August E. “Augie” Grant, the J. Rion McKissick Professor of Journalism at the University of South Carolina, will deliver the keynote address. He will speak on “Convergence and Disruption: The New Research Paradigms.”

The symposium will be held in the Communications Building Auditorium (Room 321), with the poster session located in the foyer outside the auditorium. A lunch will be held in the Scripps Convergence Lab (Communications Building Room 402). Tickets to the lunch are $10. All other events during the symposium are free and open to the public.

“The theme of this year’s symposium highlights the changes that are leading to the transformation and convergence of the fields of communication and information,” said CCI Dean Mike Wirth.

“Our keynoter, Augie Grant, is an internationally known expert on media convergence and technology. His talk will set the tone for what promises to be an exciting day of paper presentations, posters, and discourse,” Wirth said.

The symposium begins at 9:00 a.m. with a continental breakfast in the CCI lobby, followed by Grant’s keynote address at 9:30 a.m.

Research paper presentations will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium on the topic of “New Roles for Media in Society,” and the poster session begins at 11:30 a.m. in the lobby.

Lunch begins at 12:15 p.m. in the Scripps Convergence Lab. The next paper presentation session begins at 1:45 p.m. in the auditorium on the topic of “Media’s Role in Society.”

The final paper presentation session begins at 2:45 p.m. in the auditorium on the topic of “Science Communication,” and the closing comments and awards ceremony are set for 3:30 p.m. Awards will be given to the best paper by undergraduate students, the best paper by master’s students, the best collaborative paper by faculty and doctoral students, and the best poster.

For more information about the symposium program, call 865-974-6651 or visit the symposium website.

CONTACT:

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

Dwight Teeter Jr.

When Dwight Teeter was a cub reporter in Waterloo, Iowa, back in the late 1950s, he was threatened with a libel suit.

His newspaper arranged for him to talk to a lawyer, but the lawyer admitted he didn’t know much about libel law. He asked Teeter, who hadn’t been out of college long at that point, if he knew of a good textbook they could consult.

“I realized that I hadn’t had a good book on communication law during my undergraduate days at Berkeley. So I thought, Maybe I’ll write one,” he said.

A couple of newspaper jobs and a PR job later, Teeter found himself at the University of Wisconsin, working on his doctorate. It was there that his mentor, the late Professor Harold L. Nelson, asked him to co-author a book called Law of Mass Communications.  That book is now its thirteenth edition.

“Dwight is an outstanding teacher and a highly published, internationally known expert in the area of mass communication law and history,” said Mike Wirth, dean of the College of Communication and Information.

Teeter came to UT in 1991 as dean of the college. He served in that position until 2002 and then returned to the faculty to teach mass communication law and history.

Although journalism students often think communications law is a tough subject, Teeter said he stresses that it’s built on simple rules, like “don’t invade privacy” and “don’t steal copyrighted material.”

Teeter said his Wisconsin mentor, Nelson, was his greatest inspiration.

“In the summer of 1954, Harold Nelson had been hired to teach journalism and advise the student paper at a Texas university,” Teeter recalled. “This was soon after the US Supreme Court had ruled in Brown v. Board of Education, desegregating public schools. A student reporter learned about a box of folders in Admissions marked ‘Negro: Do Not Admit.’ The student asked, ‘Should we publish this story?’  Nelson said yes, knowing that it might land him in hot water with the administration.”

Teeter said Nelson lost his job in Texas but was soon hired by the University of California at Berkeley—where he and Teeter first met—and later by the University of Wisconsin, where they met up again.

“It just goes to show,” Teeter said.  “If you do what is right, things usually work out.”

Peiling Wang

Peiling Wang loves a good challenge. That explains her penchant for ice skating, skiing, and surfing.

She recalls being one of the two novices in an in-line skating class. The instructor proceeded as if everyone knew what they were doing. Wang fell multiple times and had to seek medical care.

Wang said the experience taught her a lot about learning—and teaching.

An information science professor who primarily teaches graduate classes, Wang said her students arrive with varying backgrounds. Some are new to the field; some have extensive work experience.

“I believe in a learner-centered approach, so I see my role as creating a supportive environment for my students to learn and personalize professional growth,” she said.

