‘The heart of our university’

At the Graduate Student Senate’s annual awards ceremony, administrators and faculty celebrated the work of graduate students across campus, from teaching to research and service.

ABBIE SMITH Staff Writer

To kick off Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week kicks at the University of Tennessee, the Graduate Student Senate (GSS) held an awards banquet in the Student Union in order to honor graduate students, professors, mentors and organizations who demonstrated excellence in their field.

The night began with dinner and music, a violin and cello duet performed by School of Music Graduate Students Mei Lia White and Hannah Paulus respectively. The perimeter of the room was lined with art displays provided by the School of Art, with all featured artists being graduate students themselves. These art displays were presented through film, photography, sculpture, drawing and other methods of creation.

Leighton Chappell, the vice president of the Graduate Student Senate, was the emcee for the night. He explained the purpose of the banquet in his opening remarks before introducing UT Chancellor Donde Plowman.

“This year, we take different forms to accomplish the goal of recognizing our outstanding graduate and professional students, as well as those faculty staff organizations that support them in their pursuit of higher education,” Chappell said, gesturing to the musicians on his left and the art around the room.

“We are a university on the rise,” Plowman said. “You know, all universities are universities. But graduate students are the heart of our university. I think of students in the classroom doing research engagement, I think of law school, our professional clinics and social work. All of this is possible because of you.”

The theme continued when George T. Fields, the president of GSS, took the stage to wrap up the opening remarks. He recognized those who attended the banquet, thanking them, but focusing on the graduate students. Fields listed award recipients, students, guests, nominators, administrators, senators of GSS, musicians and artists as the people who made the night possible.

“What we have in this room is a community of people who recognize that graduate and professional students give a lot to this university and deserve a lot in return: support, to maintain their hard schedules, guidance and direction in completing their theses and dissertations, and trying to make this world better and developing their professional and academic personas,” Fields said. “I can’t think of a better way to shine a spotlight on those around us who deserve to have all eyes on them.”

The first award was presented by Deborah Crawford, the vice chancellor for research at UT. The Excellence in Graduate Research award was awarded to three nominees: Sarah Narvaiz, studying Theory & Practice in Teacher Education, Charles “Boomer” Russell, studying Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology and Yi Yang, studying Material Sciences and Engineering.

“You are graduate students representing the future of our great university and our great nation. Together, you’re working to solve some of the most challenging problems in our lives. We are so very proud of your commitment to create and apply knowledge that truly will save lives and lead to prosperous, secure and sustainable futures for all,” Crawford said.

28 students were nominated for this award, though it was only granted to Narvaiz, Russell and Yang. Of these three, Yang received the 2023 Graduate Researcher of the Year.

The next award was titled “Excellence in Graduate Teaching.” Ferlin McGaskey, director of professional development, teaching and learning innovation presented the award.

“The most difficult role [graduate students] have is that of a graduate teaching assistant. It is a crucial and vital role that enables our institution to meet its goals and objectives in all areas for our students, our state, and our world,” McGaskey said.

24 students were nominated and the three recipients were as follows: Nicholas Grondin who is studying Geography, Nicole Lussier who is studying Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the 2023 Graduate Teacher of the Year, Kristel Scoresby, who is studying Social Work.

There were nine nominations for the third award, which honored graduate and professional students who exemplified extraordinary leadership, participated in service learning or other community initiatives or provided service leadership to their academic discipline.

Mandie Beeler, the director of the Jones Center for Leadership and Service, presented this award to Chulin Chen who studies Industrial & Systems Engineering, Laura Horton who studies Comparative and Experimental Medicine and Jeana Partin who studies Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

“Service connects people socially, emotionally, and spiritually. These students truly live out the Volunteer spirit,” Beeler said before presenting Chen with the 2023 Graduate Student Leader of the Year award. “The commitment to serving others is a large part of what makes Rocky Top a great place to be and all of these student leaders represent us, but especially Chen.”

The Excellence in Community Engagement award was presented by Tyvi Small, vice chancellor for diversity and engagement, to Ashley Browning who studies Sociology, Morgan Fleming who studies Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Megan Kleeschulte who studies Anthropology. Kleeschulte was alsonamed the 2023 Graduate Volunteer of the Year.

“UT is one of 28 universities nationally to be considered by the Carnegie Foundation as a community engaged with very high research activity. Out of the seven nominations for this award, GSS is recognizing three graduate students for their dedication to including and engaging the community in their outreach and research,” Small said.

Byron Hughes, assistant vice chancellor and dean of students, presented the fifth award, naming an Outstanding Graduate Student Organization. The three organizations that received this award were the Knoxville-Tennessee Environmental Soil and Stream Testing organization, Plant Sciences Graduate Student Association — who also received the 2023 Graduate Student Organization of the Year award — and the Women’s Organization of MBAs.

In his introduction of the groups, Hughes notes how crucial the graduate student experience is to a thriving campus life.

“The transforming power of an organization matters. It’s a space for collisions of people and purpose for people and purpose to intersect. Rocky Top is made better when people come together, centered around purpose, and commit to using their strengths and talents to move forward,” Hughes said.

The following three awards were given to those who teach, mentor and support graduate and professional students.

The first of these, the sixth total award, was presented by Elisabeth Schussler, the faculty senate president, to three professors who have shown outstanding commitment to teaching graduate and professional students. The honor was awarded to Kate McClernon-Chaffin of the

Social Work department, who was also named the 2023 Graduate Professor of the Year, Rajan Lamichhane of the Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology department and Louis Rocconi of the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies department.

The seventh award for Outstanding Graduate Research Mentor was awarded to three recipients by John Zomchick, senior vice chancellor and provost. These recipients were Sindu Jagadamma of the Biosystems Engineering and Soil Sciences department, Keerthi Krishnan of the Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology department and Joshua Rosenberg of the Theory & Practice in Teacher Education department. Jagadamma was named the 2023 Graduate Research Mentor of the Year.

Joshua Kenna of Theory & Practice in Teacher Education, Louis Presser of Sociology, and Morgan Tolbert of Veterinary Medicine were awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Support award by Dixie L. Thompson, vice provost and dean of the graduate school. Presser was named the 2023 Graduate Director and Coordinator of the Year. As Presser’s name was announced, her attending children broke out into cheers of joy, becoming one of the highlights of the night.

The last award of the night was presented by Chappell. The honor of Graduate Student Senate Outstanding Contribution was awarded to Kassie Hollabaugh of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Karen Norwood of English and Breanna Schaeffer of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering. The recipient of 2023 Graduate Student Senator of the Year was Travel Awards Committee Chair Hollabaugh.

Thompson was welcomed back on stage for the closing remarks of this event.

“This night made me reflect on all the different ways that graduate education impacts our campus. The research that our students do, the teaching that they perform, the work they do in our communities through service and leadership, and the team around them that makes it all work,” Thompson said.

Thompson bid farewell to those who attended the banquet.

“Don’t forget: this is Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. Say thanks to a graduate student this week! Have a good night,” Thompson said.