UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
SPRING 2019
SCHOOLING THE BARRENS TOPMINNOW
COLLEGE OF & & FRIENDS
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Dean
from the
Joe Wilferth Dean College of Arts and Sciences
hat a year! I am so proud of the exceptional work of our faculty and the outstanding educational opportunities that they provide for our students. And that work is yielding results. Our students are proving themselves as successful interns with local businesses and regional organizations. They are participating in, presenting and publishing research in their areas of study. They are traveling overseas and bringing back to campus stories of their rich experiences. They are even elbows deep in the college’s L.L. Roper Teaching and Learning Garden. In short, our faculty and our students are heavily involved in experiential learning. I have said it countless times this year—UTC’s College of Arts and Sciences is an exciting place to work and learn. Among our many successes this year, we celebrate the launch of the College’s new student success center, a.k.a. The Hub. This new college-wide resource is a supplement to academic advisement that is already being done in our departments and with our professional advisors, but The Hub will also provide guidance on career readiness, resumé building, interviewing strategies, workplace expectations and internship opportunities. The Hub will be led by our new director, Erica Holmes Trujillo, beginning in June. As the largest college on UTC’s campus, our 260-plus full-time faculty educate and mentor students in more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The courses and programs we offer provide an outstanding academic foundation that leads to a lifetime of curiosity and learning. Through our 13 academic departments, we develop our students’ critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills and abilities to collaborate across and with diverse groups as well as the communication skills—verbal, written and visual—that employers so highly value. We are very proud of our graduates because they reflect the quality education and mentorship that we provide. In the pages that follow, you will find representative activities and initiatives that demonstrate a broad array of what we offer our students, our academic communities and, by extension, the Chattanooga region. Read, be inspired and connect with us in the weeks, months, and year ahead. Celebrate our accomplishments with us, and visit our homepage (utc.edu/cas) from time to time and keep up with what’s happening in the College of Arts and Sciences. We’re already looking forward to 2019-20.
Publication Resources
EDITOR Dr. Joe Wilferth College of Arts and Sciences
ASSISTANT EDITOR Rebecca Jones Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences CREATIVE DIRECTOR Stephen Rumbaugh ART DIRECTOR Lynn Newton WRITERS Laura Bond, Sarah Joyner, Shawn Ryan CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Laura Coker, Daniel Ortega PHOTOGRAPHER Angela Foster
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Raina Jackson
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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a comprehensive, community-engaged campus of the University of Tennessee System. UTC is an EEO/AA/Titles VI & IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution.
Table of Contents 2 Message from the Dean
The College of Arts and Sciences broadens student learning by emphasizing experiential learning, research, internship opportunities, study abroad and community collaborations.
4 News & Notes 6 UTC and Tennessee Aquarium Collaborate 8 A Bird’s Eye View 12 Another Culture, Another World 14 Students Learn to Create, Appreciate Family History in Textiles Class 16 Theatre and Gallery Change Locations 17 “Little Dresses” for African Children 18 Redefining Tai Chi as a Culture for Empowerment 20 Accolades 22 New River Studies Partnership 22 New Badge for Future Politicians 23 IBEW $50,000 Donation 24 GIS Team Places Third Nationally 26 Poetry in Musical Motion 28 Tracing the History of Black Wrestlers 30 Bridge to Rising Rock 31 History Professor Wins Prestigious Award 32 Remembering WWI at UTC 33 Remembering Faculty 34 Selena Gomez Gives Back to Chattanooga 35 Introducing The Hub
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Matthew Greenwell’s Letterpress class works at The Open Press, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
arts
news & notes sciences features
UTC and Tennessee Aquarium Collaboration strikes fear in the heart of fish by Daniel Ortega
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ost schools try to make learning fun. For the barrens topminnow, swim school is about one thing—fear. Without it, they may end up on the menu of bigger fish. Fish fear response (anti-predator behavior) is a focus of research collaboration between UTC and the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI). Anna George and Bernie Kuhajda with the institute are some of the leading experts in the swarming species of fish that make their home in local waters. After Hope Klug and Sarah Farnsley with UTC’s Department of Environmental Science reached out to them, the four began looking at a small and imperiled fish called the barrens topminnow that lives in the shallow and grassy waters along the Tennessee River. “We had researchers from UTC and TNACI combining expertise and knowledge to try to help solve a conservation problem.” Klug says, “Collaborations like this that involve researchers from TNACI and UTC are fantastic as they allow faculty and students to do research with local organisms.” The researchers were interested in studying the fish because of the unique challenges it faces. Back in the 1930s, another larger, dull-colored species of fish called the Western mosquitofish was introduced by humans into the Tennessee
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River to curb mosquito populations. The mosquitofish began preying also on juvenile barrens topminnows. The minnows hadn’t come in contact with the mosquitofish, so they lacked any sort of evolutionary defensive strategies to make sure they weren’t snacked upon. In simpler terms, they don’t know to be scared of the new predator, and mosquitofish were chowing down. To teach the minnows to fear, Farnsley, Kuhajda, Klug and George began looking at a chemical called chondroitin. Previous research identified chondroitin as one of a cocktail of chemicals occurring in the skin of fish that trigger defensive behaviors when smelled. Researchers put two barrens topminnows and two Western mosquitofish in the
same tank to see if chondroitin could be used to make the minnows suitably terrified. By themselves, the minnows didn’t noticeably react to the mosquitofish. When researchers added chondroitin to the water, however, the minnows showed defensive behavior. To researchers, it meant that, for the first time in their life, the minnows understood the potential danger posed by the invasive fish. Even more surprising, when the chemical wasn’t present, the barrens topminnows that underwent chondroitin conditioning displayed similar defensive measures against the Western mosquitofish. The reaction indicated that the fear had possibly been etched into the minnows’ brains. For the final part of their experiment, the researchers tagged two groups of fish. The first group were 24 barrens topminnows who had undergone the chondroitin conditioning and now feared the Western mosquitofish. The second group had no conditioning so, theoretically,