Wirth said Wang “has distinguished herself as an outstanding teacher and first-rate scholar. She is an internationally known expert in web information retrieval, data mining,  knowledge discovery, and human-computer interaction.”

Wang has devoted herself to developing the School of Information’s new ePortfolio requirement for graduate students. An alternative to a thesis or exam, it requires students to set goals, collect evidence of learning, and reflect on learning outcomes and professional growth—and then document their learning and competencies in a web e-Portfolio.

Wang also worked with the Provost’s office to analyze academic data to develop utrack, a monitoring system that will help students stay on track to graduation.

Wang said her gusto for life and learning—and getting back up after being down—was born out of a difficult youth in China. Because of the Cultural Revolution, her formal education was interrupted when she was a sixth grader and she was sent to a collective farm to work for eight years. She later went to a university and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, a field that was chosen for her. After earning a master’s degree in information science—the field she loves—she came to America in the late 1980s to pursue her doctorate at the University of Maryland.

“Despite all the difficulties, I have never been happier than I am now,” Wang said in a speech she was asked to give at her commencement ceremony in Maryland. “I cannot find the words to express my appreciation to this great country, where I have the opportunity to hope and to strive for the best I can be…. In my homeland, there is a saying. Translated into English, it means ‘One should never forget her teachers.’”

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@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)

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)

Emma MacMillan, an alumna with a degree in journalism and electronic media, has the big idea of using compelling writing to get the public interested in science.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvJ5MLZCpaY

Woody Paige, UT alumnus, ESPN broadcaster, and Denver Post columnist, has the idea of naming the women’s basketball Final Four trophy in honor of Lady Vols basketball head coach emerita Pat Summitt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ngXSkzkNw

A photo from the exhibit. From left, George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush., Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter

As the fifty-seventh presidential inauguration draws near, a traveling photo exhibit entitled The American President is on display in the Rotunda of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

More than eighty photos from the Associated Press’s vast photo archive are in the display. The photos show American presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama at war, in victory and defeat, in crises, campaigning, and leading the country on the world stage.

Baker Center visitors can peruse the exhibit free of charge from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Mike Martinez, a UT journalism professor, will lead a walking tour of the exhibit at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16.

Martinez spent twenty-six years as a photojournalist. He worked at Associated Press in New York headquarters from 1992 to 1999, and he also worked at the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Detroit News, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Mike Martinez

“I’m going to try to talk a little about how the media covers the president,” Martinez said, explaining that AP photographers are with the president day in, day out. “It’s called a ‘death watch’ because they’re there to make sure nothing happens to him, but that’s how you end up getting some of these great photographs.”

Martinez said he knows back stories about some of the photos and will share those.

For instance, there’s a photo of Ronald Reagan trying to cut in when his wife, Nancy, was dancing with singer Frank Sinatra.

That photo was taken by White House photographer Michael Evans and shared with the press. After it went public, White House Chief of Staff James Baker III scolded Evans because he feared the president might be angry about it. But when Nancy Reagan called, she said the president loved it and wanted copies for himself and Sinatra.

Coverage of the White House by AP reports and photographers has been the dominant source of presidential news across the United States and around the world.

The American President features a number of AP’s Pulitzer Prize–winning images, including Paul Vathis’s view of John F. Kennedy conferring gravely with his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, at Camp David after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and Ron Edmonds’ split-second documentation of the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.

The exhibit will be at the Baker Center through January 25.

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C O N T A C T :

Nissa Dahlin Brown (865-974-8681, nissa@utk.edu)

Glenn was a member of the Tennessee Conference of the American Association of University Professors. The organization honored him in 2002 with its Claxton Award for exemplary service in higher education. He retired from UT in 2010.

Read the obituary at the Knoxville News Sentinel.

That’s not the only way that new technology is changing the holidays.

Lisa Fall, associate professor of advertising and public relations, said she is amazed by the way the Internet and smartphones make planning holiday celebrations and keeping in touch easier.

“We didn’t have any of this technology growing up,” she said.

