessee University, which was later named the University of Tennessee, from 1820 until his death in 1907. He was a Greenville, Tennessee, lawyer and once ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Andrew Johnson. He was a driving force in expanding UT’s agriculture programs and its land grant designation.

Mary Boyce Temple continued her father’s work by establishing a foundation in 1919 to purchase and breed purebred animals and improve plant breeding. She later gave her library to UT.

• The new football practice facility the Anderson Training Center in honor of the Anderson families of Knoxville and Florence, Alabama. The families’ generosity helped to make the new state-of-the-art facility a reality. This 145,000-square-foot building includes an amphitheater-style team room, coaches’ offices, position meeting rooms, a first-class dining facility, players’ lounge, a 7,000-square-foot locker room, and a 22,000 square-foot multilevel weight room, as well as a new training room and hydrotherapy area. The Anderson Training Center will be central to the physical training and development of all Tennessee athletic teams.

The board also approved a proposal to modify the name of the Frank H. McClung Museum to the Frank H. McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture to better reflect its mission.

The John D. Tickle Engineering Building’s name was also modified to include the middle initial D of its benefactor, a 1965 graduate of the college. The Tickle building will be home to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The building is set to open to students in fall 2013.

Read more about today’s Board of Trustees meeting at the University of Tennessee System website.

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C O N T A C T :

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

The Board of Trustees today approved the degrees for Tennessee natives John Seigenthaler and Mary Costa. Seigenthaler will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and speak at the College of Law commencement at 5:00 p.m. on May 10. Costa will speak and receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane and Musical Letters at the College of Arts and Science commencement at 9:00 a.m. on May 10.

Theirs will be the fifth and sixth honorary degrees UT Knoxville has awarded.

“Throughout his career as a journalist, writer, and public servant, Mr. Seigenthaler has been a staunch advocate and defender of free speech and civil rights. His passion for human equality, for the pursuit of truth, and for protection of free speech and a free press have improved the lives of all Americans,” College of Law Dean Doug Blaze wrote in his letter nominating Seigenthaler for the honor.

A Nashville native, Seigenthaler worked at The Tennessean for forty-three years, moving up from reporter to assistant city editor to special assignment editor and ultimately to editor, publisher, and CEO. While there, he investigated corruption within the local branch of the Teamsters and looked into the criminal activities of Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa. His articles led to the impeachment trial of Chattanooga Criminal Court Judge Ralston Schoolfield.

He took a short break from journalism in the early 1960s to serve in the US Department of Justice as administrative assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He served as negotiator with the governor of Alabama during the Freedom Rides. During that crisis, while attempting to aid Freedom Riders in Montgomery, he was attacked by a mob of Klansmen and hospitalized.

In 1982, while still working at The Tennessean, Seigenthaler became founding editorial director of USA Today. He retired as chairman emeritus of The Tennessean and from USA Today in 1991.

Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 to create national discussion, dialogue, and debate about First Amendment rights and values. The center is an operating program of the Freedom Forum and is associated with the Newseum and the Diversity Institute. The center has offices in the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University and at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Seigenthaler attended Peabody College, which is now part of Vanderbilt University, and the American Press Institute at Columbia University. He served in the US Air Force after World War II.

The other honorary degree recipient is a well-known Knoxvillian and advocate for children and advancing art and culture.

School of Music Director Jeff Pappas nominated Costa for the honorary degree, saying she was worthy of the honor “because of her extensive and varied career, not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, an advocate for the arts, education, young musicians, and at-risk children at the regional and national levels.”

Costa studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory in the late 1940s. An internationally acclaimed soprano, she performed in forty-four operas and worked with many of Hollywood’s legendary entertainers, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Jack Benny.

But it was early in her career, while she was singing and doing commercials on the radio, that Walt Disney discovered Costa and cast her as Princess Aurora in the 1958 film Sleeping Beauty.

Costa’s big break in opera came in 1958, just after she finished Sleeping Beauty. She was chosen to replace an indisposed Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for a gala concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Costa went on to sing leading roles in opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House in London, the Bolshoi Theatre, and the San Francisco Opera.

Costa—once heralded by The New York Times as “one of the most beautiful women to grace the operatic stage”—was the guest soloist at the memorial service for President John F. Kennedy at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in 1963. She also sang at the inaugural concert of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971.

She received the Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989 and the Disney Legends Award in 1999, and was honored with the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s Distinguished Verdi Performance of the Twentieth Century for her 1964 Met debut as Violetta in La Traviata. She was appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President George W. Bush in 2003 and served until 2007.

Costa has traveled across the country giving motivational talks at schools and colleges. She has served as an ambassador for Childhelp, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect.

