CoverStoryKevin Burdette, Class of 1997Kevin Burdette--UT Whittle Scholars and College Scholars alumnus, graduate of The Juilliard School and Columbia University Law School, internationally acclaimed opera singer, and this year’s Chancellor’s Honors Program commencement speaker--has followed a far-from-cookie-cutter path through his education and career.  

call for future cover stories If you have a great photo of yourself wearing a UT t-shirt, sweatshirt, or other

Tennessee gear, out in the community, around the country, or around the world, please share it with us!

One current student or honors alumnus will be chosen as the cover image for each issue of Honors at Tennessee.

Send your high-resolution photo and brief (2-3 sentences) description of what’s going on in the photo to Chad Covert at ccovert@utk.edu.

Spring is a wonderful time on campus. After having worked for four years or more, undergraduates at last will walk in their commencement ceremonies, receive their earned sheepskins, and then depart for post-graduate programs, travel, or jobs. Some will return to their alma mater at homecoming, although for most it will be a permanent parting to face the challenges that are ahead. Three weeks after those graduates have departed, a new class of freshmen arrive for their summer orientation. Unfortunately, those men and women who can give them the best advice on how to succeed in college already have left, those who have just graduated days before. Their experiences would have helped others avoid the avoidable mistakes, would have whispered the rules found only in the unpublished survival manual, would have encouraged them when they take their first tumbles.

Since the graduates of the Class of 2013 have gone, let me offer some pieces of advice to those in the Class of 2017. Much of these pieces of so-called wisdom will be ignored as those bright and ambitious freshmen appear determined to repeat the errors of their elders. But I offer them nonetheless. First of all, and first to be ignored, is the suggestion to STUDY LESS, BUT LEARN MORE. Doubtless some studying is necessary, but in college true learning often comes from reading, conversation, and simple thinking. Follow those independent thoughts wherever they may lead, instead of simply memorizing the so-called laws of the past. As Henry Ford once put it, if he had asked what the people wanted, they would have replied that they wanted a faster horse.

Second, learn to learn in groups, or teams. Law school students have been doing this for years, and it has worked for years. In the future, most of the inventions, laws, business decisions, medical breakthroughs and whatever will be made by groups, teams, committees. Learn to work in groups, to improve the group's performance through your own ideas or from reshaping the ideas of another. But how will freshmen create these necessary groups? I would hope that the first day of class, that one first-year student will reach across the aisle and shake the hand of the person in the nearby seat. Offer to buy that person a soft drink...and talk. Then each of you can replicate this by inviting one more person into the evolving group until there are four...which should be enough. Those who are ill-suited for this will drop away, and be replaced by someone more energetic, more innovative, more courageous.

Finally, understand that the world that each freshman came from is a comparatively narrow place. So widen the experiences: go to the opera, even if you've never been before. The University spends an enormous amount of money bringing cultural attractions, nationally prominent speakers, etc. Experiment. Even go to a football game, if you've never been. Learning is everywhere, not just in the classroom.

I don't know whether the recently-graduated seniors would have told you all of this - and perhaps they would have offered much more. Try each of them, and over the next few years all some advice of your own - to tell green freshmen as they face this new and different world.

Sincerely,

W. Bruce Wheeler, PhD, Interim Director

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In this Issue...

.......................................................Honors Peer Advisors 4-5By Margaret Ross

.....................................Meet CHP Alum Kevin Burdette 6-9By Daniel Aycock

.................................................Study Abroad: Finland 10-15By Christina Clouthier

.........................................Honors Enrichment Fellows 16-18By Dr. Andrew Q. Morse

.................................................CHP Welcomes New Staff19

..................................Honors Alumni Give Back Back Cover

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Honors Peer AdvisorsWritten by Margaret Ross

Students in the Chancellor’s Honors Program benefit from many unique opportunities, including meeting with an Honors Peer Advisor (HPA). What is an HPA, you may ask? HPAs are upperclassmen in the CHP who provide guidance to Honors students on topics such as the Honors curriculum, organizations on campus, Ready for the World opportunities, and the senior thesis project. Each HPA has a unique background that allows him or her to tailor advising sessions to to CHP student needs.