Social media sites offer tips for meal preparation. Instead of calling the Butterball hotline, you can watch a YouTube video on how to cook a turkey—or just about anything else. Instead of borrowing your grandmother’s casserole recipe, you can look one up in the Food and Drink section on Pinterest or on sites like All Recipes and Yummly, which include reviews, ratings, and nutrition information for each recipe.

“My students have less skills learned from their families, and so maybe using media that they are comfortable with to learn is a great idea,” said Carol Costello, professor of retail, hospitality and tourism management. “Last week, a student came up to me with green onions in one hand and parsley in the other and asked me which was the celery.”

If you need help with decorating, Pinterest can help with that, too. Its holiday section has tips for lighting, ornament making, gingerbread-house building—everything.

“Pinterest is huge,” Fall said. “My sixteen-year-old has gone into Pinterest to find things she wants to do for her party.”

Limbua has released a Christmas List app to help with all aspect of holiday shopping, in case you can’t keep up with budgeting on your own. Of course there are also various travel apps that do everything from navigating traffic jams to locating the nearest cheap gas station.

But maybe the biggest change is the way people are keeping in touch with each other when they can’t be together for the holidays.

Fall said that Snapchat—an app that lets you chat with pictures—is a popular way for people to keep in touch now.

It’s perfect, she says, “if you want to send pictures of you and your family across the country—of hey, I’m here at this party, my baby met Santa for the first time.”

Skype and the USO have teamed up to provide free video or phone calls to military personnel at any Asia-Pacific USO center. They’re also serving “virtual holiday dinners” so service members can eat holiday meals with their families via video chat.

Elizabeth Hendrickson, professor of journalism and electronic media, says she thinks a younger generation of service members is embracing that technology.

“If you consider the age of many military servicemen and women with young families, they are a demographic that has grown up with pretty rapid technological innovation,” she said. “They are comfortable with mobile technology, and as such, are likely to be more open to the USO’s offer.”

For civilians, there are apps, Wi-Fi hotspots, and ecards to keep you virtually connected to family and friends you can’t see during the holiday season.

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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)

UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature helps people discover the best new books for children and teens. Center director Miranda Clark helped compile this list of books that will help kids learn about various winter holidays.

The newer books, which are noted, can be viewed at the CCYAL on the fourth floor of the Communications Building or accessed through the center’s collection on GoodReads.

Other books come at the recommendation of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, which was one of the nation’s first centers dedicated to children’s literature.

“They are a well-recognized source of expertise in the world of children’s literature,” Clark said. “Our center recommends CCBC as a source for retrospective bibliographies on a variety of topics.”

Hanukkah stories

While the Candles Burn: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Barbara Diamond Goldin (ages 8 to 11). Eight stories about Hanukkah— one for each night. Covers many aspects of Hanukkah without too much repetition.

Just Enough is Plenty: A Hanukkah Tale—Barbara Diamond Goldin (ages 5 to 11). Malka’s family invites a stranger to celebrate with them and finds he has some surprises for them.

Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights—Leslie Kimmelman (ages 2 to 4). A family celebrates each night of Hanukkah differently.

The Hanukkah Hop!—Erica Silverman (ages 3 and up). Rachel and her family prepare for a lively Hanukkah celebration. In the center’s collection.

It’s A Miracle! A Hanukkah Storybook—Stephanie Spinner (ages 4 to 8). Owen gets to light his family’s menorah each night, and each night his grandmother tells another story about a family member.

Kwanzaa stories

Seven Candles for Kwanzaa—Andrea Davis Pinkney (ages 3 to 9). Shows contemporary American families celebrating Kwanzaa in ways children will recognize.

The Sound of Kwanzaa—Dimitrea Tokunbo (ages 4 to 8). Introduces each of the seven principles of Kwanzaa with a definition and example.

Kwanzaa: A Family Affair—Mildred Pitts Walter (ages 9 and up). Interprets the background, principles and symbols of Kwanzaa through one family’s celebration.

Multicultural and historical Christmas stories

Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama—Selina Alko (ages 5 and up). Sadie’s family celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas and has twice the fun. In the center’s collection.