UT Knoxville also has given honorary degrees to Howard H. Baker Jr., Dolly Parton, Al Gore, and Charles O. “Chad” Holiday.

Read more about today’s Board of Trustees meeting at the University of Tennessee System website.

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C O N T A C T :

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

The café, sponsored by Sysco Foods, operates from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Thursdays in the UT Visitors Center, 2712 Neyland Drive. Each luncheon typically consists of an intermezzo or small appetizer, salad or soup, entrée, and dessert. Advance tickets will be sold for the luncheons, and capacity is eighty diners. Cost will be $12, and the faculty-staff discount does not apply. For tickets and reservations, see Marcia Johnson in the Jessie Harris Building, Room 110, call 865-974-6645, or e-mail rhtm@utk.edu.

The southern French menu is:

Appetizer: Roquefort, Saint Albray, quince paste, and grapes. (Roquefort is the oldest and most renowned of the blue cheeses. Saint Albray is French soft-ripened cheese, and quince is a golden round fruit.)

Salad: Duck confit mesclun (cured and poached duck served shredded with leafy greens, candied walnuts, and warm sherry chardonnay vinaigrette).

Main course: Chicken Provencal (chicken stew with emphasis on tomatoes and garlic).

Dessert: Pots de crème (loose French custard).

Lunch dates and themes for the remainder of the semester are:

• March 21, Northern France
• April 4, Sushi
• April 11, Japanese Cookery
• April 18, Spain
• April 25, Japanese/French Fusion
• May 2, Spanish/Italian 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.

Students enrolled in the UT course will work as general managers, dining room attendants, assistant kitchen managers, dining room managers, and dining room service employees. They will be responsible for the execution of the dining experience, managing staff, menu planning, food preparation, cooking, cost analysis, service during meal time, marketing of the event, and customer satisfaction activities.

Pellissippi State students will do most of the food preparation and will assist with dining room responsibilities.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Christine Copelan (ccopela7@utk.edu)

The eleventh annual Appalachian Spring fundraiser will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Knoxville.

Students will recognize Mayfield as a “Legend of the Industry” for his role in turning a fourth-generation family dairy and ice cream business into one of the nation’s favorite dairy brands. The banquet’s theme, “Tasteful Adventures,” will showcase Mayfield’s favorite destinations around the country, from Mobile Bay and Panama City to New York City and Chicago.

The evening will include a silent auction, wine-and-beer reception, hors d’oeuvres, and a four-course dinner with wine pairings. UT students will prepare the meal from start to finish.

Tickets are $150 each for the general public and $85 for UT students. Participants also may sponsor an eight-seat table for $1,000. The deadline to buy tickets is March 12.

Students are seeking sponsorships that range from $50 for a “Wall of Thanks” in the program to $5,000 for one full-page advertisement and two sponsored tables.

Last year’s ticket sales and auction raised more than $26,000 for the Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. The money generated from the banquet will support student scholarships, industry trips and internships, study abroad trips, and leadership development.

To purchase a ticket, contact Marcia Johnson at 865-974-6831 or wjohnso1@utk.edu.

For sponsorship information, contact Ann Fairhurst at 865-974-6614 or fairhurs@utk.edu.

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CONTACT:

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

A computer image of the entire novel of Moby Dick produced through Meaney and Szczepanski’s code.

How does a computer view the human world—say, the human genome or literary works such as Herman Melville’s Moby Dick?

Two UT professors have provided some insight, thanks to a code they’ve created that allows the computer to transform large-scale data and information into digital images—compressed pictures composed of colorful lines.

Evan Meaney, assistant professor of art, and Amy Szczepanski, assistant research professor in electrical engineering and computer science, have made a body of artwork called Null_Sets using their code. They’ve also provided a way for the public to make their own art using the code, whether it’s converting a love song, the Patriot Act, or the deed of one’s house into colorful images.

“The goal is to challenge people’s assumptions about what computer data looks like,” Szczepanski said. “In some sense, people trust the computer too much and imagine it as some magical box that does something. They forget that there’s actually a lot of human work that went on behind the scenes to make it happen.

“In as much as we mechanize things we’re still doing things for people and to interact with people.”

Amy Szczepanski

Szczepanski and Meaney designed their approach by running code on a supercomputer at the Remote Data Analysis and Visualization Center (RDAV) to create many test images. The center is an initiative of the UT Joint Institute for Computational Science and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The idea for the project began in 2010 while Szczepanski was working on an RDAV project that was trying to find ways to encourage researchers in other fields besides the hard sciences to consider using supercomputing to help their work.

She contacted Meaney, a digital artist, after a recommendation from UT’s visual arts committee. Together, they wrote the code for Null_Sets. The UT Research Foundation is currently working on patenting the code.

