2018 Student Awards Celebration Recipients Continued

Established in 1992, this scholarship was created in celebration of the life of Andrew Charles Robinson by his grandparents, Ron and Kathy Moore. Andrew did not survive infancy, dying at the age of two months. Rather than simply being a sad moment in the lives of those who loved this child, it was the hope and intention of the family that his death would create an opportunity to enrich the lives of other children. To reach this ideal, recipients of this scholarship will dedicate themselves to improving the lives of children through teaching, nurturing, and modeling an example by which to live. The scholarship is awarded annually to a fifth-year intern majoring in Elementary Education.

• Abigail Morgan

As one of eight children, Dr. C. Glennon Rowell became a good student and was the first in his family to earn a college degree.  He was also invited to sit on the Oxford Roundtable, led the massive Claxton Education Complex building renovation project, established one of the most recognized fifth-year teacher internship programs in the nation, and as Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences devised the Educators Hall of Honor.

• Kelsey Fields

The Seaton Endowment honors the memory of Bruce Painter Seaton and Eva Woody Seaton, who were married in Knoxville on October 14, 1922, and were lifetime residents here.  Mr. Seaton served in the Knoxville Fire Department for 32 years, retiring in 1967 as assistant chief. He passed away in 1975 and Mrs. Seaton died August 10, 1992. Their daughter, Dr. Jennie D. Seaton and other family members, including grandchildren and great grandchildren, established this fellowship, designed to promote opportunities for graduate students who demonstrate successful academic and professional performance.

See Beautiful is a philanthropic company with a mission to provide inspiring,ethically-sourced products that create more beautiful through empowerment, education, and strategic giving initiatives. Founder and CEO, Dr. Lydia Criss Mays is a former Educator and University Professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education with a focus on equity, empowerment, and care. The students chosen to receive this award must, among other criteria, demonstrate a desire to see and create more beautiful in the world during and after their UTK academic experience.

Lyn Shafer Overholt and Elisabeth Shafer Sansom with their husbands, Gene Overholt and Bill Sansom, established this endowment to honor their mother for the legacy of love and family which she has given to each of her children. All three women are graduates of the former College of Human Ecology. This scholarship is given to students who are residents of Tennessee or have graduated from a Tennessee high school and are majoring in Child and Family Studies.

Andrea Sharp and Whitney Sharp Gibson have created the Sharp Family Scholarship to honor the dedication ever present in the work of their family. Andrea and Whitney are cousins who come from a family of public school teachers. They understand how difficult it can sometimes be to support a  family (and send a child to college) on a  teacher’s salary. Therefore, Andrea and Whitney felt it was important to create a scholarship to assist the child of a K-12 teacher. The Sharp family has received a total of nine degrees from the University of Tennessee.

• Lexi Graziuso

Patricia Grubbs Sherwood is a native of Blount County. In 1960 she graduated from the former College of Home Economics. Mrs. Sherwood taught Home Economics at South High School in Knoxville. Her love for the University and her field brought about the establishment of the Patricia Grubbs Sherwood Scholarship Endowment. Students majoring in disciplines formerly in the College of Human Ecology who are from Blount County and have demonstrated successful academic performance receive this scholarship.

• Aleigha Welshan
• Ashley Williams

R. Bruce Shipley and Sara Swann Shipley of Johnson City, Tennessee established five charitable remainder trusts with the University of Tennessee between 1989 and 1999. When Mr. Shipley passed away in 2002, Mrs. Shipley terminated the trust and activated the Shipley-Swann Endowment. This fellowship is to award returning students who demonstrate academic excellence.

• Haley Overby

Thomas A. and Darla Skelton established this fellowship to assist students in the fifth-year teacher internship program or other graduate students preparing tobecome administrators, counselors, or researchers in the field of education, with preference to those from Meigs County, Tennessee. For the first six years of their marriage, Mrs. Skelton was an elementary teacher in various public school systems around the country and saw the difference teachers can make. This fact, in addition to the severe shortage of good teachers today, prompted the Skeltons to want to assist and encourage young, energetic people who want to enter the teaching profession.

Johneta Lewis Smith graduated in 1934 from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and spent the next forty years working for TVA. In honor of her years as a student and then a teacher in Van Buren County, Johneta established this scholarship for fifth-year education students with first preference given to graduates from any Van Buren County, Tennessee High School.

• Virginia Urban

Dr. Hazel Taylor Spitze earned her doctorate at the University of Tennessee.  She and her husband, Bob, are lifelong contributors to the area of Family and Consumer Sciences and are nationally recognized for their strong commitment and dedication to education. This fellowship is awarded to doctoral students in a program focused on family, children, home, and parental development, which is presently known as Child and Family Studies.  The recipient shall have an outstanding academic ability and record, a proven commitment to these areas, full-time student status, and shall hold a Master’s degree in a related area.

• Jennifer Ward

This award was established in 1981 through a bequest from Sadie K. Stanton to provide scholarships to worthy and needy students in the areas of the former College of Human Ecology. Preference is given to students from Tennessee.

J. Donald Steele created this scholarship in honor of his mother, with additional support from Dr. Connie Steele and Mr. Kenneth Hobbs. It is awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student who shows professional promise and talent. Students from any major in the areas formerly in the College of Human Ecology are eligible.

• Tera Bumgarner

In 1983, Mr. and Mrs. Manfred Steinfeld established this scholarship to assist students majoring in Hotel Restaurant Administration. Preference is given to students who attended high school in the Morristown, TN area, specifically the Lakeway area.

This endowment was established by Jeanne and Neal Richardson to support those students who show high academic performance and are planning to teach science A quality education is vital for meeting the challenges of the future and the Richardson’s hope this endowment will help to increase the number of excellent science teachers need to meet this challenge. The name given to this scholarship honors four generations of Jeanne’s family and the posiitive influence they shared about the importance of  a good education.