Home for Christmas—Jan Brett (ages 3 and up). This Scandinavian-style holiday tale is about Rollo, a mischievous young troll with little patience for doing chores, who runs away from home and encounters a series of animal families, with whom he lives and plays. In the center’s collection.

Going Home—Eve Bunting (ages 5 to 9). Carlos learns about his heritage on a Christmas trip to Mexico.

Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas—Pauline Chen (ages 8 to 10). Peiling convinces her family to celebrate Christmas, but it doesn’t go quite the way she planned.

Jingle Bells: How the Holiday Classic Came to Be—John Harris (ages 4 and up). Fictional, but inspired by actual facts, this is the story of James Pierpont, music director at the Unitarian Church in Savannah in the 1850s, and what may have inspired him to compose this famous holiday song. In the center’s collection.

What a Morning! The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals—John Langstaff (ages 3 and up). Biblical quotes match up with African-American songs to tell the Christmas story.

Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting—Jim Murphy (ages 12 and up). Tells the story of the 1914 Christmas truce during World War I through background and first-hand accounts.

A Midnight Clear: Stories for the Christmas Season—Katherine Paterson (ages 12 to 16). Twelve contemporary stories explore Christmas themes like love, giving and pilgrimage.

Elijah’s Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas—Michael J. Rosen (ages 7 to 11). A Jewish boy and an African-American woodcarver become friends and share their cultures.

The Carpenter’s Gift: A Christmas Tale about the Rockefeller Center Tree—David Rubel (ages 5 and up). Combines the Rockefeller Center celebration with Habitat for Humanity through the story of a man who donates trees for both. In the center’s collection.

Tree of Cranes—Allen Say (ages 5 to 7). A Japanese boy learns about Christmas from his American mother; two stories about promises overlap.

A Child’s Christmas in Wales—Dylan Thomas (ages 8 and up). Thomas, an acclaimed poet, tells stories from his childhood Christmases.

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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)

Melahnie Springfield, an advertising graduate student, had the big idea to start a popular blog about self-segregation in social media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUwedSYUdg

“I had my JEM 380 Media Graphics students create posters to encourage the UT community to vote,” said Heller.

But to make the assignment more difficult, the students were given a few rules.

“They were limited to only using type, black plus one color, no more than three words, and the sign’s message had to be nonpartisan.”

Although the students had limitations, the designs turned out well. Heller shared the twelve best designs with Nissa Dahlin-Brown, associate director of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

“The designs are so unique, and they really deliver the message of the importance of voting,” said Dahlin-Brown. We hope to reuse them year after year.”

The signs will remain up through Election Day, November 6, and can be seen at the Hill, on Pedestrian Walkway, the Agriculture Campus, Circle Park, and the Baker Center.

The week will feature panel discussions on a wide range of diversity issues, culminating with the CCI Diversity and Inclusion Festival, Thursday, October 4, in Circle Park. The festival will include a barbecue, music, dance, and dramatic performances by students from the college and Knoxville area entertainers. For more information, visit the college’s website.

“This event offers students, faculty, and staff from our college and from the entire university a chance to gain diversity skills and knowledge,” CCI dean Mike Wirth said. “It’s also a chance to bring together leaders and experts from the university and from the wider community for dialogue and the sharing of best practices.”

Nine panels will meet throughout the week in the Communication Building’s CCI Auditorium (Room 321) and Scripps Convergence Lab (Room 402), and Alumni Memorial Building Room 27. View the complete schedule here.

Panel discussion topics:

• “Our Civic World,” featuring panels on politics and diversity and Latino issues in East Tennessee.
• “Our Personal World,” with sessions tackling diversity, health, and sexuality, and an open forum.
• “Our Work World,” with panel discussions on general differences in the workplace and exploring diversity through study abroad programs.
• “Our Communal World,” with sessions on “Does Skin Color Really Matter in Our Diverse World” and diversity in sports.

“Developing diversity and inclusion skills is a vital part of the education we provide to our students,” said Alice Wirth, lecturer in the School of Communication Studies and director of CCI’s Diversity Student Leaders Society. “CCI Diversity and Inclusion Week is a great forum for helping students learn to navigate the diverse world in which they live.”

All sessions are free and open to the public. Most events will be streamed live at www.ustream.tv.