were less likely to survive. The researchers took the two groups of fish and released them into a part of the Tennessee River known to have a high population of Western mosquitofish. They left the fish alone for three days. Returning with nets in hand, they waded through grassy water, searching for their tagged fish. After four hours of searching, they found three fish—all three were part of the conditioned group. The researchers note that these are preliminary findings and further studies will be needed before conservationists start using chondroitin to condition the barrens topminnow, but they are hopeful. Farnsley imagines something like a “predator bootcamp,” where conservation scientists breed barrens topminnows, subject them to similar conditioning, then release them into the wild. In addition to providing the fish with a better chance for survival, they hope the conditioned fish will pass on their adaptations to other minnows through social learning. g
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A bird’s
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eye view
Students study local tree swallows by Sarah Joyner
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hen Sarah Whitney first began working with researchers to study local tree swallows, the prospect of having to hold a bird and tiny fledglings was intimidating. But now the senior environmental science major looks like a pro as she weighs and measures the birds and their chicks. “When the birds are being handled, they are sometimes calmer than expected, while others are particularly squirmish and try to fly away,” Whitney says. “Something that I appreciated about the project was being able to gain experience in bird handling and gaining an appreciation for the tree swallows, because they are truly beautiful birds.” Along with students and recent graduates from UTC and other universities, Whitney is working with a team of researchers from Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, examining tree swallows in a nationwide study. Numbered nesting boxes on poles are scattered throughout Chattanooga—along the Riverwalk, at Greenway Farms, the Chickamauga Marina, even the local Volkswagen plant. The nesting boxes are homes to tree swallows, a migratory bird that researchers are studying to better understand how the birds’ biology responds to environmental stressors. The researchers begin their work at 7 a.m., making their way quickly to each nesting box and placing a hand over the entrance, hoping to catch the adult birds still inside. “Sometimes we have to wait a while and stalk them until they fly in,” says Laura Marsh, UTC alumna and adjunct professor in biology, geology and environmental science. They measure the adults’ heads, bills and wing lengths, record their weight and band them for identification and to track how frequently they feed their young. When the chicks are 12 days old, they are banded and measurements and blood samples are taken. “This project is so important because we are studying how birds respond to environmental stressors, which are going to increase with climate change and other human pressures on natural systems,” Marsh says. “I love studying nature and, by collecting these data, I feel I am contributing a small piece to a bigger overall puzzle of the complexities of our natural world.” Lead researchers Cedric Zimmer and Maren Vitousek from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are trying to determine how each bird deals with
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environmental stress and whether they pass those traits on to their chicks. Tree swallows are ideal birds for research like this, says David Aborn, associate professor in biology, geology and environmental science at UTC. Even with all the handling, measuring, leg bands and blood-sucking needles, they aren’t fazed. “They’re very tolerant,” he says. SOUTHERN VACATIONS Summertime and the living is easy—for swallows in Chattanooga, that is. Local swallows have the shortest distance to travel during migration; they spend the winter closer to the equator—Florida, Louisiana, Central America—then fly to their summer nesting grounds spanning from the mid-South to Alaska. Locally, their mating season— March through July—is so long they sometimes have two broods of chicks in one year. For the tree swallows who breed further north, longer migrations, cold and shorter breeding seasons make life more stressful. Researchers are studying birds from here to Alaska through a multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation. Their work started in Alaska in 2017. Last summer, the research began in Chattanooga and continued in Wyoming later in the season. Chattanooga is the southernmost research site but, until a few years ago, there weren’t enough tree swallows in the area to study, Aborn says. The birds weren’t breeding here. Around 2005, a group of retirees started installing nesting boxes in the birds’ favorite breeding grounds: open fields near bodies of water. “If you build them, they will come,” Aborn explains. “It wasn’t until about 2012 that the population of tree swallows grew large enough to collect a workable amount of data.” Hands-on experience, networking and a deeper dive into bird research are just some of the benefits for students participating in the study, he says. “These students are getting to work with a research associate from one of the top ornithological research institutions in the country and getting to work with and know students from other parts of the country with different backgrounds and different experience levels.” g Web story: utc.edu/birds-eye-view
Researchers are studying tree swallows from Chattanooga to Alaska through a multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Another Culture, Another World: UTC students experience China
by Shawn Ryan
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hen Anna Douglas told people she was taking a 10-day trip to China, she heard a bunch of responses. Don’t you know it’s dangerous? They’re communists. You’re going to be kidnapped. You’re going to be sex trafficked. You’re going to starve; they eat dogs and cats. Why do you want to go to China? What’s over there? “A lot of that stuff was coming from people who had never been there, and I was like, ‘What do you know?’ Why are you saying all this to me?’” When she returned to the U.S., she had her own response: “It was great and you were wrong.” Douglas, a junior in criminal justice, and 10 other UTC students took a 13-hour flight this summer for a study abroad trip in China, a country of about 1.4 billion people; in contrast, the U.S. has about 325 million. All the students had some preconceptions about the country, but they came back with new respect, admiration and understanding of China and its culture, which is significantly different than the United States. “You can’t learn much about culture by participating in a 10-day trip, but at least something, if you pay attention, can be observed through the manifestation of cultural practices. You can understand the basic values of a culture,” says Zibin Guo, the UC Foundation professor of anthropology who accompanied the students. Craig Laing, associate professor in geography, and Gale Iles, associate professor of criminal justice, also were on the trip. The trip was funded by a $30,000 donation from retired anthropology professor Clive Kileff and dispersed through the UC Foundation. Money from the Study Abroad program also helped pay expenses. “I believed the UTC students would benefit from having international travel experience and could come back and enrich the community,” Kileff says. “I believe that, as students learn about other cultures, they will be able to work together with people from diverse backgrounds and work towards world peace.”
