The beginning of March brings additional honors and funding awards for UT faculty and students: UTIA Appoints New Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President; MABE Names New Department Head; Educators in the School of Interior Architecture Receive National Education, Diversity Awards; TCE Hires New Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Animal Science Professor Named Assistant Dean for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Community Economic Development; Engineering Doctoral Student Receives Two NSBE Golden Torch Awards; Assistant Professor Awarded SIAM Early Career Prize
University of Tennessee Appoints Carrie Castille to Lead Institute of Agriculture
University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd and UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman announced today that Carrie Castille, current director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will be recommended to serve as the next senior vice chancellor and senior vice president for the UT Institute of Agriculture.
Ekici Named MABE Department Head
Professor Kivanc Ekici has been named the next head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, dropping the interim designation that he has held since February 2021. Ekici previously served the department in several roles, including director of graduate programs and associate department head.
Two Educators in the School of Interior Architecture Receive National Education, Diversity Awards
Educators in the School of Interior Architecture have been recognized with a national teaching award and a national diversity award. Rana Abudayyeh, assistant professor, has been named the recipient of the 2022 Teaching Excellence
Award by the Interior Design Educators Council, and Milagros Zingoni Phielipp, associate professor and director, was honored with the 2022 IIDA Educator Diversity Award from the International Interior Design Association in partnership with the IDEC Foundation.
Kirk Named Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
UT’s Tickle College of Engineering hired Jeremy Kirk to the newly created post of assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the role, Kirk will help the college work toward its goals of developing a more welcoming and inclusive campus climate; attracting and retaining students, faculty, and staff from historically underrepresented populations; and building stronger relations with diverse communities throughout the state.
University of Tennessee Extension Names Justin Rhinehart as Assistant Dean
University of Tennessee Extension has named Justin Rhinehart as Assistant Dean for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Community Economic Development. Rhinehart currently serves as a professor and beef cattle specialist in the UT Department of Animal Science. He served as assistant Extension professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Mississippi State University before joining the UT Department of Animal Science in 2010.
Allen Wins Two NSBE Golden Torch Awards, Including Graduate Student of the Year
Kendra Allen, a doctoral student in the joint University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, recently earned recognition at the National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch Awards. Allen received both the Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year and Graduate Student of the Year.
Wilson Awarded SIAM Early Career Prize
For his contribution to the field of biomathematics, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Activity Group on Life Sciences has awarded Assistant Professor Dan Wilson the Early Career Prize. The selection committee recognized Wilson for his outstanding work on coupled oscillators and other mathematical applications.