MESSAGE FROM THE CHANCELLOR
W
elcome to the fall 2021 issue of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Magazine. There have been several digital editions of the magazine since the pandemic began, and it is a pleasure to be printing a physical issue for the first time since fall 2019. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the return of a publication in your hands that brings you stories and images of the people of UTC. Of course, it will still be available online as well. The fall semester is off to a great start, and you can feel the energy and excitement of our students as you walk across campus. I am grateful to our students, faculty and staff for working so hard to help us manage and deal with COVID-19. This team effort requires us to be creative and purposeful in planning activities and events on campus. The theme of this issue, “UTC in the Community,” reflects how our campus and community partner together to offer an engaging educational experience for our students. Classroom knowledge is applied to real-world problems in our community. Students learn first-hand how they can make things happen by working together to address initiatives and issues facing regional businesses and local government entities. We pride ourselves on being a connected partner with the greater Chattanooga region. We fulfill a major role in workforce development as we work to improve the quality of life for the community. Internships and other opportunities to work with businesses afford our students the required skill sets to collaborate in a team to develop creative solutions to problems, preparing them to enter the workforce job-ready. As our regional partners work with our students, they feel more welcome and stay in the area after graduation. UTC seeks to be a meaningful community partner, creating engagement opportunities for our students while we challenge the community to look at new ways to do business. We strive to inspire a creative culture in our community by engaging our art, theater and music programs. The impact of our community on student educational experiences can
be found all over this campus—from the work done in the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship; to the Master of Public Health program; to the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s outreach and engagement initiatives; to our ThinkAchieve program; and so much more. Student participation in community service is an integral part of the total University experience. Mocs student-athletes are encouraged to perform 10 hours of community service each semester per student. With more than 300 student-athletes, that translates to 3,000-plus hours of volunteer opportunities. Meanwhile, a recent study of Greek Life on campus showed that UTC fraternities and sororities complete more than 33,000 hours of community service in an academic year. Community engagement is more than a phrase; it is a focal point of our Strategic Plan. This summer, we welcomed Stacy Lightfoot as the University’s first vice chancellor for diversity and engagement. Stacy is a career-long advocate for students within the educational pipeline and brings a wealth of experience, insight and relational resources to our campus. The start of the fall semester also saw the launch of Cohort 2025, a new approach to building community through student groups and connections. The name is derived from the anticipated graduation year of the new freshman class, and nearly every incoming first-year Moc was assigned to a small group— or cohort—of fellow students with comparable academic majors, extracurricular interests or other common pursuits. This sharedexperience learning community is expected to improve student retention, graduation rates and overall academic performance. I am honored to be a part of this wonderful campus community, and I continue to marvel at everything you do for UTC. Together, we define what it means to be a Moc.
Steven R. Angle Chancellor