China by the Numbers
In China, the students visited five cities— Shanghai, Xi’an, Louyang, Qufu and Nanjing—and saw how the Chinese interact with each other, how they feel about their personal space, what the country is doing to address pollution and congestion in the cities, the food and eating practices and other cultural values. When they got back, the students created PowerPoint presentations on subjects such as sanitation and conservation, common misconceptions, the food, social interaction and China’s fascination with Westerners. In her presentation, Lindsey Davis, a senior in anthropology, focused on the steps the country is taking to reduce pollution and stay clean. China is the No. 1 country in the world in carbon dioxide output (the U.S. is No. 2), but the cities themselves were amazingly trash-free, she says, and Shanghai “is one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever seen.” “Litter is a rarity and paper is conserved. If you remember, there wasn’t much toilet paper in the bathrooms,” she told the other students. Eating in China usually is a communal event with friends and family and lots of conversation, says Brandon Mitchell, a senior in anthropology. There’s no tipping in restaurants and no splitting of checks. If you eat in someone’s home, as many as 10 dishes may be served and, if you eat it all, the hosts may feel as if they haven’t fed you enough, he says. The Chinese also are fascinated with Westerners, and the students took many smartphone photos of Chinese people taking smartphone photos of them. “We’re like unicorns,” says Anna Matic, a junior in sociology. She didn’t much like being a “celebrity,” she adds, but others in the group didn’t mind. When all was said and done and the students returned to the U.S., they brought back more than souvenirs, says Brandon Layne, a senior in anthropology. “You can learn something new from another country or people and bring it back to your own country or campus,” he says. “And that does a lot of good.” g Web story: utc.edu/students-experience-china
POPULATION MEDIAN AGE ESTIMATED 2016 GDP IN U.S. DOLLARS CURRENT RANKING IN THE WORLD ECONOMY CELLPHONE USERS AS OF 2016 INTERNET USERS AS OF 2016
1.4 BILLION 37.4 11.2 TRILLION 2 690 MILLION 731 MILLION
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Students learn to create, appreciate family history in textiles class by Laura Bond
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rowing up in Newfoundland, Canada, Ann Buggey was used to having a lot of snow days from school. On cold winter days, she would spend time knitting or embroidering, skills she picked up from a young age. Her passion followed her into her adult life, where the senior lecturer in the Department of English now teaches an innovative class on the history of textiles. Titled “Women and Textiles,” Buggey describes this women’s studies course as “part lecture, part workshop.” “For about two-thirds of the class, we do traditional lecture on the history of textiles like cotton, wool, soap and linen. It’s a broad survey of the history, economics and sociological background,” she explains. “The other third of the class is a series of hands-on workshops where students actually learn to turn basic raw materials into textiles.” Before class, Buggey could often be seen around campus, pulling a large cart full of materials like yarn, fleece and silk for her students to use in their projects. She had her students learn a variety of techniques, including weaving, needle felting, wet felting and embroidery. “The students just love the hands-on part of the class. They love learning how to do things. They tell me they find it really relaxing and a nice change from a traditional teaching method,” she says. Taught to knit by her grandmother, Buggey is passionate about helping students connect what they’re learning in class to their own family histories. For a class project, one student researched arpilleras— small quilted appliqued wall hangings—after noticing them
on the walls in a relative’s house. She discovered that those works were “a way for the women in her family to express themselves when they lived in Chile during a time of dictatorship,” Buggey explains. “She said it opened up a whole different perspective for what her family had gone through. “Another student’s family is from Puerto Rico. She did research on a particular kind of lace that’s produced there. She remembered her grandmother making it. She was surprised to find out how much work was involved. So, while the intention of the course is to teach scholarly material, I also want to help them connect with their own family’s traditions and gain a new appreciation for their older relatives,” she continues. It was also important for Buggey to add community service to her class. This past semester, she had her students embroider gowns to donate to the neonatal unit at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. The gowns are primarily used as funeral garments for stillborn children. “This type of project connects
them to Chattanooga itself. When students come to universities, especially if they’re from a different town, it’s nice for them to get some kind of connection with the community. They really respond to it,” she says. Buggey, who has spent decades doing research on the history of textiles around the globe, describes teaching the class as “icing on the cake.” “This course is a great blend of my scholarly interest and a lifelong fascination with textiles,” she says. “It also connects me to my own family and my own history. It’s really been a pleasure to offer that to students and then to see how it develops and grows in them. Things like textiles may appear ordinary and mundane, but really, they have a whole story to tell.” g
Textiles may appear ordinary and mundane, but really, they have a whole story to tell.
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UTC Theatre Company is thinking outside the box W
hile the Fine Arts Center undergoes renovations, the students and faculty of the Theatre program are turning challenges into solutions, seeking out non-traditional “found spaces” as venues for their continuing practice in the performing arts. Their first performance, Love and Information, a play about finding love in the digital age, was performed in the Wedding Chapel at 901 Lindsay St. during Valentine’s week. Students got creative by lighting the stage with computer screens, casting an eerie glow on the performers, enhancing the technological theme and adding meaning to the story. Steve Ray, chair of the Theatre program, says the faculty are considering making these sorts of productions a regular part of the curriculum because of the value of the do-it-yourself mentality it bestows. “We have a long history in this theatre program of our graduates going out and not waiting to be invited but creating their own opportunities, and creating their own door to walk through.” Look for new venues on the UTC webpage throughout the year.
New Emeritus and Emerita Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences JAMES WARD History ROGER THOMPSON Social, Cultural and Justice Studies NICK HONERKAMP Social, Cultural and Justice Studies PAUL WATSON Psychology HABTE CHUNNET Physics KATY REHYANSKY English
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Cress Gallery in historic new location The Cress Gallery is relocating to the historic Mayfield building while the Fine Arts Center undergoes its renovations. The Cress Gallery is the Art Department’s go-to space to host a variety of art shows, including the BFA Senior thesis show, traveling art shows and the department’s permanent collection. For the next 12 to 18 months, UTC will occupy the long and narrow space on Seventh Street. Aggie Toppins, head of the Art Department, explains that, while it is an adjustment to move into a new space, faculty and students are excited at the prospect of being closer to what is happening in the city. “It’s a great opportunity for students to show off their work, not just on campus but to the whole community.” When renovations are finished, the Cress Gallery will reopen, and students in Fine Arts will enjoy updates such as new bathroom facilities, improved heating and cooling and updated walls and lobby.