Currently, seven upperclassmen and one graduate student serve as HPAs:•Emily Gettelfinger is a senior from Knoxville who is majoring in Logistics and Honors Economics. She has studied abroad in Germany, interned in New Jersey, and worked as an Honors Peer Advisor for the last two years. •Adam Evans is a senior in Biomedical Engineering with plans to attend medical school after graduation. He has worked as a research assistant on campus and studied abroad in Cambridge. This is his second year as an HPA. •Gracie McGuire is a junior majoring in Animal Science and minoring in Spanish. She also studies German and volunteers with a local Hospice group. She is a member of the Honors Ambassadors and recently became an Honors Peer Advisor. •Lauren Gregg is a junior majoring in Advertising with two minors in Journalism and Electronic Media and Business Administration. She is from Hendersonville, Tennessee and is involved in a variety of campus groups, including Student Alumni Associates and Honors Ambassadors. She chose to become a peer advisor because she has a passion for the students at the University of Tennessee. Giving back to UT by investing in the students is of utmost importance to Lauren. •Phillip Mingola is a senior in the Honors Mathematics Programs who has served as an Honors Peer Advisor for two years. Phillip also serves as a Math Tutor. He plans to attend medical school after graduation and pursue a career in surgery. •Matheson Williams is a junior from North Carolina and plans to attend medical school. She has studied abroad in Cambridge and gone on a medical mission trip to Haiti.

Emily Gettelfinger

Adam Evans

Gracie McGuire

Lauren Gregg

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•Margaret Ross serves as the Honors Council President, and is also an Honors Peer Advisor. She is an economics major with a concentration in international business and a math minor. She is also a member of the Global Leadership Scholars Program and has studied abroad in London. She loves honors peer advising because she truly enjoys helping underclassmen make the most of their experience at UT. According to Margaret, “There are so many worthwhile organizations and activities at UT. It can be a bit overwhelming navigating through them all, especially as a freshman. However, with the help of the HPAs,

CHP students have the unique advantage of having the guidance of an upperclassman who has been through it all and can really help each student find what sparks his or her curiosity, academically and socially.” •Chad Covert currently attends UT’s MBA program and is a graduate assistant for the CHP. He also attended UT as an undergraduate and was a member of the CHP.

Freshman and sophomore students are required to meet with an HPA once per school year (upperclassmen are encouraged, but not required). When a student meets with an honors peer advisor, the HPA discusses which parts of the honors curriculum the student has met, and what still needs to be met. He or she will also discuss different opportunities for the Ready for the World requirement. Most of the HPAs have already studied abroad and thus, have a wealth of information concerning the process and experience from which underclassmen can learn. Also, all of the HPAs are involved in a variety of organizations across campus and can help students find organizations that fit their interests.

Honors Peer Advisors really care about the success of their peers in the CHP. Matheson Williams enjoys being a peer advisor because she “loves to hear what people are doing and the accomplishments they have had here at UT.” Also, she “loves to truly help someone get closer to achieving their goals with advice that I give them."

The Honors Peer Advisors are an integral to the success of students in the CHP. As fellow peer advisor Lauren Gregg says, “Being advised is incredibly beneficial. The Honors Peer Advisors are able to give firsthand advice from their UT experiences, whether it's the inside scoop on study abroad opportunities or innovative senior thesis ideas. Through an honors advising session, students can find the answers to their honors quagmires, discover ways to engage in UT, and meet a passionate honors student.”

By taking advantage of the knowledge and advice of the HPAs, Honors students are presented with a special opportunity to learn from experienced upperclassmen.

Phillip Mingola

Matheson Williams

Margaret Ross

Chad Covert

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Chad Covert

Who is Kevin Burdette?

_____KEVIN__Meet CHP AlumLawyer, Opera Singer, Commencement Speaker

By Daniel Aycock

Kevin Burdette--UT Whittle Scholars and College Scholars alumnus, graduate of The Juilliard School and Co l umb ia U n i ve r s i t y La w Sc hoo l , internationally acclaimed opera singer, and this y e a r ’ s C h a n c e l l o r ’ s H o n o r s P r o g r a m commencement speaker--has followed a far-from-cookie-cutter path through his education and career.  

As the son of a UT professor, Burdette always knew the state’s flagship research institution would be on his “short list” of schools, and when he received a Whittle Scholarship offer with its component of a year abroad, he says he “canceled scholarship interviews at other institutions-- I had the offer I most wanted.”  At UT, Burdette combined interests in history, law and music in a College Scholars program of study that resulted in a senior thesis examining the treatment

o f “ s o c i e t a l l y marginalized groups” in opera. Outside of the classroom, Burdette was involved in s tudent government, served as a resident assistant in past-CHP headquarters and past-past residential paradise Melrose Hall, directed groups for All-Sing, performed with the Chamber Singers,

played viola in the UT Civic Orchestra, performed with the UT Opera Theater, and sang in the chorus of the Knoxville Opera. His Whittle year abroad at the Wiener Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria convinced Burdette that “music, in general,

and

opera, in particular, did not have to be merely a hobby or secondary interest--it could be a profession, a life.”