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CONTACT:

Donna Silvey (865-974-2148, dsilvey@utk.edu)

Paul Hicks, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, will deliver the Ackermann PR Keynote Lecture at the event. Hicks was hired to manage the football league’s communications in 2010, and previously spent eight years as a regional CEO of the Ogilvy public relations firm.

PR Day is a biennial event that, for more than thirty years, has provided public relations professionals and students with the opportunity to develop their skills and connect with colleagues in Knoxville and the Southeast.

The event is hosted by the UT College of Communication and Information’s School of Advertising and Public Relations and by the student and professional chapters of the Public Relations Society of America.

The theme of this year’s conference is “21st Century Public Relations: PRogression Among our Profession.”

The first panel discussion is set for 9:00 a.m. The topic is “Branding the Corporate Image” and will feature the following panelists:

• Christopher Harvin, founding partner of Sanitas International, a global strategic communication firm in Washington, DC
• Cindy Dupree, director of public relations for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development
• Mark McNeely, senior partner of the McNeely Pigott & Fox public relations firm in Nashville, TN
• Greg Stroud, vice president of HGTV’s Integration Team
• Penny Behling, founder of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing of Knoxville, which produces and manages dragon boat festivals in Tennessee and the Southeast.

The second panel discussion is set for 10:30 a.m. and the topic is “Entertainment and Engagement.” Panelists include:

• Jimmy Buckner of The Scarecrow Foundation, a group of Knoxville civic leaders devoted to ending hunger in America
• Jeff Cuellar of AC Entertainment, the company that sponsors the Bonnaroo Music Festival among other events
• Hubert Smith, radio host at WUTK 90.3 FM and lecturer in UT’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media
• Hunter Baddour and Jared Karnes of Allegiant Athletic Agency.

Hicks will deliver the keynote address during lunch.

The event is open to the general public. Anyone who would like to know more about the field of public relations is encouraged to attend. Tickets to the conference are $85 for PRSA members and $95 for the general public. Students can attend for $25.

Sponsors include Ackermann PR; The Scarecrow Foundation; the integrated marketing communications master’s degree program at West Virginia University; East Tennessee Children’s Hospital; Mary Beth West Consulting LLC; the UT Risk, Health, and Crisis Communication Research Unit; McGhee Tyson Airport; and Akins Crisp Public Strategies.

For more information or to register, visit the PR Day website.

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C O N T A C T :

Lisa Fall (865-216-2507, lfall@utk.edu)

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

Woody Paige is presented the Accomplished Alumni Award by College of Communications Dean Mike Wirth.

Journalist Woody Paige is best known for his sports knowledge and wit. The ESPN broadcaster and Denver Post reporter and columnist credits UT’s journalism school for building a great foundation for his career.

Monday, Paige was honored with an Accomplished Alumni award. The Accomplished Alumni program recognizes notable alumni for their success and distinction within their field.

“This is incredible because I was the most incorrigible student in the School of Journalism,” joked Paige. “The school is responsible for whatever I’ve accomplished because it set the landscape for me to succeed.”

Paige is currently a sports columnist for The Denver Post and regular panelist on ESPN’s sports talk program, Around the Horn. Over his thirty-five year career, Paige has covered sporting events in more than twenty-two countries. His resume includes numerous Super Bowls, Summer and Winter Olympics, World Championship fights, as well as the World Series and the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals.

He joins a variety of outstanding alumni that have been featured through the accomplished alumni program, including CEOs of major corporations, Olympians, authors, artists, musicians, US ambassadors, and civic leaders.

Woody Paige gives students a surprise lecture to an advanced sports writing class for undergraduate journalism and electronic media students.

The award was presented by College of Communications Dean Mike Wirth during an Advanced Sports Writing class for undergraduate journalism and electronic media students.

“Woody Paige is one of the most talented sports journalists in the world,” said Wirth. “His remarkable ability to share his knowledge of and—passion for—sports, through his columns and books and on television, is why Woody has won more than one-hundred local, state, and national media awards.”

Paige gave a surprise guest lecture, sharing some wisdom about the field and life in general.