The Tennessee Fellowship for Graduate Excellence is the signature graduate fellowship program at the University of Tennessee.  This prestigious fellowship is offered to top incoming doctoral and termina-degree students at UT. Recipients of this award are known as Tennessee Fellows.

Mrs. Carolyn Roper graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Home Economics in 1960. She spent her entire professional career as a dietitian working in nursing homes and later for the Georgia Medical Care Foundation. The purpose of her gift is to recognize outstanding students who are in the dietetic internship program within the Department of Nutrition She wishes to honor her mother and father by naming the award in their memory.

• Adeline Grier-Welch

In 2003, Wilma Chalkier Thomas, an alumna of the former College Of Education, wishing to provide assistance to students preparing to enter the teaching profession, provided a generous endowment to fund fellowships for teacher interns in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

• Conner Mitchell

Family and friends established this award in 2006 in his honor.  Charles L. Thompson was a professor of Counselor Education and Educational Psychology at the University of Tennessee from 1967 to 2005.  According to his friends and colleagues, Thompson’s star shone brightest in the classroom and in his relationship with his students.  This recipient shall have similar interests.

• Rachel Geren

The Brent L. and Rachel W. Trentham Endowed Scholarship, established in 2013, recognizes and awards a VolsTeach student who has demonstrated high-quality math teaching skills and commitment to the education profession. Brent and Rachel are alumni of the University of Tennesee.

• Alana Cooper

Mr. R. R. Vance was an alumnus of the University of Tennessee and a dear friend of the University’s President Andy Holt. Mr. Vance was the first full-time Executive Secretary of the Tennessee Retired Teachers Association (TRTA). During his tenure the TRTA became a model for other state associations. This endowment was the result of contributions from almost every TRTA member and was presented as a retirement gift in recognition of his career on behalf of educators. Since that time the fund has also benefited from gifts from other friends and family members and from Mr. Vance’s estate. Recipients must maintain a 3.0 or higher and be native Tennesseans.

• Brianna Soden

Rubye Kelley graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1943 with a degree in Home Economics. She spent her life involved with Allied Youth, an organization that encourages them to be involved with their commuities, develops leadership, and teaches youth to live a healthy lifestyle. Rubye passed away in 2014 and left a bequest to the university to honor her late husband, Jake Vann, for scholarships to support students in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.

Alberta Lowe Wantling and Dale Wantling met as faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  In 2004, the estate of Alberta Lowe Wantling established the endowment for this scholarship for deserving master’s degree students in the field of elementary education.

• Kelly Dineen

Charles F. Whiteside, a real estate investor and philanthropist, had been unable to attend college himself, but he wanted to help future educators with the cost of obtaining a college degree. In 1977 he passed away and left a sizeable gift to the University in his will to fund this scholarship. The recipients are undergraduate or graduate students in the areas formerly in the College of Education who are deserving of and in need of this funding.

Richard McCleary established this fellowship in 1998 to honor his mother, Louise Manning Wiley, who received a B.S. in Education from the University of Tennessee in 1913 and an M.A. in English in 1917. She was reportedly a bit apprehensive waiting to begin her first teaching job in Byington, but wrote in her diary, “I’m going into it with the spirit that Mrs. Vaughn (the home economics expert for the Knoxville News-Sentinel) advises. She said, ‘Just forget all about the salary and what hard work it is, and remember that they need you out there’.” Later, she taught English at UT. This fellowship will be for students in the areas of the former College of Education with preference to fifth-year interns seeking initial teacher licensure.

• Kelsey Fields

Donald E. Williams established this scholarship to assist full-time upper-class undergraduate students in the Teacher Education Program at the University of Tennessee. He hoped that this fund would help to retain students who are pursuing careers in the teacher profession, as he recognized their inadequate compensation for such an important role in society. Mr. Williams was a 1961 alumnus with a B.S. degree in Animal Science.

• Hannah Atkinson

Reba Davis Williams followed in the footsteps of her father and grandfather teaching in Cocke County and Newport, Tennessee. She created this endowment from a bequest for fifth-year interns seeking initial teacher licensure because she believed that when you choose teaching as a profession, you extend your reach and influence beyond a single life span and touch the lives of the next generation.

• Alexis Hall

In memory of Eleanor Waters Wilson, members of her family, Ray and Ron Sherrill, Tandy Wilson III, Connie and Tandy Wilson IV, Judy and Steve Wilson, and Malicia and Jeff Wilson, established this scholarship. Recipients of this scholarship have demonstrated successful academic performance and are majoring in a discipline formerly in the College of Human Ecology.

Dr. A Paul Wishart, Sr., Professor Emeritus of Science Education, began his association with the former College of Education in 1946 when he was awarded one of three degrees earned at the University of Tennessee. Moving to West Tennessee, Dr. Wishart organized the departments of geology and geography at the University of Tennessee at Martin, where he taught for six years. Returning to Knoxville in 1961, Dr. Wishart served as professor of education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction until his retirement in 1986. This scholarship is awarded in his memory to students who desire to be science teachers and/or work in the field of conservation, with preference given to fifth-year interns seeking initial teacher licensure.

• Jessica Murphy

Dr. Richard W. Yoakley’s wife, Carol, and other friends and family established this fellowship to honor his memory. Dr. Yoakley was a longtime Director of Pupil Personnel Services for Knox County Schools.  He served as Director of Knox County’s Special Education programs for 24 years. He was a widely respected leader in special education at both the state and national level. His leadership was guided by sincerity, warmth, compassion, and common sense in providing special education services to public education. This fellowship is awarded to graduate students from Knox County who are in the Psychology program and have demonstrated successful academic performance.

• Shelby Wright