Theater class sews “Little Dresses” for African children by Megan Shadrick
Little Dresses for Africa was started in 2008 with the goal of providing relief to children throughout Africa. The dresses are created by individuals throughout the world with a simple design in mind. Once finished, they are shipped to villages throughout the continent with the ultimate goal of satisfying the need for clothing but also bringing clean water, sanitation and promoting good health. Their motto is: “We’re not just sending dresses, we’re sending hope!”
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aylee Vice knows the “Little Dresses” she’s sewing for children in Africa are more than just a class project. “Not only is it really fun, but it’s good to know it’s not just for a two-week span and then go back into the closet,” says Vice, a senior in theatre who has completed one dress and is working on another. “Children are going to get a lot of use out of it.” Seeing the students gain confidence and experience the happiness after completing the items is one of the joys for Chalise Ludlow, who is teaching the “Costume Construction” course in which the dresses are being made. Once completed, the dresses are given to Little Dresses for Africa, an international organization that sends the garments to villages all over the continent. “It’s really exciting to see how excited they are to see the progress of the garment,” Ludlow says, “and then to know it’s going to be given to cute little kids.” An associate professor of theatre at UTC, Ludlow is leading the class through the entire
process of making the dresses, from creating to building to sewing. The finished dresses are designed for children of all ages. Ludlow says the idea to participate in Little Dresses was originally intended as an afterschool project, “but then we quickly discovered we could add this to the curriculum.” In the “Costume Construction” course, students study everything from the basics of using a sewing machine to building a corset. Such sewing skills are somewhat out of style, so to speak, Ludlow says. “It’s important to get anyone and everyone behind a sewing machine to learn what they can create,” she adds. “People don’t know how to even sew buttons or hem things. I just thought everyone knew how to do that, but we just don’t teach that anymore because it’s not part of the curriculum.” Hannah Davis, a junior in theatre, calls Little Dresses “a great project.” “We sew stuff all the time,” she says. “Might as well learn something that can go to good use.” g Video link: utc.edu/little-dresses spring 2019 | 17
REDEFINING TAI CHI AS A CULTURE FOR EMPOWERMENT by Sarah Joyner
PHOTO: RAINA JACKSON
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ibin Guo, UC Foundation professor of anthropology, began studying martial arts as a kid in China when he was seven, but he didn’t start his training in tai chi until he was around 16 years old. As he speaks, the fluid movement of his hands and gestures demonstrate his years of fluency with the form. For him, tai chi is a philosophy, a culture that he wants to make available to populations of people who were once excluded. Guo’s modified version of the ancient martial and healing art makes tai chi accessible to individuals with ambulatory impairment and works to transform the wheelchair from as assistive device to a tool of empowerment. In addition to the physical benefits of tai chi, including the proven improvements for people with conditions such as fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and rheumatoid arthritis, tai chi is just as healthy for the mind. Guo recognized particularly with patients whose lives were shaken or mobility altered strikingly fast from injury, maintaining physical health was not the only priority; many needed to maintain emotional health as well.
Guo partners with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
In the summer of 2016, Guo traveled from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro twice a week to lead a wheelchair tai chi course at the VA Medical Center. This relationship was conceived when the VA sought to enhance more alternative, complementary forms of medicine and rehabilitation. The department was already implementing tai chi in their programs, but was unaware such a form existed for individuals in wheelchairs until they found a video on YouTube demonstrating Guo’s wheelchair tai chi. They contacted him and encouraged him to apply for one of their grants.
Zibin Guo is traveling to VA Medical Centers across the country teaching his Wheelchair Tai Chi Chuan program to VA health care providers. “It’s more than just exercise,” Guo says. Participants in the programs are veterans receiving physical or occupational therapy, pain clinic patients and patients with PTSD.
Guo eventually received his first grant to the tune of $78,271 from the VA to promote a Wheelchair Tai Chi Chuan (WTCC) program as a sport alternative for veterans with ambulatory limitations. In the almost three years since, the partnership with the VA has blossomed. Guo travels to VA medical centers across the country. From Salt Lake City to Tampa to Phoenix, he leads trainings and workshops to teach health care providers within the VA system—physical therapists, occupational therapists and nurses in mental health as well as pain clinics—how to lead their own Wheelchair Tai Chi Chuan programs. “This program is very different from any other program. It focuses on the understanding of psychological needs of people with this kind of disability.” Guo says, “It makes tai chi a story that allows not just the healer to communicate with the participants, but for the participants to communicate their story.” g
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faculty alumni students friends
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Love and Information play rehearsal in Lindsay Street Hall, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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New River Studies Partnership gets students’ feet wet UTC’s Environmental Science program will now be offering students the River Studies and Leadership Certificate thanks to a recent partnership with the River Management Society, a national nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of our waterways. This certificate will be awarded to students who complete specific riverfocused coursework, a river-related professional experience and an associated presentation. “I think this program provides a unique opportunity for UTC students—in particular those majoring in environmental sciences— to focus their upper-level coursework on issues that are relevant to the Chattanooga region and applicable to future careers,” said Jennifer Boyd, associate professor of biology. ”UTC is now one of just three institutions east of the Mississippi to partner with the River Management Society to offer this program to its students.” Students who participate in the program will gain unique access to the various river-centric agencies around the Chattanooga area such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, the National Park Service Southern Appalachian Field Office, the Tennessee Aquarium Research Institute and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust. Jeff Duncan, fishery ecologist and water quality specialist with the National Park Service, explains his excitement about the new partnership: “As our growing population places more and more demands on our water resources, it’s essential that we equip students with a multifaceted, interdisciplinary perspective so that they’re ready to hit the ground running.” Students can find out more about this experiential opportunity by contacting the Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Sciences at utc.edu/bges.