The project is receiving widespread recognition. Meaney recently won the jury prize for the Null_Sets project at the Distributed Microtopias exhibition at the fifteenth Annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival in Ithaca, New York.

Evan Meaney

Meaney has applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that would allow him and Szczepanski to turn Null_Sets into an iPad and Android app. Right now, the Null_Sets website has a size limit that means large amounts of data can’t be converted, and the server times out after a certain period. With the app, users would be able to upload and convert large amounts of data conveniently.

“We want to put a better face on it and have it be more user-friendly,” Meaney said.

To learn more about the Null_Sets project, view the collection of art, or make your own, visit Meaney’s website.

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CONTACT:

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

Patouillet has more than thirty years of experience in the alumni profession. Most recently, he led Patouillet Consulting, LLC, an alumni and development consulting firm based Atlanta, Georgia. Before taking the company full time in December 2011, he served as the associate vice president of alumni affairs and executive director of the University of Florida Alumni Association, associate vice chancellor and executive director at the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association, and executive director of the University of South Florida Alumni Association.

He will begin serving in his new role July 1.

“Lee has a tremendous reputation in the industry and a clear understanding of our journey to become a Top 25 institution,” said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. “During his career, he has led alumni programs at two Top 25 public research universities, and understands how to engage alumni to help us meet that goal.”

Patouillet has a bachelor’s in American studies from the University of South Florida, a master’s in education from UT, and a doctorate in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh. The alumni organizations led by Patouillet have received more than 10 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) circle of excellence awards.

“We are ecstatic to bring someone with Lee’s background to our team. Not only is he an industry leader in alumni relations, but as a UT alum, he has a passion for our great institution and understands what makes UT special,” said Scott Rabenold, vice chancellor for development and alumni affairs for the Knoxville campus.

“As an advancement professional and a proud alumnus, I am honored and excited to be joining the team committed to UT’s goal of becoming a Top 25 public research university, and I look forward to developing a great partnership with the UT Alumni Association,” Patouillet said.

UT Knoxville, has more than 220,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit the Alumni Association’s website.

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C O N T A C T :

Tiffany Carpenter (865-974-1476, tcarpent@utk.edu)

The summit involved an interdisciplinary group of scientists, economists, academics, entrepreneurs and policy analysts from the US and EU and was held from 2010 to 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; Paris, France; and Brussels, Belgium.

UT’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy partnered with the European Commission, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars to organize the summit. It was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy, and the European Commission.

“Senator Baker, who took an active role in formulating this project, has long been interested in balancing environmental preservation with our desire for economic growth and in the role of science in achieving that balance,” said Matt Murray, Baker Center director. “He has encouraged our collaboration with other institutions in projects that embrace different viewpoints and produce recommendations relevant in an increasingly complex global economy.”

The recommendations include:

• US-EU collaboration on new and innovative education techniques to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and remain competitive in an increasingly competitive global economy.
• An expanded role of the federally run water management organizations to manage water supply in the U.S. as increasing consumption, population growth and climate change will have important implications for water supplies.
• A joint US-EU patent system to enhance commercialization of joint research products, since both entities want to improve their innovation systems through joint research activities.
• US-EU improvement in energy efficiency through improved economic incentives and enhanced understanding of human behavioral issues to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases.

The recommendations come at a time when the US and EU are recovering from severe recessions yet face important decisions about public and private investments in an environmentally constrained world.

“To succeed, these investments should support development of new technologies and improved science and math education and put the United States and the European Union on a path to a low-carbon future,” said summit organizer Robert Shelton, a senior fellow for energy and environment at the Baker Center. “These themes were central to summit deliberations.”

The US and EU have much in common, including democratic forms of government and market-based economies.

“Because of these shared values, we have considerable potential for improved cooperation in addressing the many economic, technological, and energy challenges we both face,” said Domenico Rossetti, principal administrator at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and member of the summit’s organizing committee. “This summit created an extensive and productive trans-atlantic dialogue, and these reports capture the essence of that discussion.”

The series of reports is available online at tiny.utk.edu/Summit.

UT’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan institute devoted to education and scholarship concerning public policy and civic engagement. For more information, visit bakercenter.utk.edu.

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C O N T A C T:

Robert Shelton (865-974-9076, rshelto2@utk.edu)

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

They are among the 199 finalists announced Friday by the Truman Scholarship Foundation. About sixty Truman Scholarship winners will be announced in April after all finalists are interviewed by review panels.

