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 2008 Academic Outreach award goes to JOHN PETERS, professor of educational psychology and counseling. Since Peters came to UT in 1970, he has built an impressive record of academic outreach through teaching, scholarship and service. He uses his expertise to engage the community in collaborative relationships, which improve the skills of university students as well as practitioners in the community. In fact, his work led to the development of a doctoral program specializing in collaborative learning. Throughout it all, he has brought his students along, mentoring them as they learn to serve their community with their own expertise. In his nomination letter, a colleague wrote, “A faculty’s skill and knowledge sets sometimes match current needs. However, needs are constantly changing. Dr. Peters’ accomplishments show that he’s adjusted his outreach efforts to meet these changing needs for almost four decades.”