The beginning of July brings additional honors and funding awards for UT faculty and students: UTIA Assistant Professor Heads New Center of Farm Management; MABE Assistant Professor Receives Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award From ORAU; Department of Theatre Names New Department Head and Artistic Director of the Clarence Brown Theatre; Painting and Drawing Professor Exhibits Work in Mykonos, Greece; Sociology Professor Receives Fellowship to Study Abroad in Glasgow; Graduate Student in Comparative and Experimental Medicine Receives Fellowship from ASM
UTIA to Launch UT Center of Farm Management
The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is launching the UT Center of Farm Management, with a dedicated purpose of enhancing the long-term profitability and sustainability of agricultural enterprises in the state and across the Southeast. Under the leadership of Assistant Professor Charley Martinez, the Center will integrate established Institute programs and responsively develop new ones to meet the needs of Tennessee producers.
Wang Receives ORAU Award
Assistant Professor Wei Wang has received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) in recognition of his work in engineering. ORAU presented the competitive award to 36 junior faculty from their member institutions, with Wang being the sole recipient from UT. The award includes one year of funding in the amount of $5,000 with an additional $5,000 in matched funds from UT. Wang will be using the funds to design novel ice-repellent surfaces that have ultra-low adhesion to ice.
Ken Martin Named New Clarence Brown Theatre Artistic Director and Head of the UT Department of Theatre
Ken Martin will join the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, August 1, 2022, as the new Clarence Brown Theatre artistic director and head of the Department of Theatre in the College of Arts and Sciences. Calvin MacLean, former artistic director and head, retired in August 2021. Martin comes from the University of Missouri, at Kansas City, where he was the Patricia Mcllrath Endowed Professor and Chair of the Theatre Division. His 26-year career in academia also included nearly 18 years serving as chair of the theater departments at both Coastal Carolina University and Ashland University in Ohio.
Jered Sprecher’s Work Exhibited in Mykonos, Greece
The work of UT’s painting and drawing professor, Jered Sprecher, is on exhibition at Rarity Gallery on the island of Mykonos, Greece. The 2022 Rarity Gallery Group Show shifts towards an innovative and contemporary approach by showcasing a wide variety of abstract artists as a means to elevate modernist artistic movements while adapting to the ever changing and evolving alternative possibilities of art. The show intends to play with forms, references, and the visual sensations that the chosen works evoke.
Brown Selected for Visiting Fellow in Glasgow
Michelle Brown, professor and associate head in the Department of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, received a 2022 Visiting Fellow to the University of Glasgow’s School of Social and Political Sciences to spend July at the Scottish Centre of Crime and Justice Research. Brown, a leading abolitionist scholar, will work with faculty to investigate Scotland’s historical ties to slavery and its effects on present day punishment. Brown is the first abolitionist scholar to visit the University of Glasgow.
Graduate Student Receives National Fellowship
Lufuno Phophi, a UT Comparative and Experimental Medicine student pursuing her Ph.D., was selected to participate in the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Future Leaders Mentoring Fellowship (FLMF). The program is designed to support senior undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral students from underrepresented groups who demonstrate an interest in the microbial sciences and seek mentorship in navigating their career trajectory.