Eric Dixon

Dixon, of Knoxville, will graduate in December with a quadruple major in philosophy, economics, sociology, and global studies. His interests include issues facing central and southern Appalachia, growing the green economy, and service-learning initiatives. He is vice president of the Honors Council, is involved with the Roosevelt Institute and SPEAK (Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville), and is helping lead a campaign to encourage UT to invest responsibly. He has served in the Student Government Association and has worked for The Daily Beacon. He currently does sustainability policy from a behavioral perspective at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dixon is a Baker Scholar and an active member of the Chancellor’s Honors community.

Lindsay Lee

Lee, of Oak Ridge, is a junior studying mathematics, Spanish, and Portuguese. She is the founder and president of Campus Disability Advocates, a group that promotes equality for students with disabilities. She is co-chair of the Academic Affairs Committee in the Student Government Association, and she is currently running for president of the organization. She writes regular columns in The Daily Beacon. Her research involves modeling the population dynamics of managed feral cat colonies. Lee aspires to a public health career where she will work to reduce health care disparities between socioeconomic classes. She is also a Haslam Scholar and an active member of the Chancellor’s Honors community.

The Truman Scholarship Foundation received 629 applications this year. The finalists were chosen based on “outstanding leadership potential, exceptional academic achievement, and (commitment) to careers in government or elsewhere in public service.”

Truman scholars receive priority admissions and supplemental financial aid at premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school guidance, and special internship opportunities with the federal government.

For more information about the Truman Scholarship program, visit www.truman.gov.

For more information about applying for the Truman Scholarship and other prestigious national scholarships, contact UT’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships at onsf@utk.edu.

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C O N T A C T :

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

John O. Hodges teaching a class.

Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta by sharecroppers, John O. Hodges was expected to work in the fields alongside his parents once he was old enough. His stepfather had different plans.

Bargaining with the landowner, Hodges’s stepfather said he would do twice the work if Hodges could go to school. The landowner reluctantly agreed and thus began Hodges’s long education, which resulted in a doctorate in religion and literature from the University of Chicago in 1980.

“My stepfather often drank too much and was sometimes abusive, but I owe the start of my education to him, and I will be forever grateful for that,” said Hodges, associate professor emeritus of the Department of Religious Studies.

This is just one of the stories Hodges recounts in his new book, Delta Fragments: The Recollections of a Sharecropper’s Son.

The book, which will be released in June 2013 by The University of Tennessee Press, highlights moments of Hodges’s time in the Mississippi Delta and explores these moments in the context of greater themes such as the civil rights movement and religion in the African-American community.

Racism was prevalent in the Mississippi Delta during Hodges’ grade school years, and one of the most memorable moments, he said, was the brutal murder of Emmett Till in 1955. Till was a fourteen-year-old African-American who was beaten, shot, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River after reportedly flirting with a white woman.

Hodges was a young man in the segregated school system when the murder happened, and he recalled the event sparking widespread distress among the Delta’s African-American community.

“We would walk around with our heads down, so no one could even think that we were making a pass at a white woman,” Hodges said.

Although his young adult life was haunted by racism, Hodges insists his time in the Mississippi Delta was not all about struggle. There were happy moments, too. He recalled dancing to great music in juke joints, playing sports, and staying out with friends on a Saturday night—getting back just in time for a few hours of sleep before Sunday church.

Hodges was an associate professor of religious studies who taught at UT for twenty-three years. During his time at UT, he served as the chair of African and African-American Studies from 1997 to 2002 and portrayed Delbert Tibbs in UT’s production of the award-winning play The Exonerated as a benefit for the university’s chapter of Amnesty International.

Hodges is continuing his research about the Mississippi Delta and is currently gathering information about the namesake of his hometown of Greenwood, Mississippi. He is an avid Tennessee sports enthusiast and is married to Carolyn Hodges, dean of the Graduate School.

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C O N T A C T :

Christine Copelan (ccopela7@utk.edu)

He’ll be discussing its applications at the Science Forum on March 1.

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

The weekly 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.

Electron microscopes, similar to optical microscopes, are used to reveal the structure of small objects. Electron microscopes make use of the properties of electrons to magnify small objects for study instead of using light, as in optical microscopes.

“Electron microscopes have been around since the early 1930s. But only in the last thirteen years has the technology matured to the point that we can study materials literally atom by atom,” Idrobo said.

Idrobo uses electron microscopy to study, at the atomic scale, the chemical bonding and optical properties of graphene. Graphene is a pure-carbon substance similar to graphite, but lighter. These properties can be applied in the production of novel electronic devices and more efficient energy-related materials.

