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 basketball Lady Vols captured their seventh national title by beating Rutgers in the NCAA championship game on April 3. The victory marked Coach Pat Summitt’s 947th career win, adding to her reputation as the all-time winning-est coach in NCAA basketball history.
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.
Being national professor of the year is a momentous honor. But for Donna Boyd (Knoxville ’81, ’84, ’88), the award has added significance. She’s a “second generation” professor of the year, having studied under a UT anthropology professor who won the honor in 1985.
UT’s vital signs are good: The university’s enrolling its best students ever, research funding is on the rise, and alumni and friends are unusually generous in their support. The next logical step toward realizing the university’s full potential is to increase the number of graduates it turns out to fuel Tennessee’s future workforce.
Northern Uganda, where children have long been traumatized by a brutal war, there is a group of rescued girls who call themselves “University of Tennessee girls.” For Professor Rosalind Hackett and a group of students, such stories prove that their efforts to raise awareness—and money—are making an impact.
Tracking a group of 200 illegal aliens in the remote Sonoran Desert may not sound like your typical day’s work, but U.S. Border Patrol agent Chris Frazier finds it frightening, exciting, and frustrating. “It involves a great deal of stamina and a good balance of all my senses,” says the Knoxville native and 1997 UT Knoxville public relations grad, who works in the Tucson, Arizona, sector.
Most of us have some special accomplishments of which we’re proud, and so does Nan Schumaker. Her accomplishments are just a little more spectacular than most people’s. They include graduating from the FBI Academy, leading investigations, and contributing to a national championship.
Tom Coens knew something didn’t look right with the letter. Coens, assistant editor for the Andrew Jackson papers at UT Knoxville, spends much of his time perusing letters, memos, speeches, and other communications to and from Jackson.
Education changes lives. For Debbie Ingram, that’s not just a catchy slogan but a personal cause. With three degrees—two of them from UT—she believes it’s the responsibility of the educated to encourage, to mentor, to tutor, to do whatever it takes to help others discover the transformational experience that is education.
Investing your money can be about as serious as a heart attack. Unfortunately, not every investment is a wise one. Think of the impulsive trader who buys on the basis of a hot tip, regardless of whether the bulls are raging or the bears are hunkered down.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective—for instance, praising outstanding high-school juniors for their academic achievements and urging them to go to college in Tennessee. And subtly suggesting they might take a look at UT.
SENATE LAWYER BECOMES UNPAID SMOKIES MEDICAL RECEPTIONIST! I fully expected to see this newspaper headline. Most of the things I worked on made national news. But maybe not this time.
If you could look at mountains and seashores and think I saved that, wouldn’t you nearly pop with pride? Paul Pritchard (Knoxville ’71) can say that. He has helped preserve nature’s best for future generations.
A book about butterflies, solving the mystery of The Big Bopper’s death, a fat camp for pets, and other stories in this issue’s installment of UTopics.