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New Badge for Future Politicians
UTC’s Department of Political Science will be hosting a series of seminars designed to give students insight into the actual day-to-day realities of life in the political arena and public policy making. This set of seminars will feature local practitioners and UTC alumni, giving students a sense of what it is like to be involved in politics while providing a unique opportunity to explore possible career paths with actual professionals in the field. Students who attend seven of these workshops will receive a badge in Applied Politics from the Department of Political Science and Public Service that can be noted on their resume. “This is an innovative program in our discipline of political science, allowing our majors and minors to develop professional experiences and skills while pursuing their coursework.” said Michelle Deardorff, head of the Department of Political Science and Public Service. “The endorsement makes students responsible for their own professional development while allowing them to explore possible future career paths.”
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resume with a UTC degree will open doors when students graduate, but it never hurts to have something extra. For students in the Department of Political Science and Public Service, that “extra” is made possible by a $50,000 donation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 175. For the next five years, the IBEW will give $10,000 a year to the department, which will use it to offer “badges” to students attending fourhour workshops that will focus on a variety of topics, including targeting voters, policy advocacy and lobbying, organizing communities and campaign management. In front of a group of about 30 political science students, Michelle Deardorff, head of the Department of Political Science and Public Service, said the badges will give students a leg up in the real world. By earning a badge, students will learn skills and insights they can use after graduation, either during a job search or after they find employment. “How do we equip you, when you go out in the market, to have that edge that differentiates you from the 100,000 other college students coming out?” she asked the students. “It’s a changing economy. It’s changing fast and we don’t know what kind of jobs we’re preparing you for, so we need to give you everything we can that you can adjust quickly and with ease. One way to do that is not just with the academic preparation we’re giving you but also sets of very specific skills.” The seven workshops, to be taught by UTC alumni and other local experts, began with “Social Media Campaigns/Digital Engagement.” Recent sessions included “What If I Ran for Public Office” in January and “Managing Political Campaigns: A Review of What Goes into a Winning Campaign” in February. “You’ll know what you’re looking for; you’ll know what pitfalls to avoid,” Deardorff said. UTC Chancellor Steve Angle called the IBEW donation“ a great example of philanthropy in action where we have a great idea that needs some support and a donor to help support that cause and make it a reality.” Gary Watkins, business manager for IBEW No. 175, said it’s a unique experience for the donors to be able to see the students who will benefit from the donation. “It’s rare for you all to see,” he told the students, “but it’s rare for us to see from the other side how this is working, who this is working for, who it is helping.” g
IBEW donates $50,000 to Department of Political Science and Public Service
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UTC GIS team places third in national competition
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The team’s map has more than 90 layers of data. Each of those was processed, analyzed and combined to create four sub-models representing Mainspring’s goals, such as preserving and protecting water resources, wildlife habitats, cultural heritage sites and recreation areas.
by Laura Bond
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the director of the UTC Interdisciplinary Geospatial lab (IGT), Charlie Mix is used to analyzing situations. So he was hopeful but cautious to predict a win after entering a conservation-plan map in a competition at the Esri User Conference, one of the largest gatherings of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professionals. When he got word that the team won third for best reference map out of nearly 1,000 other entries, he was surprised and humbled. “It makes me think that maybe I’m doing something right,” he said. “It felt good, especially for our team. We’re a midsize school competing against much bigger organizations who have so many more resources.” GIS is an information management system that captures, analyzes and organizes geographic information on a map. GIS helps users more easily view, interpret and visualize large sets of data on a map. The UTC GIS team includes Mix and several graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nyssa Hunt is a GIS analyst with two UTC degrees: a bachelor’s in environmental science with a concentration in geographic and cartographic sciences, and minors in computer science, biology, and geography as well as a master’s in environmental studies. GIS Technicians Holland Youngman and Kyle Jones are both graduates of the master’s in environmental studies. Mix, Hunt, Holland and Jones partnered with Mainspring Conservation Trust, a land trust based in Franklin, North Carolina, that specializes in conservation and restoration projects in the western part of the state within the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee River watersheds. Using geographic information systems technology, the UTC team was able to map Mainspring’s longterm conservation plan. Using data from a variety
of sources such as the North Carolina Division of Water, the National Forest Service, historic Cherokee information and maps of popular hiking trails, the UTC team was able to visually map areas where Mainspring should consider focusing its conservation efforts based on the organization’s goals. “Our map has more than 90 layers of data. Each of those was processed, analyzed and combined to create four sub-models representing Mainspring’s goals, like preserving and protecting water resources, wildlife habitats, cultural heritage sites and recreation areas,” Mix explained. The final map is a mix of colors ranging from white to lime green to dark red with the darker colors representing areas with a high presence of Mainspring’s conservation priorities. For example, one of the dark-red areas may have wildlife habitats, historic cultural sites and water resources that the organization wants to protect. The green areas have less of those features. Usability was important to the UTC team so they also created an additional web tool for Mainspring’s employees. “They have a staff of 15 people and only one GIS person. Now they don’t have to go through that one person to get the data. Everyone has access,” Mix said. It took the UTC team nine months to complete the project, but all their hard work was worth it to Mix. “I grew up kayaking and riding mountain bikes in this region. So to kind of play a part in helping conserve this land, it feels really good. That’s the most important part to me,” he said. More recently, Mix learned that “the map has been selected for publication of the next edition of the Esri Map Book, Volume 34; this is a huge honor for the lab and UTC! It’s scheduled for print and release this July.” g spring 2019 | 25