“I tell young people to work harder than everybody else, be passionate about what you are doing, and be creative,” said Paige. “Those three things, combined with reading and writing, will help you succeed in the most difficult economy I’ve ever seen.”

Paige, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, began his career as a sports columnist with The Whitehaven Press after attending UT from 1964 to 1968. He later went on to cover politics for The Knoxville Journal and civil rights for The Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Rocky Mountain News.

To view other Accomplished Alumni, visit the Vols Connect web site.

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C O N T A C T :

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

Peyton Manning, a 1997 communications graduate, shares his big idea of providing leadership and growth opportunities to at-risk children through his Peyback Foundation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Sn3moamFg

The $271,131 grant was awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The study will begin in September and continue until November 2013.

The project team consists of UT professors Carol Tenopir, chancellor’s professor and director of CICS; Suzie Allard, associate professor and associate director of the School of Information Sciences; Ken Levine, associate professor in the School of Communication Studies; and David Nicholas, adjunct professor for UT and director of CIBER Research Ltd., in Newbury, England.

The broad aim of the research is to examine how emerging digital behaviors are challenging and, perhaps, changing concepts of trust and authority in the scholarly world. The team will study how researchers assign and calibrate authority and trustworthiness to the scholarly sources and channels they choose to use, cite and publish in, such as journals, websites, datasets, and social media. In particular they want to discover how researchers are coping in today’s crowded, dynamic, diverse and disintermediated digital scholarly environment where it is ever more difficult to establish the quality, veracity, authorship and authority of information. They also want to discover whether the growth in the use of social media for scholarly purposes impacts conventional practices of establishing the authority and trustworthiness of information sources and channels, such as the practice of journal citation.

The study will be international, but with an emphasis on the USA and UK, and will focus on science and social science. A four stage, incremental data collection strategy will be used. First, evidence of information seeking and use obtained from web logs of scholarly sites and the existing published literature will be gathered to help scope the research and frame the research questions. Second, focus groups with researchers will be used to explore and test what was discovered in the first stage. Third, in-depth, one-to-one interviews, together with observation, will be used to drill down into the data obtained from stage 2. Finally, a large-scale questionnaire will provide an opportunity to take the combined findings of stages 1-3 to a much larger, international audience in order to contextualise the findings and extend the reach of the study.

With the apparent changes in ways scholars exchange ideas, the implications of this research could have far-reaching impacts on fundamental scholarly beliefs about the value and trust of scholarly sources, Nicholas said.

“Clearly then, this is a strategic topic that urgently needs researching as it has major implications for universities, funding bodies, publishers, librarians and scholarship itself,” he said. “Unsurprisingly perhaps, there is a good deal of vested interest in this area, which makes it difficult to obtain adequate, ‘blue sky’ funding to research the topic and therefore we are especially grateful to the Sloan Foundation for their unfettered support.”

“Academics now have many channels and sources to learn about research and to exchange ideas,” Tenopir said. “This study will investigate how trust plays into choices of both traditional and new information channels. It will be great to work with Dave Nicholas and the CIBER team in this international study.”

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation was founded in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., then-president and CEO of General Motors. The foundation is an independent entity and has no formal relationship with the General Motors Corporation.

The Sloan Foundation is unique in its focus on science, technology, and economic institutions. It believes the scholars and practitioners who work in these fields are chief drivers of the nation’s health and prosperity. In each grant program, the foundation seeks proposals for original projects led by outstanding individuals or teams.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is interested in projects that it expects will result in a strong benefit to society, and for which funding from the private sector, the government or other foundations is not widely available.

For more information about the Center for Information and Communications Studies, visit www.cci.utk.edu/cics.

For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, visit www.sloan.org/.

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C O N T A C T :

Donna Silvey (865-974-2148, dsilvey@utk.edu)

Outside the National Stadium, commonly known as the Bird's Nest, during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. (Photo by Michael T. Martinez)

Martinez has been connected to chronicling the Olympics for more than eighteen years.

Now an assistant professor who teaches sports reporting and media ethics in the College of Communication and Information’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media, he covered the Olympic games in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 and the Atlanta games in 1996 for the Associated Press.

