“Why not?” UT Knoxville alumnus Donnie Smith asks in “Like a Boss.” He asked it of himself, and he asks it of others in working with Africans to change agriculture on that continent.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “game changer” as a “newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way.” Change can be introduced by that simple question, “Why not?”

Perhaps it is asked either explicitly or implicitly by each person who challenges the norm, the way things have always been done. To introduce something new requires asking questions and then acting on the answers. It was asked 50 years ago with the creation of the UT system, which proved to be a game changer for UT and for education in the state. It can be found in the decision by a UT Martin music professor who decided to teach violin to Thai orphans or in a cancer researcher’s work at the UT Health Science Center or even by UT Knoxville professors looking for better ways to engage their students.

These are a few of UT’s game changers featured in this issue. Join us as we explore the question of “why not?” and the game changers who answered it.

Thank you for continuing to share your thoughts with us. We enjoy hearing from you as you let us know what we get right and wrong. We, too, strive to ask ourselves “why not?” with every issue to bring you the best work that we can. Let us know how we did with this one.

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