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.
Blair Pancake (Knoxville ’05) won the Miss Tennessee title, UT Chattanooga alumnus Leslie Jordan won an Emmy, and we catch up with two Katrina evacuees who were featured in the Summer 2006 issue—that and more in this installment of UTopics.
Josh Wolcott came to UT to study art. He dreamed of being a sculptor and a teacher. He never dreamed he’d be creating synthetic human bodies to blow up. But the graduate student’s career took an unexpected turn in April 2005 when an interesting offer came into the art department from the National Forensic Academy, which trains crime-scene investigators.