Later, he worked for the host countries’ Olympic organizing committees at the games in Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, and Beijing in 2008.

“Initially, the Olympics were very overwhelming,” Martinez said. “The preparation for the games and just the magnitude of the event were incredible. Very quickly, though, you get into a rhythm and understand what needs to be done. It’s not a routine, but you get more comfortable.”

The 1994 Lillehammer winter games were Martinez’s first exposure to the Olympics, but he also was part of another first: Lillehammer marked the introduction of professional-quality digital photography to the games, a joint effort by the Associated Press and Eastman Kodak.

Mike Martinez leads the three Russian medalists who swept women’s singles tennis in a lap of honor during the medals ceremony at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. From left are Vera Zvonavera, bronze; Elena Dimentieva, gold; and Dinara Safina, silver. (Photo by Paul Zimmer/International Tennis Federation)

“I was part of a two-person team covering the sports news of the day, and it was very exciting to use the digital camera,” Martinez said. Transferring a high-quality color photo back to AP headquarters the old way took 30 to 40 minutes, he said. “This new way of taking and sending photos beat the other wire services by 20 minutes, even though we were using 56k dialup modems, which of course seem slow today, but in 1994, were amazingly fast.”

Among his favorite Olympic moments was watching the first encounter between figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding after Harding’s friends had tried to break Kerrigan’s knee so she couldn’t compete.

“It was very interesting watching them studiously ignore each other. It was pretty tense,” he said.

Other fun moments were watching Andre Agassi win gold in tennis in Atlanta in 1996 and exploring Beijing during the 2008 games.

“China opened itself up to the West for the games, but not completely. You could tell that people were watching you and anyone you happened to speak to on the street,” he said. “You didn’t have the freedom you have in Western countries.”

Martinez was unable to get a work visa to help at the London games, but he said he’ll still enjoy watching them from this side of the ocean.

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C O N T A C T :

Mike Martinez (865-974-1567, mtmartinez@utk.edu)

Registration is now under way for “The Best of the Best 2012 Workshop,” which is being co-sponsored by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature and the Knox County Public Library.

The workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 South Gay Street The morning session, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, will showcase books through sixth grade, and the afternoon session, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., will showcase books through high school age.

“This workshop is important because it helps energize and inspire teachers, librarians and parents about new books to share with their students and children,” said Miranda Clark, director of the Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature. “It is such a fun day to mingle with others in the field and share their enthusiasm for the literature and the art of books for children and young adults.”

The workshop will feature talks by experts on current literary trends and showcase some of the year’s best new books. Presenters will include acclaimed blogger Julie Danielson; center board members and local school librarians Lisa Meidl and Emily Davenport; and Cindy Welch, assistant professor and youth services coordinator for the School of Information Sciences.

To compile a list of the year’s best books, “we look at starred reviews from the major children’s literature review journals or titles that catch our eye when they come through the center’s examination collection,” Clark said.

To register, go to kcpl.wufoo.com/forms/best-of-the-best-2012-registration/.

For more information about CCYAL, see www.sis.utk.edu/ccyal/.

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C O N T A C T :

Miranda Clark (865-974-2305, mclark22@utk.edu)

Vines has established the Georgiana Vines Endowed Scholarship Fund to reflect her interest in journalism and public policy. This fund awards merit-based aid to Baker Scholars enrolled in the College of Communication and Information.

Vines said she was inspired to create the scholarship through classroom interactions with a former journalism student who was a Baker Scholar.

“Throughout the semester, the student’s intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm for news reporting impressed me. As a Baker Scholar, she had taken on an immersive policy research project on top of her full-time course load. As I got to know her, I gained a better understanding of the goals of the Baker Scholars program,” Vines said.

Baker Scholars undergo a rigorous application process and commit to additional scholarly work, but they do not presently receive direct, merit-based aid or research stipends for their Baker appointments.

Vines encourages others to follow her lead.

“The Howard Baker Center plays a very important role in the community, on campus, and in the lives of students. There is a need for private support, and I’d encourage others to seriously consider making a gift to the Baker Center,” she said.

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C O N T A C T :

Michelle Castro (865-974-3816, mcastro@utfi.org)