Future Science Forums will feature:

• March 8: Dr. Paul Campbell Erwin, professor and head of the Department of Public Health, presenting “John Snow and Cholera: The Foundation for Modern Disease Investigation.”
• March 15: Kevin Hoyt, director of UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center, presenting “The Proposed UT AgResearch Gas and Oil Well Research Project.”
• April 5: William T. Bogart, president of Maryville College and professor of economics there, discussing “Cargo Cult Economic Policy: Urban Development and Green Energy.”
• April 12: Stephanie K. Drumheller-Horton, instructor of earth and planetary sciences, presenting “Crocodylian Bite Marks in the Fossil Record.”
• April 19: Devon M. Burr, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences, discussing “The Moon That Would Be A Planet: Saturn’s Giant Titan.”
• April 26: Joan Markel, curator of Civil War exhibits at the McClung Museum, presenting “Digging into Our Civil War Past.”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research. For more information about the Science Forum, visit the Office of Research website.

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

This year’s theme is “Inspiring Ideas.”

Daily stories in Tennessee Today will profile faculty members who inspire their students through innovative teaching, an encouraging demeanor, passion for their subject, and contagious enthusiasm.

Videos will feature students talking about the faculty members who have meant the most to them. Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek and Provost Susan Martin also have some words of thanks for the faculty members who inspired them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDRTm5bmQ7A

In preparation for the week, you can post your own shout-out to your favorite faculty member on the Faculty Shout Out Page.

Here’s a look at some of the special events planned for this week:

Monday, February 25

• Lunch workshop—Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center will present “Threshold Concepts: Moving Students through the Conceptual Bottlenecks,” a free workshop about helping students move from academic confusion to the “light bulb” moments of understanding. Noon to 1:30 p.m. University Center Ballroom. Lunch is included. RSVP to tenntlc@utk.edu.
• Distinguished Faculty Reception—The invitation-only reception sponsored by Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek will be held from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. in the rotunda of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

Tuesday, February 26

• Men’s basketball game—The Vols play Florida at 9:00 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena. Faculty will be saluted during the game. Faculty and staff can purchase tickets for $7. Visit the UT Ticket Office, call 865-656-1200, or order online using promotional code VOLS4UTK.

Wednesday, February 27

• Clarence Brown Theatre presents A Raisin in the Sun—Faculty can use their 50 percent discount to purchase tickets by visiting the box office with their staff ID. Faculty who attend tonight’s 7:30 p.m. performance will be recognized during intermission and will be entered into a drawing for two-ticket season passes. For more information call 974-5161 or see clarencebrowntheatre.com.

Thursday, February 28

• Ready for the World Café—Faculty members dining at the café today will have the chance to win Rocky Top Institute items and café tickets. Today’s northern Italian menu includes a porcini mushroom polenta cake, veal Milanese, artichoke salad, tiramisu, and focaccia. The café, sponsored by Sysco Foods, is a joint effort of HRT 445, the UT Culinary Institute, and Pellissippi Culinary Institute. It begins at 11:30 a.m. in the UT Visitors Center, 2712 Neyland Drive. Tickets are $12. Too purchase them, see Marcia Johnson in the Jessie Harris Building, Room 110, call 865-974-6645, or e-mail rhtm@utk.edu.
• Women’s basketball game—The Lady Vols play Texas A&M at 7:00 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena. Faculty will be saluted during the game. Faculty and staff can purchase tickets for $7. Visit the UT Ticket Office, call 865-656-1200, or order online, using promotional code VOLS4UTK.

All Week

• Free drinks from Dining Services—Faculty and staff members who show their UT Dining Services Faculty/Staff Rewards Card will receive a free 22-ounce fountain drink or small coffee. No purchase is necessary. The offer is good at Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Einstein’s, McAlister’s Deli, Arena Dining, Smokey’s, Rocky Top locations, Subway, Mabel’s, and all of the other national brand locations that Dining Services manages on campus.
• Faculty books display—Books written by UT faculty will be displayed throughout the week in the Dixie Marie Wooten Commons West of Hodges Library, near the Melrose entrance.
• UT Bookstore discount—The bookstore will offer a 20 percent discount to faculty and staff with their UT ID. The discount will not include textbooks, special orders, select trade books, clearance merchandise, and minimal select general merchandise (such as the “We Back Pat” shirts).

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C O N T A C T :

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

Former Governor Don Sundquist; Governor Bill Haslam; Senator Howard Baker and his wife, Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker; and former Governor Phil Bredesen. (Photo by Joy Kimbrough)

Tennessee governors—sitting Governor Bill Haslam and his two predecessors, Phil Bredesen and Don Sundquist—concurred on this point Thursday when they met for a discussion about civility, and the lack of it, in political discourse. Held at UT’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, the event was sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association, the Baker Center, the UT College of Law, and the First Amendment Center.

“There is not a better venue for this program than the Baker Center. This center is named in honor of the man who for the last fifty years has personified that balance,” said moderator Bill Haltom, a lawyer with the Memphis firm Thomason, Hendrix, Harvey, Johnson & Mitchell PLLC.

