Excellence in Academic Outreach

The land-grant mission of the University of Tennessee directs us to use our intellectual capital to benefit the citizens of our state. The Academic Outreach Award goes to a faculty member and a student organization that exemplify this goal.

The faculty recipient is Dr. Marilyn Kallet, professor of English. Not only has she brought accomplished writers and poets to campus, she also makes sure the visiting artists can share their time with students, teachers, senior citizens, and others in the community. She works closely with Knox County schools to mentor and tutor students in composition and creative writing and hosts an annual Young Writers Institute that brings high school English students to campus for a day of workshops to encourage and improve creative writing. In her nomination, her department head wrote, “No one in our community has done more to ensure that we continue to have opportunities to enjoy the beauty of our language and to contemplate the meaning of our own humanity.”

The student organization winner of the Academic Outreach Award is the National Society Of Black Engineers, chaired by Trevor Williams. This organization is active in community service projects including tutoring students at Vine Middle School in math and science. Members also visit high schools to talk about engineering and the problems engineers explore in their research. The group hosts a daylong design competition that encourages interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among Knox County high school students.