Alison Buchan, Carolyn W. Fite Professor of Microbiology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has received the 2022 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the SEC announced March 28.
Buchan is a marine microbial ecologist studying the interactions among heterotrophic marine bacteria, using a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the physiology, ecology, and impact of microbes and viruses that perform fundamental transformations in the earth’s ecosystems. She also serves as interim head of the Department of Microbiology.
Buchan has received continual funding from the National Science Foundation since 2005, and she was recently elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She has garnered numerous awards, including the Chancellor’s Award for Professional Promise in Research.
“Dr. Buchan is an outstanding and engaged scholar, teacher, and leader who is driven by a desire to help others,” said John Zomchick, provost and senior vice chancellor. “Her research is innovative and groundbreaking, her teaching is inclusive and inspiring, and her service to the department and university is exemplary. Dr. Buchan’s integrity, respect for others, and strong sense of community reflect everything we, as the SEC, want our faculty to be.”
First presented in 2012 and selected by the SEC provosts, the awards honor one individual from each SEC member university who has excelled in teaching—particularly at the undergraduate level—and research.
To receive an SEC achievement award the faculty member must have achieved the rank of full professor; have a record of extraordinary teaching, particularly at the undergraduate level; and have a record of research that is recognized nationally or internationally.
Recipients are awarded a $5,000 honorarium from the SEC and become their campus nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award, which will be announced in late April.
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CONTACT:
Tyra Haag (865-974-5460, tyra.haag@tennessee.edu)