After splitting his two-year program at Juilliard with a one-year stint at l'Opéra National de Paris and performing full time thereafter for three years, Burdette finally accepted his six-year deferral from Columbia and completed two years of work with prominent New York corporate law firm Debevoise & Plimpton (all while performing to some degree). Burdette says it was not until he took what became a permanent leave of absence from the firm to perform in both his Met debut and a production in Buenos Aires that he “realized that my heart lay

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__BURDETTE__

there, onstage.” He has not since looked back since, having worked as a soloist with opera companies all over the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, Opéra de Montréal, New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Amer ican Symphony Orchestra, and the Spoleto Festival USA among many others.

For someone so successful, Burdette is as humble as he is fascinating; he cites many of his experiences in College Scholars and the University Honors

Program as foundational to his success in graduate school and in his career.   Extensive onstage experience and one-on-one coaching with the likes of Carroll Freeman, Michael Ehrman and Andy Wentzel gave Burdette “the craft and confidence to move to New York and jump into the deep end.” A rigorous academic load in pursuit of two Bachelor of Arts degrees (one in College Scholars and one in Music with a History minor) in the “safe environs of the University Honors Program” prepared him for the seemingly inhuman task of simultaneously p e r f o r m i n g with the New Y o r k C i t y O p e r a a n d studying as a Kent Scholar at Columbia Law.  

Perhaps most telling, however, of the place Burdette’s alma mater still holds in his heart, is his response an inquiry about his fondest memories of UT: “...my father is a professor at UT--he is the Fred N. Peebles Professor of Civil Engineering. His office is in Perkins Hall, on the Hill, almost in the shadow of Neyland Stadium, and I would drop by his office at least once a week, if not more. Of all the fun and rewarding things I did at UT, those visits remain my fondest memories of UT.”

We are fortunate to highlight Kevin Burdette’s accomplishments in this newsletter and to host him as the Chancellor’s Honors Program’s 2013 commencement speaker.

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StudyABROADSenior Christina Clouthier reflects on her research and study in Helsinki Finland

The summer of my junior year I spent two months in Helsinki, Finland studying architecture at the UTK Finland Summer Institute at Aalto University with 15 other students of the Col lege of Architecture + Design. The goal of the program was to approach d e s i g n w i t h i n t h e broader  context  of the Finnish national cultural identity by first experiencing cultural activities and studying historic and modern Finnish architecture. We then applied our experiences to a final architectural design project.

The first full day in Helsinki, we took a bus into the country and hiked to a lakeside assemblage of cabins and saunas owned and designed by the Society of Finnish Architects in an area called Kiljava. This part of the trip was meant to introduce us to Finnish traditions, specifically the sauna as an architectural and cultural heritage. The sauna maintains an extremely important role in everyday life and is integral to our understanding of national identity.

Over the next week we spent the days measuring and drafting the two sauna houses by the lake, and in the evenings we practiced the tradition of the Finnish sauna in those same buildings.

While measuring the saunas, we began the slow process of heating the coals to the perfect temperature. When ready, all of the girls—ladies first of course—piled into the tiny wooden steam room. With each cupful of water thrown on the coals a cloud of heat washed over us until, after about fifteen minutes of suffocating heat, we ran and jumped straight off the dock into   the biting cold water.

Before my toes even touched the water I knew I must be insane, but panicked gasping was soon followed by a blissful, euphoric sensation that can only be compared to the endorphin fueled high of a long run. It was truly amazing.

Finnish Cultural Identity

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After long days of segregated tasks and refreshing saunas, we  all would sit down and share stories over a traditional Finnish dinner before retiring to a lakeside campfire. Stealing last glances at the crisp, blue lake, at the end of a too short week, we walked away from the cabins having transformed into a community.

Continuing the backpacking style, we moved on to another cabin on the Baltic Sea that neighbored an architectural landmark designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1901. We measured every inch of this house and site for use in research at the Aalto University in Helsinki. Here we lived in a large house with a Finnish family whom an unfortunate cold afforded me the amazing expe r i ence o f ge t t i ng t o know. The grandmother, mother, aunts and I had tea and cookies. They quizzed me and laughed as I fumbled over Finnish and we shared stories of our significantly contrasting lives. This family was so giving and loving and I truly miss them.