Using many stories about Senator Baker as examples, the governors attempted to define civility, agreeing that it has to do with respect, listening, and learning to “disagree without being disagreeable.”

“Civility is respecting the rights of others to have opinions,” Sundquist said. “Compromise is not failure of principles. It’s the only way to go.”

Haslam added, “Conflict is different than the lack of civility.”

And Bredesen suggested that incivility is often the symptom of a larger problem—societal unrest about the economy, dissatisfaction with election officials, or a disagreement over major issue facing the nation.

Governor Bill Haslam and former Governors Phil Bredesen and Don Sundquist. (Photo by Joy Kimbrough)

The three governors said that while incivility seems to have escalated nationally, the political climate of Tennessee remains somewhat calmer.

Bredesen said he thinks that’s because state-level politicians are closer to the electorate and see how the issues affect them. That “makes it harder to get caught up in the power games.”

Haltom asked the governors if incivility is escalated by “one issue” voters—those who use their money and votes to support only politicians who concur with them on polarizing issues, such as gun control or abortion.

The governors said “one-issue voters” and extremists may be loud, but they’re not as influential as some think.

“People aren’t necessarily where those loudest voices are,” Haslam said, citing a recent poll in Tennessee that showed “70 percent of the people in the state thought the state was more conservative than they are.”

Bredesen agreed: “We categorize everything … but go walk around at Wal-Mart and the people you meet don’t fit in any of those categories.

“It’s like all these comments on websites. Do you know any of those people? We shouldn’t mistake those for the public perception.”

Sundquist, who served in the US House of Representatives for twelve years before becoming governor, said today’s politicians, especially those in Washington, DC, don’t seem to share the same camaraderie they once did. While Congressmen used to stay in Washington for longer stretches, today they fly in and fly out—some on a weekly basis, he said.

When he and Howard Baker worked in Washington, DC, he said, Washington politicians “knew each other and we worked together.” They forged relationships that fostered civility.

“You’re less likely to attack a member if you know his family, go out socially,” he said.

To some extent, the governors agreed, changes in the media have exacerbated incivility.

“From the old world of having three major networks to where we are now, where you can have the filter you want,” Haslam said.

Because they’re in a battle to win readers and viewers, media are “in the entertainment business,” Haslam said. As citizens and voters “our job is go listen and expose ourselves to as many points of reference as we can.”

Bredesen said civility—and finding common ground that both sides embrace—is critical to making lasting changes in government.

He pointed to the education reforms he saw enacted while serving as the mayor of Nashville from 1991 to 1999. Six months after he left office, some of those reforms already had been set aside.

The same thing may happen with Obama’s health care changes; because they are so hotly debated, they risk not standing the test of time.

“When you push something through, you seed its undoing by the next guy,” he said.

Thursday’s forum was the third of three held across the state as part of “Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy—A National Dialogue,” funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and conducted in partnership with the American Bar Association Division for Public Education.

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C O N T A C T :

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

In recognition of Faculty Appreciation Week, February 25 to March 1, faculty members attending this week’s Ready for the World Café will have the chance to win Rocky Top Institute items and café tickets.

The café, sponsored by Sysco Foods, operates from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Thursdays in the UT Visitors Center, 2712 Neyland Drive. Each luncheon typically consists of an intermezzo or small appetizer, salad or soup, entrée, and dessert. Advance tickets will be sold for the luncheons, and capacity is eighty diners. Cost will be $12, and the faculty-staff discount does not apply. For tickets and reservations, see Marcia Johnson in the Jessie Harris Building, Room 110, call 865-974-6645, or e-mail rhtm@utk.edu.

The northern Italian menu is:

Appetizer: Insalata di carciofi (artichoke salad)

First course: Porcini mushroom polenta cake with sausage ragu, garnished with white truffle oil, parmesan cheese, and basil

Second course: Veal Milanese (thinly pounded veal, crusted with bread crumbs and fried) with lemon-seasoned arugula and cherry tomatoes

Dessert: Tiramisu (layered dessert with emphasis on coffee, chocolate, and mascarpone cheese)

Lunch dates and themes for the remainder of the semester are:

• March 7, Southern France
• March 21, Northern France
• April 4, Sushi
• April 11, Japanese Cookery
• April 18, Spain
• April 25, Japanese/French Fusion
• May 2, Spanish/Italian 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.

Students enrolled in the UT course will work as general managers, dining room attendants, assistant kitchen managers, dining room managers, and dining room service employees. They will be responsible for the execution of the dining experience, managing staff, menu planning, food preparation, cooking, cost analysis, service during meal time, marketing of the event, and customer satisfaction activities.

