Angela Davis Speaks to Full House

Prominent educator, author and lecturer Angela Davis highlighted UT Chattanooga Martin Luther King Day 2023 festivities, speaking to a standing-room-only crowd during a discussion titled “A Call for Civility.”

“It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey, and the journey is infinite,” Davis says.

Davis has authored 10 books and numerous articles and essays and is the distingushed professor emerita of history of consciousness, an interdisciplinary doctoral program, and of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. During the last 25 years, she has lectured in all 50 states in the U.S., Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the former Soviet Union.

Oke Awarded Rangel Fellowship

Lola Oke
Lola Oke

Lola Oke, a political science major and Brock Scholar in the UT Chattanooga Honors College, is the first UTC student to be awarded a Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship.

She was one of 45 fellows selected nationwide for the 2023 cohort.

Rangel Graduate Fellowships, according to the program, support individuals who want to help formulate, represent and implement U.S. foreign policy through a career in the foreign service of the U.S. Department of State. Oke will receive up to $84,000 for a two-year master’s degree, two paid internships in the U.S. Congress and a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad, and mentoring and professional development opportunities.

Following her graduation in May, Oke will begin an orientation at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

“It means so much to me to be able to have even participated in the application process in the first place,” she says, “and I’ll be participating in a program that first and foremost was meant to diversify the space of diplomacy, the U.S. Department of State and foreign relations in general, and the voices that are able to be contributed to that.”

Taking Note(s): 125 High School Students Attend Festival

High school students perform during the Honor Band Festival.
High school students perform during the Honor Band Festival.

Malik Norwood was “1,000 percent” nervous at the 2022 Tri-State Honor Band Festival at UT Chattanooga.

An East Hamilton High School senior at the time, he had been playing French horn since seventh grade, but there was something nerve-wracking about stepping onstage to perform with high school honors band members from elsewhere in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.

“I was absolutely nervous, but as soon as I actually got into the environment of the rehearsals, it was night and day. It was wonderful,” says Norwood, now a UTC sophomore with a double major in music composition and instrumental music education.

Jittery nerves are common at the three-day Tri-State Honor Band Festival, attended this year by 125 high school students from Chattanooga area high schools; Chester County in West Tennessee; and Greeneville, South Carolina.