KNOXVILLE — Three faculty members have been recognized for their exceptional work to enhance intercultural and international awareness among University of Tennessee students. The “Ready for the World” honors were announced in advance of the University of Tennessee’s 2008 Chancellor’s Honors Banquet, scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 9, on campus.
The awards banquet, set for 6 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom, is the largest campus awards ceremony honoring students, faculty, staff and friends of the university for their accomplishments throughout the year.
Ready for the World winners include:
-Dr. Richard Saudargas, director of the undergraduate psychology program. Saudargas has led the charge in infusing psychology courses with multi-cultural content. Because so many first year students take Introduction to Psychology, he uses the course as a chance to introduce multi-cultural psychology and underscore the university’s commitment to the Ready for the World initiative. For the course, Saudargas was instrumental in developing a set of readings based on multi-cultural research from China, Korea, Australia, Tanzania, Canada, Bangladesh, and other countries. He has also spearheaded the department’s first cross-cultural psychology course and its first study-abroad program in Greece.
-Dr. Josette Rabun and Dr. Stan Rabun have been instrumental in establishing and continuing the College of Architecture and Design’s exchange program with the Polytechnic University of Krakow in Poland. The program began in 1989, when the professors took 18 American students to Krakow, and will celebrate its twentieth anniversary next year. The thriving exchange program has resulted in more than 400 students, both American and Polish, having an opportunity to study abroad for a full semester. Their nominator calls them “dedicated educators teaching students to develop a worldview that recognizes, understands, and celebrates the complexity of cultures and people.”
The full list of all faculty, staff and student awards is available online at http://chancellor.utk.edu/honorsbanquet/.
Archived video of the event also will be available at this site.
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Contact: Beth Gladden, beth.gladden@tennessee.edu, 865-974-9008 or 865-771-1284
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