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Giving Voice to Untold Stories
Bella Thomas-Wilson curated professional skills to carry her personalized Volunteer light forward. Bella Thomas-Wilson’s lifelong fascination with storytelling in visual and performing arts inspired her to create her own unique major through UT’s College Scholars Program: “Public Art and Media with an Emphasis on Underrepresented Communities.” With an added minor in museum and curatorial studies,…
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Social Play by Adult Primates Is Linked to Social Style
UT Professor Emeritus Gordon Burghardt is part of an international team of researchers that has identified the strongest predictor of why only some primate species continue to engage in social play past their juvenile years. Although about half of primate species play as adults with other adults, a team of international researchers has just unlocked…
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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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Vols Behind the Vision: Lisa Stalnaker
“I believe in the value of higher education and take pride in working every day to help students progress towards becoming enlightened and prepared to navigate the world.” Lisa StalnakerAdministrative Specialist II / Undergraduate Coordinator Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology What do I love about working for the college? I love being science-adjacent in my…
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Molecular Lock Helps Power Life on Earth
Barry Bruce and colleagues shine new light on the mechanisms of photosynthesis. Professor Barry Bruce, Associate Professor Rajan Lamichhane, both of the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB), and colleagues co-authored a paper that newly reveals the dynamics of photosynthesis at the cellular level. The team, which included graduate student Sree Kavya…
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Deeper Investigations
New building and lab expand capabilities for forensic anthropology training and identification services at UT. UT’s Forensic Anthropology Center (FAC) took a substantial leap forward this spring with the opening of the new Forensic Anthropology Laboratory, adding much-needed space and capability that strengthens its already renowned international legacy of research, teaching, and service. The laboratory…
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Undergraduate Symposium Expands to Student Union
Arts and sciences students step forward with professional research and creative presentations during ASUReS. ASUReS Awards Reception Date: Monday, April 27, 2026 Time: 3:30–5:30 p.m. Location: Student Union, Room 262 The Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium (ASUReS) went big in its third year with a move from meeting spaces in Ayres Hall to large…
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Scholar Spotlight: Chelsea Mackaman-Lofland
“I study rocks that have been folded, faulted, crumpled up, and otherwise deformed to understand the forces that create mountain ranges and shape Earth’s landscapes.” Chelsea Mackaman-LoflandAssistant ProfessorDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences As an expert in structural geology and tectonics, my research combines a variety of field, analytical, and numerical modeling-based approaches. I…
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Well-Earned Accolades for the Home Team
The College of Arts and Sciences honored outstanding faculty and staff in its annual awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville. Faculty and staff awards presentations were combined in a single ceremony to honor colleagues across all areas of the college’s mission, selected by their peers to…
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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…