Pellissippi State students will do most of the food preparation and will assist with dining room responsibilities.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Christine Copelan (ccopela7@utk.edu)

The race will begin at 9:00 a.m. in Circle Park. Registration is available on the day of the race from 7:45 to 8:45 a.m. The UT Graduate Student Senate is sponsoring the event.

The UT Graduate Student Senate has hosted the race since 1992. Proceeds from the event will help the libraries buy electronic resources, books, equipment, and other critical items for students.

The Knoxville Track Club will manage the finish line and compile race results. An awards ceremony will follow.

For more information, visit the UT Libraries website.

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CONTACT:

UT Graduate Student Senate (865-974-2377, gss@utk.edu)

The professorship was made possible by an estate gift from the late Sarah E. Skinner of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Morris is a professor in the Department of Management and has served as a UT faculty member for twenty years. He is director of the Global Leadership Scholars undergraduate honors program in the College of Business Administration.

Prior to holding this role, Morris was head of the human resource development program and the graduate program director of human resource management.

Morris also has been very active in the broader academic community. He is the past president of the Academy of Human Resource Development and a member of several prominent editorial boards on management and human resources.

Morris’s research focuses on topics including employee work-life balance, the evaluation of performance-related training programs, and leadership development.

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CONTACT:

Meredith Hulette (865-974-7392, mhulette@utfi.org)

The reading will be in the Hodges Library Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Laken recently published her second book, the short story collection Separate Kingdoms. The stories are set in the United States and Russia and were partially inspired by her travel and work in Eastern Europe.

Her first novel, Dream House, was named one of the Best Books of 2009 by Kirkus Reviews and one of the Top Ten Best First Novels of 2009 by Booklist.  It was based on her experience with renovating a house that had been the site of a homicide.

Laken teaches creative writing at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She previously taught at the University of Michigan. She has also worked in Moscow; Prague; Krakow, Poland; and Madison, Wisconsin.

Her work has been featured in Ploughshares, the Missouri Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, the Writer and the Chicago Tribune.

Writers in the Library is sponsored by UT Libraries and the Creative Writing Program in association with the John C. Hodges Better English Fund. For more information contact Marilyn Kallet, director of UT’s Creative Writing Program (mkallet@utk.edu), or Christopher Hebert, writer in residence at UT Libraries (chebert3@utk.edu).

For more information about Valerie Laken, visit her website.

Upcoming Writers in the Library events will feature:

• March 11: T Cooper, novelist and author of Real Man Adventures
• April 8: Adam Prince, a UT graduate and author of the short story collection The Beautiful Wishes of Ugly Men
• April 15: Poets Marilyn Kallet and Arthur Smith, both UT English professors
• April 25: Winners of UT’s creative writing awards

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

Rogero will deliver the keynote address and also will be presented with the 2013 College of Communication and Information Diversity Award.

Alice R. Bowling Wirth, a lecturer in the college’s School of Communication Studies and director of the college’s Diversity Student Leaders Society (DSLS), said the banquet is DSLS’s major fundraiser for the year.

“The banquet provides an inspirational diversity experience for everyone who attends in addition to raising funds to support the college’s diversity and inclusion program,” Wirth said. “Our goal is to provide an open and accepting community for CCI students, to provide underrepresented students with support, mentoring, and programs to help them stay in college, and to help students be more marketable in the global workforce.”

Rogero was elected mayor of Knoxville in 2011. She is the first woman to hold the office. Her official biography says she “believes Knoxville’s strength comes from the diversity of its people” and the region’s natural resources.

Prior to joining the City of Knoxville, Rogero held leadership positions in organizations such as UT’s Community Partnership Center, Knoxville’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth, Dolly Parton’s nonprofit Dollywood Foundation, and the Coal Employment Project.

Rogero is a 1992 graduate of Leadership Knoxville and a 1994 graduate of Community Leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Furman University and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from UT.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Rogero placed her college studies on hold in the 1970s to work with labor leader Cesar Chavez to help farm workers improve their living and working conditions.

In addition to the keynote speech, the program will include creative diversity presentations, music, and dancing. A limited number of tickets are still available. To check on ticket availability, contact Beth Cole at 865-974-1540 or bethcole@utk.edu.

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C O N T A C T :

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

He will discuss the fire service and tell his stories at Friday’s Science Forum.

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

The weekly 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.

Nix will talk about the “hot-potato baby” phenomenon that firefighters encounter.

He said that when firefighters or paramedics answer a call at a home with a sick or injured child, parents often bring the child outside instead of waiting.

“The parent presents us with a very sick child as soon as we get there,” he said. “Sometimes when we pull up, they come sprinting out.”

