David Cihak

While in college, David Cihak worked in a total care facility for elderly people with disabilities where he helped them with daily activities—from getting up to dressing to feeding themselves.

Although meaningful, it encouraged him to take a different career path.

“They passed away, which was extremely sad when you’re eighteen,” he said. “It made me realize that maybe my focus should be working with children, adolescents, and young adults to ensure that they learn the skills they need so they can live in a far more independent manner.”

Cihak, an associate professor of special education, has dedicated his life to that mission. He is co-investigator of UT’s FUTURE Program, an initiative in its third year that aims to give students with intellectual disabilities a college experience while also teaching them how to live and work independently.

Bob Rider, dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, noted that Cihak’s involvement with the FUTURE Program is one of his most valuable contributions to the university.

“Through David’s and his colleagues’ efforts, these students are now able to attend UT and enjoy and experience what it means to be a college student,” he said. “David’s work—focusing on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism—is widely known and highly respected.”

With the aspiring special education teachers who come through his classes, Cihak shares research, recommended practices and anecdotes from his time as a classroom teacher, as well as the history of how people with disabilities have been treated. He also helps his students gain experience working with students with disabilities in area schools. His students must complete two practicums and a yearlong professional internship to gather real-world classroom experiences before graduating.

“I try to inspire them by showing the importance of being an effective teacher, building relationships, and providing opportunities for all people to live, to work, and to participate actively in an integrated society,” he said.

Sarah Hillyer

Sarah Hillyer wants students who desire to work in sports-related disciplines to know they have options beyond the corporate arena or for-profit collegiate athletics. They can use sports to bring peace around the world.

She’s demonstrating it with her life. Hillyer, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sports Studies, directs UT’s Center for Sport, Peace, and Society. The center, which opened in January 2012, is partnering with the US Department of State on an initiative to empower women and girls worldwide through sports.

The center also trains and equips students and community members to enact social change in their part of the globe.

“No matter what the discipline is, we all have something we’re really passionate about,” Hillyer said. “Most of us can identify a turning point in our life—a crossroads—where we said, ‘Am I going to choose to make the world a better place, or will I choose apathy and just make it through?’ It’s really about empowering students to create a better world for all of us if that’s what they choose to do with sports.”

The turning point for Hillyer came while she was a college basketball player. Coaches were under such intense pressure to win that student athletes sometimes felt they were nothing more than a jersey number, she said. Some coaches imposed strict weight restrictions and benched players who exceeded the weight by just a few pounds. Because of this, Hillyer developed unhealthy habits.

“Not only did I graduate with a degree in sports management, I also graduated with a severe eating disorder,” she said.

She also had lost her love for sports. While in rehabilitation for her eating disorder, she went through a period of reflection and realized that sports could be used for good or ill.

“Sport is what people choose to do with it,” she said. “I could walk away from it or do something empowering with it.”

Out of this came Sport 4 Peace, an organization Hillyer created to use athletics in a humanitarian way. It led her to China, Iran, Israel, Iraq, and ultimately UT, where she completed her doctoral studies.

The organization is the model for UT’s Center for Sport, Peace, and Society.

Bob Rider, dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, which houses the center, said its work—guided by Hillyer—spreads the UT brand all over the world.

“Sarah brings very special talents to our college and the university, helping to lift up girls and women from developing countries and repressed societies,” he said. “She is an amazing ambassador for our university and so wonderfully represents what it means to be a true Volunteer.”

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CONTACT:

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

The Center for Sport, Peace, and Society will host the twelve female basketball players and two coaches until February 1 through the Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative, a global effort established by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While in Knoxville, the Senegalese sports visitors will participate in the “Strong Women. Better World.” curriculum created by assistant professors Sarah Hillyer and Ashleigh Huffman. As part of the curriculum, participants will identify the needs of women and girls in their local communities and develop action plans that use sport to meet those needs.

The Senegalese women will meet representatives from key program partners in the Knoxville community, including the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge, the Boys and Girls Club at Montgomery Village, and the YWCA After-School Program.

Members of the athletics department, the Lady Vols basketball team, and faculty members, including Joy DeSensi, Leslee Fisher, Gene Hayes, Rebecca Zakrajsek, and Craig Wrisberg, will help the Senegalese visitors learn about sports in the US, especially as it relates to women and girls, and how to work together to accomplish community change.

The Center for Sport, Peace, and Society is composed of faculty, staff, and students who believe that sport can be used to promote cultural understanding, enhance student learning, improve community welfare, and foster social change. The goal of the center is to create a civically engaged university and a more unified and inclusive community.

In 2012, the center was awarded a grant from SportsUnited to facilitate programs that will empower women and girls through sports. SportsUnited is housed in the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

For more information, visit the center’s website.

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CONTACTS:

Sarah Hillyer (865-974-8917, csps@utk.edu)

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

She will be honored at this Sunday’s Lady Vols basketball game with a special video message from her biggest fans in Iraq.