Helsinki is an amazingly vivid city with a rich architectural and cultural presence. Our dorms were in the center of town and only a short walk or bus ride from almost anywhere we could wish to go. For the next month our days were split between reconstructing the Saarinen house in drawings and wooden models and studying Finnish architectural history at the Aalto University. Most days our history  professor, Finnish historian Sirrkalissa Jetsonen, led us through the city narrating the temporal layers of the Finnish architectural evolution.

Life in the city....

Helsinki Senate Square

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Bungee jumping fun...

The last day in Helsinki our class gathered enough money and put everyone’s name in a hat, including our professors, one of which was the Director of the College of Architecture and Design. As fate would have it was the Director’s name that was pulled from the hat for the opportunity to jump from one of the highest bungee jumps in the world.

After watching him jump. I decided I could not leave Helsinki without following suit and jumping from that crane.

The view was indescribable.

I will never forget how it felt and the things I saw. Bungee jumping is not for everyone, but study abroad is an opportunity to remove yourself from the expected and experience those important jarring moments in life.

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Despite our course schedule we found plenty of time to explore the city and visit museums. I often took time in the mornings to find an obscure coffee shop where I read or sketched the sites around me, most often the harbor or market.  These explorations of the city and its museums became critical to our final course project. Our design  project  was based on a series of self portraits, “Omakuva”, by the  Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck  at the Ateneum Art Museum. We were meant to synthesize our experiences thus far into a design project that would be our own self portraits.

Study abroad opens you up to new experiences that inevitably inspire questioning and reevaluation. By the end of the trip I felt different but better acquainted with myself as a person and where I wanted to be. The final design project as an exploration of self and identity in the context of the Finnish landscape and culture only added to, or even catalyzed this exploration of truth and purpose.

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Honors Enrichment FellowsBy Andrew Q. Morse, PhD

This spr ing, freshmen honors s tudents experienced a new and engaging honors course: the Honors Enrichment Fellows Program (HEF). The HEF offers courses designed and taught by current honors students combining classroom instruction with co-curricular projects. These courses, which vary in topic from an inquiry into environmental sustainability to a study on culture through banned books, provide peers the opportunity to connect through stimulating and appealing subjects. Closely tied to the subject matter are out-of-class co-curricular activities that complement in-class learning by building relationships with fellow students and familiarizing them with the campus and Knoxville communities.

S tudents par t ic ipate in many learning experiences in the HEF. Senior Megan Schutt leads a course on environmental sustainability where

students are challenged to work as a group planning a city and addressing problems related to energy consumption. Senior Coleman Garner’s Psychology of Elections course engages students about behavior as it relates to the campaign process. In this course, students learn about the various ways campaigns attempt to persuade voters and the importance of fact checking.

The HEF is not only designed to engage first-year students with learning experiences, but to also provide the instructors with opportunities to develop their intellectual interests, to explore the teaching process, and to mentor peers. Students selected to lead the HEP courses underwent a rigorous training program to develop the skills needed to lead a semester-long course.

Reflecting on his experience leading his section, Coleman shared, “It has been much more

CHP Enriches the First-Year Experience for Honors Freshmen

Continued on Next Page...

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challenging to lead the class as a student than I expected. There is a great deal of work, preparation, and self-directed learning on my part involved, but it has been worth every moment thus far. In the beginning, I was very nervous and self-conscious about being in the instructor role. I thought the class would think, ‘This guy is just a kid - what the heck does he know?’ Now, the more I teach, the more confident I become.” Coleman, who plans to attend a graduate program in Psychology, used this opportunity to align his future aspirations as an educator to his HEF teaching experience.

HEF Spotlight: Will Barbour

One of the most pressing issues of our time is that of reducing our carbon footprint via alternative energy technologies. When the opportunity arose to lead a seminar class of honors freshman students, I felt that it would be a perfect place to promote education and initiate discussion on the topic; I titled my class “Humanity and the Environment”. The students in our universities are going to be the researchers, businessmen, and promoters at the forefront of the alternative energy revolution. In designing my class, I chose to focus less on the standard information concerning alternative energies and more on the smaller, promising technologies and the future of energy. For instance, one of our co-curricular activities took students to Vonore, TN, the home of Genera Energy. Genera has been researching the feasibility and practicality of deriving bioethanol from cellulosic sources (switchgrass, particularly). Their research is crucial in making bioethanol a larger part of our energy portfolio and the potential for switchgrass to be grown for these purposes would be an enormous opportunity for farmers in Tennessee and the southeast. Our other co-curricular activities included a tour of UT’s own steam plant, and the University’s Living Light House, an entry in the international Solar

Decathlon competition. I hope that the seminar has been informative and captivating for the students involved, because chances are that some of them will be involved in alternative energies in the years to come.

