Prestigious honors and posthumous words set new path for University of Tennessee students
This University of Tennessee at Knoxville roundup comes to you from higher education reporter Keenan Thomas. Have an idea for our higher education coverage? Contact Keenan at keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com.
Three months after Dr. Bob Booker died at the age of 88, students graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville received a special posthumous message from the Knoxville Civil Rights icon.
The recorded speech, which implored students to use their education to "help guide your community," was shared with College of Arts and Science graduates who were among more than 5,300 degree recipients in May.
Booker, who also was an African American historian, received his own honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree from UT on Feb. 10, just 12 days before his death. The video message to UT students was recorded at his home while he was presented with the honorary degree by Chancellor Donde Plowman.
"You who are about to graduate today have had some of the greatest experiences of your lives, and professors steeped in their particular fields have given their best thinking," Booker said in his video message. "But it is my fervent prayer that you will leave this place and work hard at your chosen profession, and also that you will use your experience and education to help guide your community.
"Our world is still too full of hate, violence, intolerance, and injustice. Only an enlightened public can change that."
You can watch Booker's full message on UT Knoxville's YouTube channel.
10 University of Tennessee students accept Fulbright Scholarships
Ten UT students accepted Fulbright scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year. Four were named as alternates.
The Fulbright scholarship began in 1946 and is one of the most prestigious international programs in higher education, with around 8,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals receiving awards each year to travel to more than 140 participating countries to teach or study.
The awards follow UT's designation as a top producer of Fulbright students.
Meet the 10 students who earned Fulbright scholarships:
Jacob Altrock - Graduated with a bachelor's degree in voice with a minor in German. He will work with an opera program and take classes while researching accessible operatic performances in Germany.
Aliya Benabderrazak - Graduated in May 2023 with bachelor's degrees in psychology and sociology, as well as minors in Africana studies, Hispanic studies and child and family studies. She will be a English teaching assistant in Columbia at the university level.
Miranda Blevins - Graduated with a bachelor's in audiology and speech-language pathology with a minor in business administration. She will work as an English teaching assistant in Taiwan.
Yash Deo - Senior student majoring in honors neuroscience with a minor in business administration. He will study remedies for major depressive disorder in New Delhi, India.
David Holdridge - Graduated with a bachelor's in forestry with a concentration in restoration and conservation science. He will conduct research around the palm oil industry and reclaimed abandoned surface tin mines in Indonesia.
Steve Mahometano - Graduated in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in honors neuroscience and a bachelor's in psychology. He will work as an English teaching assistant in Taiwan.
Diba Seddighi - Graduated in 2023 with a self-designed Bachelor of Arts in global health equity and a minor in Hispanic studies. She will work on obtaining her master’s degree in global health from Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Lucas Simmons - Graduated with a bachelor's in anthropology and a minor in political science. He will work as an English teaching assistant in Taiwan.
Courtney Tolbert - Graduated with a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience and a minor in psychology. She will be an English teaching assistant in Thailand.
Matthew Valderrama - Graduated in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering. He will pursue a master’s degree in chemical engineering at Aalborg University in Esbjerg, Denmark.
An 11th student received a Fulbright scholarship offer but declined. Four alternates could receive awards if spots open up in the next few months.
UT had 44 Fulbright applicants and 31 semifinalists in 2024.
Could UT's Amber Williams be a college president? She's on that path
Vice Provost for Student Success Amber Williams has been named to the 2024-25 AGB Institute for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education.
The institute selects participants who aspire to become university presidents and works to build their skills. Since the program was created six years ago, more than 20 participants have ascended to the position of president.
Williams − along with 20 other leaders in higher education − will attend a symposium in September. She is "eager to share these insights and continue driving positive change at Rocky Top," Williams said in a news release.
The symposium is the first step in the six-month program.
University of Tennessee changes leadership in artificial intelligence
Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of the AI Tennessee Initiative Lynne Parker has retired from UT after 22 years.
Parker joined UT as a professor in 2002, and in 2018 worked at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She later became the assistant director for artificial intelligence and then the deputy chief technology officer of the United States for the White House.
In 2021, she became the founding director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office.
She returned to UT in 2022 and has been imperative to UT's embrace of AI and the policies surrounding the technology. In January, UT named professor Vasileios Maroulas as the new assistant vice chancellor and deputy director of the AI Tennessee Initiative.
Brian Wirth to become head of Department of Nuclear Engineering
Brian Wirth will become head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering on Aug. 1.
Wirth is the Governor's Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering and served as a co-chair on a subcommittee on the future of fusion energy facilities in the U.S.
7 University of Tennessee faculty members elected as AAAS Fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science elected seven UT faculty members as part of its 2023 class of AAAS Fellows. The designation recognizes those making impacts in and outside of their fields of research.
These faculty members received the lifetime honor:
Rigoberto Advincula - UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Advanced and Nanostructured Materials and Polymer Group leader at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.
Takeshi Egami - UT-ORNL Distinguished Scientist, professor and director emeritus of the Shull Wollan Center/Joint Institute for Neutron Sciences.
Heidi Goodrich-Blair - David and Sandra White Professor, head of the microbiology department and an American Society for Microbiology Fellow.
Sergei Kalinin - Weston Fulton Professor and chief scientist working in AI and machine learning for the physical sciences at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Keith Kline - Distinguished Research Scientist at ORNL.
Anthony Mezzacappa - Newton W. and Wilma C. Thomas Chair in Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics and a College of Arts and Sciences Excellence Professor. He's the former director of the UT-ORNL Joint Institute for Computational Sciences.
Michela Taufer - Jack Dongarra Professor in High-Performance Computing and editor-in-chief for the journal Future Generation Computer Systems.
Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: University of Tennessee shares Bob Booker speech, Fulbright scholars
