Hollie Raynor, Nutrition Professor and Interim Assistant Dean for Research in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences (CEHHS), submitted a proposal to the Office of the Provost chosen as a finalist for a cluster hire; a means of hiring multiple scholars into one or more departments based on shared, interdisciplinary research interest.
Raynor proposed The Center of Food and Activity for Healthy Communities. The center will have direct engagement with the these academic departments: three in CEHHS: Department of Nutrition; Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies; and Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. Departments outside our college which will also have direct engagement include: The College of Arts and Sciences-Geography; Haslam College of Business-Economics; and the National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research. Their main focus will be modifying food and activity culture to reduce health disparities.
The Office of Research and Engagement and the Office of the Provost will meet with faculty members involved in Raynor’s proposal and the other remaining finalist to determine the proposal chosen out of the original eighteen submitted.