Poetry in Musical Motion:
UTC alum turns poems into songs by Sarah Joyner
UTC’s
Chamber Singers have recorded an album of works by UTC alumnus Ethan McGrath, who has written musical arrangements for poems written by women. The album, titled Silver Songs and funded by an ArtsBuild Community Cultural Connections Grant, is a collection of original works written by McGrath, who says he was inspired by the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Amy Carmichael, Elinor Wylie and McGrath’s friend Sarah Tullock, a fellow UTC alumna. Poems such as Dickinson’s “Hope Is the Thing with Feathers” and “That I Did Always Love,” along with Rossetti’s “A Birthday” and Wylie’s “Velvet Shoes,” provide the lyrics to McGrath’s songs. “It’s a joy to hear the things I’ve concocted on paper in the loneliness of my room being translated into real sounds sung by real people,” says McGrath, who earned a “IT’S A JOY TO HEAR THE bachelor’s of music in composition from UTC THINGS I’VE CONCOCTED and a master’s of music in choral studies from the University of Cambridge, United ON PAPER IN THE Kingdom. “It’s been a privilege to work with LONELINESS OF MY ROOM the UTC Chambers Singers again. Kevin Ford, the director, has been very supportive of my BEING TRANSLATED INTO work ever since my time as a student at UTC. REAL SOUNDS SUNG BY He’s always been happy to have me attend rehearsals and be a part of the process,” REAL PEOPLE.” McGrath says. – ETHAN MCGRATH The UTC Chamber Singers is the university’s most select choir, comprised of undergraduate and graduate students studying a wide variety of disciplines from music to business to engineering. The Chamber Singers previously recorded two albums of spirituals and choral music by composer, conductor, pianist and retired UTC professor Roland M. Carter. Although the choir is no stranger to recording music, the creative process for Silver Songs served as a learning experience for its members, Ford says. “The singers are learning about the whole process of making a recording, from the literature preparation to the tediousness of the actual recording process with constant repetitions and stopping and restarting for helicopters and planes flying overhead or children playing outside the building but loud enough to be heard inside,” he explains. g Web story: utc.edu/chamber-singers 26 | method
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UTC alum writes two books tracing the history of black wrestlers
by Shawn Ryan
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Kevin Emily felt like he was pinned to the mat. His older brother had just committed suicide and not only was Emily suffering through his own grief, he was trying to help his devastated parents with theirs. Living in Iowa at the time, he had enrolled at Meramec Community College in St. Louis to stay close to his parents, but they moved to Georgia, where his brother was living when he died. To stay close to his parents, Emily transferred to UTC. But UTC gave him a lot more than just a place to live, he says. “I gained a new family, and I needed that at that time,” he says. “UTC was a safe haven. It was an experience of a lifetime for me. It helped me become a man, taught me so many life lessons.” While earning a bachelor of arts in communication in 1995, he joined UTC’s wrestling team, having been part of the sport in his Iowa high school. Since graduating—he came back to UTC to earn a master’s degree in education in 2008—he has been head wrestling coach at five different schools, including Red Bank High School. His main career, though, has been as a special education teacher. But the years he spent in wrestling took a turn toward the past. As an African-American, Emily was fascinated with the history of black wrestlers but, when he sought out anything written about them, he came up empty-handed. “The only thing I found was a 10- to 15-page pamphlet from the Wrestling Hall of Fame. I thought, ‘These guys deserve more than that.’” His fascination and dedication turned into two books, Pathfinder in 2017 and its follow-up, Pathfinder, Vol. 2, in 2018. He was planning to write only one book but, as he got deeper into Pathfinder, he realized there was too much to write about, so Pathfinder, Vol. 2 was born. “I kept discovering more people, so I told myself to just stop with what you’ve got and you’ve
got enough for a good book. If you try to cram all that information into one book, you’ll do some of the wrestlers a disservice.” It makes sense that he’d have a ton of history in his hands because he dug deeply, going all the way back to Egypt during the age of the pharaohs. “Everyone thinks the Greco-Roman era is when wrestling started, but it actually was in Africa,” Emily says. “There are paintings on the Egyptian pyramid walls showing Nubians who came to Egypt to wrestle.” From those ancient days, he kept moving forward until he reached the 21st century. “I found out all this cool information that I’d never even known before,” he says. “There were so many things that people didn’t know about the wrestlers. They didn’t get their due credit.” In the two books, he covers dozens of wrestlers and coaches, from Harold T. Henson, who in 1949 became the first black man allowed to participate in an NCAA wrestling tournament, to John Meeks, who held a lifetime high school record of 172-0 and, in 2012, became the first and only undefeated black student to win the Iowa state championship four times. He tells the inspiring tale of J’den Cox, who had a terrible childhood and suffered from PTSD and depression and thought about committing suicide as a college student. Cox pushed through those burdens and eventually won three NCAA titles and a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics. g
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Bridge to Rising Rock by Sarah Joyner
RISING ROCK’S LOGO WAS DESIGNED BY AARON CHOWDHURY, STUDENT IN THE COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT’S PUBLICATION DESIGN COURSE. THE NAME RISING ROCK WAS CHOSEN TO PAY HOMAGE TO THE CITY’S NAME. CHATTANOOGA IS A WORD FOR LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN IN THE MUSKOGEAN LANGUAGE. IT ROUGHLY TRANSLATES AS “ROCK RISING TO A POINT.” VISIT RISING ROCK ONLINE AT risingrock.net.
