Volunteer. Leadership. Service. Those three words were spoken many times on Friday as more than a thousand UT students walked across the commencement stage in Thompson-Boling Arena to receive their diplomas.
Five students will graduate Friday, with more than 225 hours of community service each, earning the gold service medallion awarded by the Jones Center for Leadership and Service.
Conny Sidi Kazungu remembers hearing her dad’s voice on the other end of the phone and exhaling. Only minutes earlier, she had heard the blast from her home. Suicide bombers in trucks parked outside the US Embassy in Nairobi had exploded, killing more than 200 people.
Sales of a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, T-shirt designed by a fourth-grade boy in Florida raised $952,101 for STOMP Out Bullying. The young fan created the homemade shirt to show his love for the Volunteers. UT’s VolShop offered to print the boy’s design for him as a gesture of appreciation.
On November 15, the night before Garth Brooks’s sold-out concert inside Neyland Stadium, Ashley Humphrey stood a few feet away from the singer during his sound check, waiting to ask for a favor. “Garth, will you sign my graduation cap?” she shouted during a pause in the music.
From his first week on campus four years ago, Mustafa Ali-Smith had his mind set. He would become the first person in his family to graduate from college. But as important as succeeding academically was to him, he knew he wanted to do more, too.
Kylie Hubbard is ready for her next story. Hubbard is concluding her third semester as editor-in-chief of UT’s independent student newspaper, the Daily Beacon. She graduates this month with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and electronic media.
UT senior Travis Bryan, a student veteran, dreams about graduating in December and walking into his future.
Planning to be on campus studying for finals during the evening? Check out this list of buildings and dining locations that will have extended hours during finals.
UT’s fall undergraduate commencement and graduate hooding ceremonies will be held December 12 and 13.
UT welcomes fans and visitors to campus Saturday for this year’s final home football game.
Two UT professors have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