HEF Spotlight: Kent Connell

My class is entitled “Peeling Away The Onion.” During our seminars, we discuss the satirical news source, The Onion. By the end of the semester, students will have written their own satirical articles about life at the University of Tennessee and Knoxville that we will compile into a newspaper similar to The Onion. What’s great about this

Meghan Schutt displays Voices for Appalachia -A Portrait Story Project -Written and Narrated by Hundreds for her HEF course.

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project is that it causes students to look at the events occurring around them with a critical eyewhile also allowing them to show off their creative side. The students in my class have made this whole experience rewarding. Every time we meet, I am so impressed with what they have to contribute as well as the diverse ideas that flow throughout the classroom. Of course, seminars are only half of the Honors Enrichment Program. By the end of the semester, we will have played games to bond as a group, picnicked together, attended the theater, played laser tag, and checked out art at the Dogwood Arts Festival. Overall, the Honors Enrichment Program has been a blast, and I cannot stress enough how great of an impact my students have had on me.

HEF Spotlight: Megan Schutt

I think that the format of my course has really brought some of the students out of their shell. Some are more passionate about energy issues, so that can come out in class commentary and discussion about coal mining for example, while some students are natural leaders, or more outgoing in general, so they take the helm during group activities.

I am always careful to stay objective during discussion, because the goal of this class, for me, is to have the students be able to see every side of the issue, all the nuances, etc. One student asked what cognitive dissonance (the title of the class) meant, and I explained that it was the term for having two ideas in your head, and you think both of them are correct. So in discussing energy policy or “solutions” the students are really seeming to understand that their isn't some glorious answer. There are ideas that have pros and cons that all have to be taken into account. This, I believe, is what is lacking in higher education, the ability to think critically about a topic no matter what you already “know” or what your personal beliefs are. I think I am helping them develop these skills as

freshmen, and in a variety of disciplines, so they can utilize the same thought processes later on.

This is one of the best experiences I have had in college. It's different from being a regular teaching assistant because I actually got a say in what my class focused on. I'm not that much older than them, in fact I knew a couple of the kids in my class, so it's more like a peer relationship than anything else. I introduce the topic but after that I simply moderate discussion. I will say that I have grown in that I get a teacher's perspective on kids who don't come to class, or show up late. Before, I used to think that professors didn't notice or didn't care (and maybe some don't), but it definitely influenced my perception of myself as a student.

Meghan Schutt displays Voices for Appalachia -A Portrait Story Project -Written and Narrated by Hundreds for her HEF course.

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Matt BlaylockGraduate Assistant, PhD Candidate in History

CHP Welcomes New Staff

Sarah HunterAssistant Director

Sarah Hunter is the newest Assistant Director.  She joined the Chancellor’s Honors and Haslam Scholars Programs in December 2012 following a 25-year career as a health care clinician and administrator.  Sarah has a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Penn University (1984) and Master’s degrees from Indiana University (Social Work, 1987) and Anderson University (Business Administration, 2001).  She is looking forward to working with students to ensure they have a rich experience as part of the Chancellor’s Honors Program.

Sarah’s main responsibilities include: Student acceptance, Honors Ambassadors, Honors Community Board, Honors Teaching Fellows, Honors Forum, Honors Convocation

A native of Indiana, Sarah resides in Wears Valley in Sevier County.

Matt received his BS in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2005.  He later majored in history at the University of North Carolina Asheville and then received an MA in American History from Western Carolina University in 2011.  Matt is currently working on his PhD in American History here at UTK.  His main historical interests include social and cultural history with an emphasis on the American South.

Matt will focus on community building in the Honors Program through the coordination of the Honors Community Board and Honors Mentor Program.

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Chancellor’s Honors &Haslam Scholars Programs1640 Cumberland Ave.Knoxville, TN 37996-3340

honorsAlumni Support Honors Program

The success of the Chancellor’s Honors Program has been enhanced by generous gifts from alumni and friends to the Honors Program Enrichment Fund. Donations to this fund have been used to create the Honors Computer lounge, award study abroad scholarships, and enhance student activities. To contribute to the Honors Enrichment Fund, follow the instructions below. We appreciate your continued support of the Chancellor’s Honors Program!

The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. E01-4520-001-13

If you would like to contribute to the Honors Program Enrichment Fund:

1) Visit honors.utk.edu

2) Click the “Support Us” icon on the right side of the page (shown below).

3. Make sure Honors Program Enrichment Fund is selected!

4. Thank you for your support!

Thank You!