The video is the trailer for We Back Pat in Iraq, a full-length documentary about Summitt’s impact on girls and women in the Middle Eastern country.

From left, filmmaker Elisa Platillero along with UT assistant professors Sarah Hillyer and Ashleigh Huffman present Pat Summitt with signed banner from “We Back Pat in Iraq” tournament.

UT partner Sport 4 Peace is producing the film. It is scheduled for release this spring. To see the trailer, visit, www.webackpatiraq.com. The trailer will be shown Sunday, January 20, at the Lady Vols game.

Sport 4 Peace is dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding and empowering girls and women around the world using sports and education.

Shortly after Summitt announced her Alzheimer’s diagnosis last year, Iraqi girls’ coach Rizgar Raoof invited UT assistant professors Sarah Hillyer and Ashleigh Huffman to Iraq to help him host a “We Back Pat in Iraq” basketball tournament in her honor and to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s.

Hillyer and Huffman are director and assistant director of the UT Center for Sport, Peace and Society. The center is a collaboration between the university and Sport 4 Peace.

“I’ve heard that Tennessee fans wear Pat Summitt shirts, and when she comes inside the gym they all stand up and cheer, ‘We Back Pat! We Back Pat!’” Raoof said in the film. “If these guys want to do something for Pat, of course we want to do something for her, too. A tournament like this is nothing compared to what she’s done for basketball.”

During the November 2012 tournament in Iraq, Hillyer and Huffman, along with Knoxville filmmaker Elisa Platillero, captured footage of the game. They also interviewed players, coaches, and families. The footage will be used in the documentary.

On the final day of the “We Back Pat in Iraq” tournament, players, coaches and fans wore purple t-shirts in support of Pat Summitt and the Pat Summitt Foundation in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.

Summitt has supported the girls’ basketball program in Iraq for several years. In 2007, Hillyer and Huffman shared with Summitt the need for basketballs in Iraq. Summitt and her team quickly sent suitcases full of basketballs, shoes, and training DVDs with Hillyer and Huffman to launch Iraq’s first basketball academy for girls – a project of Global Sports Partners and Sport 4 Peace.

In summer 2009, Summitt invited a team of Iraqi girls to Knoxville to participate in two sessions of the Pat Head Summitt Basketball Camp.

When the girls returned home, they were determined to share the lessons they learned from Summitt with friends, family, and teammates.

One mother said, “After (my daughter) came back, she was really strong…. She had a different perspective about America.”

Another mother reported to Hillyer and Huffman that her daughter had changed when she returned from the camp.

“Our daughter was so confident, she learned to trust in herself,” she said. “Everything she needed she gained from Coach Pat’s camp.”

Raoof, the Iraqi girls’ coach, also attended Summitt’s camp.

“She had a touch on my life that I will never forget,” he said.

For more information on the documentary, visit www.webackpatiraq.com.

To learn more about the UT Center for Sport, Peace and Society, the website.

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C O N T A C T S: 

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

Sarah Hillyer (865-974-8917, info@webackpatiraq.com)

Sarah Hillyer is director of the Center for Sport, Peace, and Society. She and co-founder Ashleigh Huffman have the big idea of using sport as a tool for personal and community development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTwcZC1cIQg

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton greets Sarah Hillyer (center) and Ashleigh Huffman (right) of the UT Center for Sport, Peace, and Society on Thursday, June 21. (Photo credit: US Department of State)

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is partnering with the US Department of State to engage women and girls from around the world through sports.

UT’s Center for Sport, Peace, and Society has been awarded a $1.2 million cooperative agreement to implement the Empowering Women and Girls through Sports Initiative. The center is part of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

The initiative, a key diplomatic effort by the State Department, aims to engage young girls and women on how success in athletics can develop important life skills and improve academic achievement. It also is designed to increase cross-cultural understanding between international participants and Americans.

“We’re honored to be selected and to be part of this important US public diplomacy effort,” center director Sarah Hillyer said.

Hillyer and center co-director Ashleigh Huffman were in Washington, DC, last week when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the US Department of State and espnW Global Sports Mentoring Program, the flagship component of the initiative.

UT is crafting the program’s curriculum and will coordinate the logistics, including travel and lodging.

Ann Stock, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, noted that “the University of Tennessee’s legacy of empowering women and girls through sports is a rich one.”

“We look forward to partnering together to blaze new paths where girls world wide can pursue their potential,” she said.

About 135 girls and women from developing countries will participate in the program.

The initiative has three components: the US Department of State and espnW Global Sports Mentoring Program, which pairs up to twenty international emerging leaders with leading American women in the sports world; Sports Visitors, which brings women and girls from overseas to the United States for an exchange that teams them up with their American counterparts; and Sports Envoys, which will send professional US athletes, coaches, and sports administrators overseas to engage underserved youth in clinics and leadership discussions.

To learn more about the initiative, visit the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

To learn more about the Center for Sport, Peace, and Society, visit sportandpeace.utk.edu.

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CONTACTS:

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

Talley Sergent (202-632-6043, SergentRT@state.gov)