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B
illy Weeks, professor in the Department of Communication, created Rising Rock as a bridge for his students to connect campus with community by telling the stories of Chattanooga. He knew that telling the city’s story would be one of the best ways his students could engage with the community, so he partnered with Charlene Simmons, UC Foundation associate professor of communication, and together they came up with Rising Rock. “Because, in theory, we’re storytellers,” says Weeks, who also is a professional photographer. Officially launched in 2017, the online storytelling project features the work of students in UTC communication classes and stories from UTC student media, including the University Echo. The storytelling project gained momentum last fall with an entire class devoted to the creation and distribution of its stories. The class, Weeks says, goes beyond learning the technical skills of working a camera or equipment, which has been the main focus of his other classes. Instead, its priority is reporting. “I want them [the students] to be able to walk out to anybody sitting on their front porch, have a conversation and be able to bring back a story, which is a challenge for all of us. It’s one thing to go up and introduce yourself and say ‘Hi.’ It’s another thing to go up, introduce yourself, say ‘Hi’ and to walk away with that person’s story. Because we all have a story.” Connecting with the community through storytelling is what Rising Rock is all about, Weeks says, and making student work visible is vital. That means more stories like Rachel Garcia’s “New Life as a Single Mother” has life beyond the classroom. Garcia spent days documenting the life of Alek Ferguson, local massage therapist and new mom for a final assignment in her photojournalism class. A senior majoring in communication, Garcia was assigned the task of engaging with a social issue through storytelling. She created “New Life as a Single Mother” in response, a story that gives a glimpse into the daily life of Ferguson as she cares for her newborn daughter, Aurora. Garcia’s story became more than just an assignment. She visited Ferguson’s home several times, spending hours with the new mom and her baby, talking to her and taking photos. “I felt Alek’s story illustrates the sacrifice, financial strain and loneliness that many first-time single mothers experience, especially when they have complete responsibility of a newborn without the help of their partner,” Garcia says. “Their struggle is often unintentionally overlooked, and I wanted to visually show Alek’s strength and resilience behind that struggle.” The project taught her that photographing someone during their intimate moments is no easy feat. “The hardest part for me was overcoming the feeling that my camera was invasive of Alek’s personal space and moments,” she explains. g
History professor’s book wins prestigious award
John Swanson’s book, Tangible Belonging: Negotiating Germanness in Twentieth-Century Hungary, was recently honored with the Barbara Jelavich Book Prize, a major award for scholars researching and writing about Central and Eastern Europe. Swanson’s book focuses on the German minority in Hungary from the late 19th to the late 20th century. He dug deep with a grassroots, on-theground approach to explore how a rural population, which left minimal sources for research, thought about their own identities as well as their neighbors. Swanson says his book offers new ways to “think about ethnic and national identity in Central and Eastern Europe.” He explains, “German speakers usually thought of themselves as ‘Germans,’ but what ‘German’ meant was not the same for all people and it was an ethnic category that was continually changing … well into the 20th century German speakers maintained a local, tangible identity. Their sense of being German was determined by the immediate world around them—the tangible world.” g
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100 Years Later: Remembering WWI C
ampus events remember World War I in honor of the centennial anniversary of the armistice that put an end to the war. Often called The Great War, the four-year period from 1914-1918 was a huge turning point in world history and international affairs. Jonanthan McNair, the Ruth Holmberg Professor of American Music, became fascinated with the poetry of this time, hoping to find texts for songs he hoped to write honoring the centennial of the war. McNair enlisted Aaron Shaheen, Connor Professor of American Literature, to imagine a UTC event. Last year, faculty and administrators from across the College of Arts and Sciences joined with the Library Special Collections, Athletics and members of the Chattanooga community, including the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, to plan a series of events including lectures, panel discussions, displays of artifacts and concerts. Many events emphasized the role of women, Hispanic- and African-American as well as Native Americans in World War I. Discussions explored different elements of the war, from philosophy to literature to nursing to the chemistry used in battle. The first event to kick off the commemorative anniversary took place on Monday, Sept. 24, with “The Role of American Indians in World War I,” a lecture by Dan Littlefield, director of Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The musical centerpiece of the event was a new song cycle composed by McNair based on WWI poetry, “A View from the Trenches.” “The poetry I read was so powerfully expressive of both personal stories and universal war experiences, that I felt strongly drawn to setting it to music,” McNair explained. “Most of my mental images of WWI included white men fighting in trenches. I wanted to know about others who contributed and share with the campus and community the
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knowledge that colleagues could bring to an important historical crossroad.” The 1919 Moccasin, the University of Chattanooga’s yearbook, was dedicated to the five students who lost their lives during WWI. Aaron Shaheen, George C. Connor Professor of American Literature, came across the dedication when researching the effects of the war on Chattanooga for a book. Digging a little deeper, he realized that, even though there was a memorial for the fallen students from World War II, nothing existed for those lost to World War I. With the anniversary of the war quickly approaching, he got to work with Matt Greenwell, UC Foundation professor of graphic design, to create a memorial. The plaque created in the five students’ honor now hangs in UTC’s Patten Chapel. The location was deliberately chosen because the chapel was opened in 1918 and also for its ethereal atmosphere, Shaheen and Greenwell explain. Although the chapel’s construction was completed after all the students had deployed, “I can’t help but think that the university would have had some sort of memorial service here for them in 1919,” Shaheen says. “If you think of UC at the time, this was a small Methodist university,” Greenwell adds, “and I think the center of campus in a lot of ways. A spiritual center anyway, and so even now the chapel seems to hold a very special place.” More than three-fifths of the UC’s male student population joined the WWI effort within six months of the United States entering the war in 1917. The university’s service roster had 180 names. The five UC students who died serving in World War I are: • Joseph Parke Robb • Frank Holmes Atlee • Forrest Lansdale Bradley • William Dean Faris • Charles William Loaring-Clark
remembering Helen Eigenberg, longtime UTC faculty member
Professor Emeritus P.K. Geevarghese
Professor Emeritus Paul J. Watson
Helen M. Eigenberg, Ph.D. and professor of criminal justice, passed away on Jan. 25. She was director of the School of Social and Community Services from 1998 to 2003 and head of the Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Assistant Studies from 2003 to 2014. A champion of women’s rights, especially when they were violated through acts of violence, she served on the Family Justice Steering Committee for Hamilton County and the Sexual Assault Prevention Committee for the state of Tennessee. She also was the faculty liaison for state Sen. Tommy Burks’ Victim Assistance Academy, which provides training for victim advocates in Tennessee and is a partnership between the UTC Criminal Justice program and the Tennessee State Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. She received two National Institute of Justice grants to create the Transformation Project at UTC in 2002, a program of the UTC Center for Women and Gender Equity to combat violence against women on campus. She also received grants from the Catholic Health Initiatives to address adolescent intimate partner abuse. In 2017, in recognition of her dedicated public service, she received Tennessee’s prestigious Harold Love Outstanding Service Award.
