The Tickle College of Engineering has been named to honor distinguished alumnus John D. Tickle. It is the second college in the Knoxville campus’s 222-year history to be named for an alumnus and benefactor (the Haslam College of Business is the other). Tickle, a 1965 industrial engineering graduate from Bristol, Tennessee, is chairman of the Strongwell Corporation. Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek says John and Ann Tickle’s longtime support and their most recent transformational gift “will accelerate the college’s bold plans for growth and improvements and the university’s plans for becoming a top-ranked public research university.”
Alda Talks Science
Alan Alda, best known for his role as Captain Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H, is now widely known as a science educator. He brought his message about the importance of science communication to campus in November when he delivered the second Ken and Blaire Mossman Distinguished Lecture. Alda’s science interest began with his 14-year stint as host of Scientific American Frontiers, a TV show about cutting-edge advances in science and technology. In 2009, he founded the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, based in the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York, where he is also a visiting professor.
Rises in Rankings
Increases in graduation rates, alumni giving and the quality of students helped UT Knoxville gain ground in the 2017 U.S. News and World Report undergraduate rankings. UT climbed one spot over last year to 46th among all public universities and held at 103rd among all public and private universities. Also highly ranked: the Tickle College of Engineering, up four spots to 32nd among all public universities, and the Haslam College of Business, now ranked 30th among all public universities. The campus also was recognized for its strong support of veterans and their families, ranking 31st among all public universities on that list.
