Summertime is prime time at theme parks—a vacation to one of these magical destinations might well be in your plans. These UT alumni who work with Disney, Dollywood, and Sea World Orlando would love to welcome you.
The 2008 Lady Vols brought home an unprecedented eighth NCAA women’s basketball crown. Tennessee Alumnus tips its hat to all the championship teams in Pat Summitt’s storied reign
Pandemonium broke out at Hoi Tu Thien orphanage, and a sea of frenzied, giggling children took control. In the thick of it was Dan White, a 2004 UT Knoxville philosophy graduate living in Can Tho, Vietnam. He grinned as he surveyed the familiar scene before him on that humid April evening.
My bleary eyes gazed through a plate-glass mirage as the runway of Las Vegas’s airport drew a literal line in the sand. Sometimes the line between life-changing dreams and nightmares runs thin as the queen of hearts.
Educating students to succeed in the global workplace isn’t just a lofty slogan. Today it’s a necessity. Hundreds of UT Knoxville alumni work in China or travel there frequently. Tennessee Alumnus thanks the many alumni who sent information about their experiences. Unfortunately we couldn’t feature all of them. Here are a few that represent just what a small world our planet has become.
In 1997 the Davidson County alumni chapter started an endowment in the chapter’s name to help a student from the Davidson County area attend the UT campus of his or her choice. The first recipient was Hillsboro High School graduate Lisa DeBusk. Now 10 years later, DeBusk appreciates the significance of her scholarship and is returning the favor to the alumni association chapter that helped her by serving as its treasurer.
As Debbie Ingram, UT Alumni Association president, travels to events, she solicits stories of how education has positively influenced the lives of UT alumni. Though their stories are different, Kayvon Sadrabadi and Paige Pettit credit education with altering their lives.
From my 24th-floor office in northeast Beijing, each day I survey the startling expansion and transformation of the city. Every morning brings either a new high-rise or a vacant lot where an old high-rise once stood, a situation accelerated by the $40 billion Beijing is spending in preparation for the upcoming Olympics. But the changes China is experiencing are far more profound than a few new skyscrapers, and the consequences of those changes reach around the globe.
Logan Durham is having a rough—or, maybe that’s “ruff”—year. And he’s enjoying every moment of it. Durham, a sophomore in communications from Cleveland, Tenn., is this year’s lead Smokey, the University of Tennessee’s costumed bluetick hound mascot. He’s assisted by two understudies and a junior Smokey; UT’s Spirit Office typically chooses multiple students to perform as Smokey since the performance schedule is very demanding.
Adam Vicars never expected to follow in his older brother’s paw prints when he got to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, but he did. Adam, 22, who graduates in December with a degree in logistics, spent about 4 years—from 2003 to 2007—as UT’s costumed mascot, Smokey. Adam’s brother, Jason, ’01, was Smokey for 2 -and-a-half years and won the Universal Cheerleaders Association Mascot National Championship in 2000 and 2001. Adam and Jason Vicars are the only brothers ever to have served as Smokey, according to Joy Postell, UT mascot director.
We would all have to agree that, were it not for our UT education, our lives would be different. As Debbie Ingram, president of the UT Alumni Association, travels to alumni events throughout the country, she solicits stories about how the lives of UT alumni have been transformed by education. Tennessee Alumnus introduces you to some of the UT graduates who’ve shared their experiences.
This was a good day for Mike and Molly Morel. Any day that their son, Brent, is remembered, is a good day for the Morels. USMC Captain Brent Morel (Martin ’99) died in combat on April 7, 2004, near the city of Fallujah while attacking an insurgent position in Iraq. For those who knew him, his heroic actions spoke volumes about a life lived in service to others and to his country.
Foosas help control the predators that devour the human food supply on Madagascar. So when Luke Dollar discovered villagers had killed a foosa, he launched a poster campaign to “Save the fossa, save the harvest.” The campaign has been a success, says Dollar, and its effectiveness has inclined him to expand his educational efforts to the youngest members of Malagasy society, most of whom receive fewer than five years of formal education.
Erin Moore graduated from the University of Tennessee last spring with an A+ in perseverance. Two years ago, in August 2005, Moore was starting her sophomore year at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina aimed for the Gulf Coast. The university shut down, and Moore fled the Crescent City with a backpack containing two bottles of water, some saltine crackers, and two changes of clothing.
The new Glocker Business Administration -Building is well on its way to a 2008 opening in Knoxville. This is one of the many items in the Summer 2007 installment of UTopics.
