Stacy Goodwin Lightfoot has been appointed as the first vice chancellor for diversity and engagement at UTC. She spent the last 12 years with Chattanooga’s Public Education Foundation, most recently as the organization’s executive vice president.
“UTC is poised and ready to foster a more inclusive environment and build a more inclusive campus so that all students, faculty and staff members can excel and achieve by being in a space that honors and celebrates their differences,” she says.
Future teachers? Maybe?
The Governor’s School at UT Chattanooga celebrated its 30th birthday this summer. For high school students considering a career in teaching, the four-week program gives them a lesson in the day-to-day realities of being a teacher.
“A lot of the activities that we’ve done helped me make more informed decisions about what I would like specifically in my classroom,” says Emory Morgan, who attended the most recent Governor’s School.
Skjellum Helps Faculty Monetize and Protect Their Work
The first commercialization counselor at UTC, Jennifer Skjellum steers faculty through the process of taking their ideas, research, devices and developments off the campus and into the wider market. Patent applications from UTC increased 700 percent since she was hired.
“They need first to realize that they have intellectual property, and they need to think about protecting it and think that what they’re doing has longer-term applicability or impact,” Skjellum says.
ROTC Commissions Largest Class Since 2007
Twelve graduates of UT Chattanooga’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program recently were commissioned as U.S. Army second lieutenants, the largest ROTC class since the program was reactivated at the university in 2007.
“We have between 60 to 70 cadets in the program every year, but they don’t have to make a decision if they want to contract with us until junior year—and getting up at 6 a.m. to go running every morning isn’t for everyone,” says Capt. A.J. Herink, head of the Department of Military Science.
Mike Royster Lays Down His Mocs Helmet
After more than 47 years as the UT Chattanooga football team’s equipment manager, Mike Royster will relinquish day-to-day duties at the end of June when he officially retires.
The key word there is “officially.” Unofficially, he still plans to lend a hand on game days.
“What else am I going to do other than sleep late?” he says with a laugh. “I don’t have any big plans, and I certainly don’t mind coming back to help out and work the games.”