In contrast, when adults in the house are in need, they wait inside. Children are portable and often inspire more worry, Nix said.

Nix will also present a general history of the fire service and talk about the medical work he does.

Future Science Forums will feature:

• March 1: Juan-Carlos Idrobo, research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discussing “Exploring the Universe One Atom at a Time.”
• March 8: Paul Campbell Erwin, professor and head of the Department of Public Health, presenting “John Snow and Cholera: The Foundation for Modern Disease Investigation.”
• March 15: Kevin Hoyt, director of UT Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center, presenting “The Proposed UT AgResearch Gas and Oil Well Research Project.”
• April 5: William T. Bogart, president of Maryville College and professor of economics there, discussing “Cargo Cult Economic Policy: Urban Development and Green Energy.”
• April 12: Stephanie K. Drumheller-Horton, instructor of earth and planetary sciences, presenting “Crocodylian Bite Marks in the Fossil Record.”
• April 19: Devon M. Burr, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences, discussing “The Moon That Would Be a Planet: Saturn’s Giant Titan.”
• April 26: Joan Markel, curator of Civil War exhibits at the McClung Museum, presenting “Digging into Our Civil War Past.”

The Science Forum is sponsored by the UT Office of Research. For more information about the Science Forum, visit the Office of Research website.

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

The duel is part of RecycleMania, in which colleges across the nation and Canada are ranked in an eight-week competition based on the amount of recycling and trash collected each week.

This year, UT will have several opportunities for the campus community to participate.

Events include:

• Student Recycling Challenge: Since February 11, residence halls have been competing against each other to establish the best recycling program. The competition concludes on February 24.
• Paper Purge Party: from March 22 to 28, faculty and staff are invited to purge unwanted paper. Simply put paper in a box, bin, pile or bag, mark it for “recycling;” and set it outside the door. Volunteers with the Facilities Services department will make the rounds and do the heavy lifting.
• Recyclympics: on March 12 outside the Humanities/Social Sciences amphitheater, faculty, staff and students are invited to compete in six Olympic-style, recycling-themed events for prizes. Crowd-pleasing favorites include the Phone Book Shot Put, Plastic Bottle Hammer Throw, and Bottle Cap-in-a-Haystack.

These recycling efforts really add up and do good for the environment. Last year, UT recycled nearly five pounds of paper, more than two-and-a-half pounds of cardboard, nearly a half-pound of food waste, and 1.25 pounds of plastic bottles and aluminum cans per faculty, staff, and student during the eight-week period last year.

RecycleMania aims to increase recycling participation by students and staff and raise awareness about the significance of waste reduction programs on campuses. To learn more about the competition and keep current on scores, visit the Recyclemania website.

The Paper Purge Party is sponsored by UT Recycling and Make Orange Green. For more information about the UT recycling program, visit the Make Orange Green website.

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C O N T A C T:

Jay Price (865-974-3480, jayprice@utk.edu)

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

Bozo the Clown

That is a very abbreviated resume for Mike Wiseman, UT’s newest staff member in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media (JEM).

Wiseman helps operate The Volunteer Channel (TVC), UT’s student television station, which is now controlled by the school, and his position at the channel is a perfect fit.

“It has always been my ultimate dream to combine my love for TV with my passion for teaching, so when this opportunity came up I jumped on it. I’m extremely happy.”

Wiseman’s interest in video production originated in an unusual place.

“When I was a little boy, about four or five, I was on Bozo the Clown in Chicago,” Wiseman laughed. “I was amazed by everything happening behind the scenes. It snowballed from there.”

His mother fed his interest in video production and bought him a camera, which he used to capture band practices and short movies with his brother.

Since his days of Bozo the Clown and home movies, Wiseman has come a long way. He recently earned an Emmy for his coverage of the Gatlinburg Christmas parade, which he worked on during his time with the local NBC station, WBIR-TV.

Although previously nominated for an Emmy, he never imagined winning one.

“I was in a category with so many talented people, and when they announced my name, I was totally shocked … it felt like a dream.”

Wiseman was thrilled about winning an Emmy, but recognition for his work has never been a goal.

“I don’t do what I do for accolades or awards; I do it because I love it.”

Wiseman has big plans for TVC.

Although he wants to stay true to the channel’s staples like Hot Topix and Greek Corner, he said he hopes to add fun programs such as Saturday morning cartoons and The Son of Ghoul Show, where B horror films are featured along with comedy sketches.

“I want TVC’s programming to fit the flavor of the campus,” Wiseman said. “I’m excited about being here. I’m looking forward to growing TVC and making JEM bigger and better.”

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C O N T A C T :

Christine Copelan (ccopela7@utk.edu)

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