UTC Professor Emeritus P.K. Geevarghese, Ph.D., passed away on Thursday, Oct. 17. The Rev. Geevarghese taught at the university for 40 years, retiring in 2006. His sons, Salin Geevarghese and Sunil Geevarghese, are UTC alumni and former Brock scholars in the Honors College. A member of the sociology, anthropology and geography faculty, Geevarghese taught a variety of courses, from his popular “101 Introduction to Sociology” and “101 Introduction to Anthropology” classes for hundreds of underclassmen every year to advanced courses in “Sociology of Religion,” “Statistics and Research Methods,” “Organizational Behavior and Families and Groups.” His book, A New Economic Order: A Revolutionary Plan to Eradicate Poverty from the World, was published in 1988. His research articles covered such topics as communism in India, changes in the caste system, the emergence of capitalism in the Third World and the Indian Orthodox Church.
Paul J. Watson, Ph.D. and professor emeritus in the UTC Department of Psychology, passed away on Sunday, March 10. Watson served the students of UTC with distinction and compassion for 41 years. He joined UTC in the fall of 1977 and served as Department of Psychology head from 2004 to 2011. Among his duties, Watson taught many students in his large sections of “Introduction to Psychology”. He retired in December 2018 having taught an estimated 35,000 students face-to-face during his tenure at UTC. Generations of students can reflect on his enthusiasm, professionalism and humanity in presenting the basics of psychology in a fun, clear and understandable manner. In addition to his outstanding teaching skills, Watson was among the most productive researchers on campus with a curriculum vitae the size of the Hixson phone book. Trained as a physiological psychologist, his early research focused on animal behavior based on data from a rat lab run on the third floor of Holt Hall. Watson transitioned into research on the psychology of religion, where he developed an international reputation over the last four decades. He recently completed his culminating research project, the book Psychology and Religion Within an Ideological Sound, which will be published posthumously as the first in a new series, Brill Perspectives in Psychology and Religion.
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Selena Chavez - Double Major in Spanish and International Studies
gives back to Chattanooga by Laura Coker
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S
elena Chavez graduated from UTC in May 2018 with honors and a double degree in Spanish and humanities (international studies focus). During her time at UTC, she was able to secure internships through interior design professor Eun Young Kim and with local politician Joda Thongnopnau that allowed her to build valuable community organizing skills and make connections to several different Chattanooga communities. Primarily, she worked to bridge English- and Spanishspeaking populations in Chattanooga by conducting surveys to measure housing conditions and safety and by spending time at cultural festivals and neighborhood association meetings around the city. In the course of this work, she quickly realized that “the languages people share bring them together as a community.” Being bilingual, she was able to break down the language barriers and facilitate communication that may help to improve dangerous conditions for residents. The contacts she made through this internship helped her secure a job as a community engagement specialist at Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise (CNE) and as a Spanish teacher at Chattanooga School of Language. Her year at CNE has included engagement with Ridgedale and Highland Park residents to cultivate and strengthen community connections through three intervention methods: sidewalk dinners, curb appeal projects and popular and effective Know Your Neighbor events (KYN). These experiences have given her a determination to “keep helping.” For Chavez, this year has been a pause in her academic path to give back to the Chattanooga community which, she says, has given so much to her throughout her life. “None of my accomplishments could have been done without my connection with UTC.” Her next step is to apply for a master’s in human rights and politics because, through her internships and community work, she has encountered many “marginalized communities that can’t speak up for themselves.” g
In
Erica Holmes Trujillo
the fall of 2019, the College of Arts and Sciences will begin building a new advising center, The Hub, designed to give students personalized advisement on the road to graduation and their first career. Erica Holmes Trujillo, a veteran of student affairs, will be joining the college as the first director of The Hub. A two-time graduate of Adams State College, Erica earned her bachelor of arts in sociology, social welfare emphasis and her master of arts in higher education administration and leadership. Erica has completed the Global Career Development Facilitator training and has published work in Women in Higher Education. She has experience in several aspects of student success, including admissions, orientation, enrollment, mentoring, developmental education, dual enrollment, first-year engagement, retention and persistence, transfer programming, instruction and academic advising. For Trujillo, student success boils down to one thing: relationships. “I felt right at home in Chattanooga and amongst the Mocs family,” Trujillo said. “I am looking forward to getting to know UTC’s Arts and Sciences students, hearing about their college experience and developing the ways in which the HUB can support their success.” Dean Wilferth is excited about The Hub as a new resource in the College of Arts and Sciences. He explains, “The Hub’s new director, Erica Holmes Trujillo, and our new advisors will complement advising work and mentorship that we already see throughout the college.” “This new resource is yet another tool that we’ll use to ensure that our students successfully navigate the curriculum in their degree program, find accurate and useful information so they may make progress toward graduation, and prepare for life and work after graduation,” he says. The Hub “is supported by tuition dollars that are made available through the University’s new 15/4 initiative,” he explains. “The Hub, therefore, is yet another manifestation of our students’ willingness to invest in their education here at UTC and in the College of Arts and Sciences.” g
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College of Arts and Sciences Dept. 2602 615 McCallie Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37403
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 26 Chattanooga, TN
Visit give.utc.edu to make a gift.
Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy Beginning Fall of 2019, UTC will offer a new degree in Music Therapy. This will be the first music therapy degree at a public institution in Tennessee. This new degree will provide: • • •
Comprehensive music education and clinical training Advocacy and outreach about the value of music therapy Increased quality and availability of music therapy in the region
utc.edu/music