Student Experience
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Love of Math Adds Up to Actuary Career
UT senior Ashley Burger completed two internships, passed two actuarial science professional exams, and secured her first job before graduation. The Volunteer culture drew Ashley Burger to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she discovered how to apply her enthusiasm for mathematics in the classroom to a career. In June she’ll become an actuarial analyst…
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Hunter Seeks Answers Through Political Science Research
Kevin Hunter’s curiosity about American political behavior led him to UT courses in not only political science but history, sociology, psychology, and Africana studies. Growing up in a military family that moved every few years, Kevin Hunter observed the world around him and became curious about what shapes people’s political behavior. As an undergraduate at…
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UT Graduate Student Joins Researchers in Antarctica
Microbiology doctoral candidate Jason Olavesen sailed to the Southern Ocean with an international team investigating microscopic organisms that drive global carbon cycles. Microbiology research took a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, student on a voyage in the Southern Ocean for nearly seven weeks in early 2026. Jason Olavesen, a third-year PhD student in UT’s Department of…
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Big Orange Ears Open Wide
Connections of art, literature, and music come alive for UT class through Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival. For the second year in a row, a musically adventurous class of UT students had the unparalleled experience of attending the Big Ears Music Festival, which draws performers and fans from across the globe to Knoxville each spring. This…
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A Home for Civic Explorers
A new Living and Learning Community (LLC) proposed by the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Department of Political Science will begin hosting students in the fall of 2026. The new Civic Explorers LLC, to be located in Robinson Hall, aims to introduce students to careers that promote civic engagement and build their appreciation…
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Justice Studies Builds in First Two Years
The interdisciplinary justice studies program celebrates a successful first academic year. The interdisciplinary Justice Studies Program (JUST) offers UT students the opportunity to integrate social sciences, humanities, and law to gain an enhanced, real-world understanding of social and economic justice issues across a variety of fields and career paths. The program launched in 2024 as…
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National Geographic Supports UT Research on Hemlocks
Doctoral student Sonja Schmoyer is using drone-based hyperspectral imaging and AI to detect invasive pests that are endangering one of America’s keystone species. The National Geographic Society has awarded a grant to Sonja Schmoyer, a doctoral student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for research designed to help protect endangered hemlock trees.Schmoyer is one of…
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Dumpster Treasures Research Shows UT Student Waste
A UT graduate student is researching the salvageable items students discard when they leave the Knoxville campus in spring. Chris Mayer has been sorting through dumpsters, cataloging the contents, and curating an art show to call attention to the waste. While earning his PhD in rhetoric, writing and linguistics, Chris Mayer has turned his interest…
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Medic to Medical Researcher
A US Army veteran, doctoral candidate Logan Dunn is driven to research the biochemistry behind neurological disorders. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Logan Dunn has been so passionate about his neurological research that he sometimes starts working in the lab hours before students head to their first class. “I’m so…
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Students’ Geographic Data Aids Costa Rican Village
Equipped with drones, thermal cameras, and more, members of UT’s GIS in the Community course traveled to Costa Rica for a real-world lesson in how geographic information science and technology can make lives better. GIS Course Serves Communities Through the course GIS in the Community, Geography 420, UT students have worked with state and local…