Archives for April 2023

PhD Candidate Researches the Shared Emotional State at Big Ears

April 17, 2023 by Alyssa Seisser

PhD Candidate Researches the Shared Emotional State at Big Ears

Music To Their (Big) Ears: Exploring Collective Effervescence and Well-Being at Big Ears Festival

Vanessa Slay, CEHHS student news reporter, Class of 2023

Originally from Memphis, the home of the Blues and birthplace of Rock’n’Roll, third-year PhD candidate Jack Babb grew up as a music lover. He attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for his undergraduate degree in Hospitality, Resort, and Tourism—now Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management (RHTM) in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences—before attending the University of Memphis for his master’s degree.

Jack Babb

Babb recalls his time at the University of Memphis as a music lover when he had the chance to work at the Beale Street Music Festival, the largest music festival in Memphis. That experience allowed him to see the process that is involved in putting on a large festival and cemented the desire to incorporate music into his future research. He jokes that all he cares about are “music and food.”

Now back at UT, Babb is in the process of writing his dissertation on collective effervescence. “Think of it like when you go to a football game at Neyland Stadium,” Babb explains. “Everyone is excited, focusing on the football game, cheering, and booing the other team. [Collective effervescence is] a shared emotional state that people feel when they’re involved in the same event.”

Babb saw the opportunity to examine that same emotional state at the annual Big Ears Festival in downtown Knoxville. “It’s different from other festivals…people are here to learn something, whether that is socially or sonically.” Big Ears’ slogan is “Listen.” Babb interprets that to mean coming into the festival with an open mind and experiencing something that you might not have otherwise gravitated towards. In essence, it is making your ears big.

He used a qualitative study of culture broken into “three arms” of research. The first arm focused on participant observation. Babb took notes on what the participants at Big Ears were experiencing, collected symbols such as wristbands, and gathered his own pictures and videos. The second arm, Participant Produced Images and Videos, required him to coordinate with the staff at Big Ears to recruit attendees whom he would interview about what pictures and videos they believed embodied the idea of collective effervescence. Then the third arm involved another series of interviews in which participants would further explain their experiences in general.

With the Festival just days behind him, Babb is still sorting through his research and preparing it for his dissertation.

Babb is thankful for his faculty at RHTM. “They are unique and diverse in their research interest and expertise. It’s nice to have a wide range of people you can talk to about what you’re interested in; they give me the freedom to research what I want to research.”

Through its eight departments and 12 centers, the UT Knoxville College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences enhances the quality of life for all through research, outreach, and practice. Find out more at cehhs.utk.edu

CEHHS’s Tennessee Reading Research Center Establishes New Online Presence

April 5, 2023 by Alyssa Seisser

CEHHS’s Tennessee Reading Research Center Establishes New Online Presence

By Macy Roberts, CEHHS Student News Reporter, Class of 2024

In March, the Tennessee Reading Research Center: A Reading 360 Initiative established its official social media presence. The TRRC was started by the UT System and the Tennessee Department of Education in 2022 and can be found under the username @TNReadResearch on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and soon YouTube.

Although the center has a broader research purpose as described on their website, its first aim is to support the implementation of a statewide literacy initiative called Reading 360. For that project, the TRRC will “[evaluate] and independently [analyze] the effects of the Reading 360 initiatives on students’ achievement, teachers’ instruction, and use of high-quality instructional material, and the university’s preparation for future educators.”

The TRRC is housed at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences (CEHHS), where the center work aligns with CEHHS’s goals in several ways such as by supporting literacy research and providing opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students to conduct research that will benefit their future careers.

In addition to collaborating with the Tennessee Department of Education on the Reading 360, the center director Deborah Reed has two federally-funded research projects: Varied Practice Reading (VPR) and Project LIBERATE.

VPR intends to improve literacy via science and social studies based texts for students in grades 6-8, whereas Project LIBERATE uses a blended learning approach to improve literacy among adolescents who experience reading difficulties in juvenile justice schools. The blended learning approach in LIBERATE involves students in grades 6-10 using textbooks, technological software, trade books and supplemental materials as they participate in whole-group, small-group and independent activities.

Deborah Reed

Reed began both of these projects before coming to Rocky Top in summer 2022 and has since added the Reading 360 evaluations to her portfolio. She previously was the director of the Iowa Reading Research Center at the University of Iowa.

“I was attracted to the strong commitment to literacy made by leaders throughout this state as well as the University of Tennessee System and the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences on the Knoxville campus,” Reed said. “I knew that kind of collective effort presented a wonderful opportunity to make a difference for all children in Tennessee. More broadly, it positions us to lead the nation in implementing evidence-based practices for families, community organizations, schools and educator preparation programs.”

Reed said UT President Randy Boyd was instrumental in bringing the TRRC to the university to work in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education as the $100 million Reading 360 initiative was implemented across the state.

“The initiative helps to carry out provisions of the Tennessee Literacy Success Act, but it also offers a range of supports to everyone involved in developing children’s literacy from birth onward,” Reed said. “We serve as independent evaluators, exploring various outcomes of Reading 360 components and informing the next steps.”

At the TRRC, literary research is conducted beyond what is included in state evaluations. There is a collaborative effort among literacy experts at UT Knoxville and other universities in the UT System, with many faculty contributing their expertise in areas of reading, writing, research methodology and implementation science.

Reed described the goal at the TRRC as “lofty.”

“We want to help all individuals acquire the means for full and equitable participation in society,” Reed said. “We plan to tackle this as a team, being the only reading research center in the nation to connect multiple campuses within the university system while also partnering with organizations throughout the state and beyond.”

In addition to official social media accounts, the TRRC has a monthly newsletter that began circulating last month, which will provide additional information about the center and highlight special events. Those who wish to subscribe can do so by following this link.

While improvements to the literacy agenda in the CEHHS have been in the works for a few years now, the TRRC’s widespread impact across UT’s campus and student body is just getting started.

CEHHS Alumnus Works to Unify Los Angeles in a Special Way

April 5, 2023 by Alyssa Seisser

CEHHS Alumnus Works to Unify Los Angeles in a Special Way

By Vanessa Slay, CEHHS Student News Reporter, Class of 2023

Thousands of students graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, each year, and of these thousands of students, many become prestigious alumni that continue to represent the university with pride. One such alumnus is Tony Brown, a graduate of the Class of 2000 from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences’ (CEHHS) Sports Management graduate program.

“Sports has the ability to unite people,” he claims. Sports bring people together regardless of what is happening around them. Thoughts such as these intrigued Brown; how could he be a more significant part of that ideal? After finishing his undergraduate program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, he began to work for Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) in 1993. After a few years, Brown then moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he attended UT.

Tony Brown

Originally from California, Brown accepted an opportunity to come to Knoxville to teach at Webb School of Knoxville and attend UT. “Los Angeles to Knoxville, here we go,” says Brown on the memory. At Webb, Brown also coached several of their high school teams while pursuing his master’s degree.

While the transition from Los Angeles to Knoxville was a bit of a culture shock, Brown found a place that felt like home at UT. Very literally, Brown lived just a block north of Cumberland Ave, as close as he could be to the university campus. “My faculty was phenomenal; for such a big school, they created a warm and familial setting for me to learn. When I had questions, they always made the time. On and off campus.”

Brown recalls the opportunities he was given through his program while at the university. One he recalls vividly is co-leading the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) basketball tournament at Thompson-Boiling Arena. Utilizing the knowledge he learned in the program, he and his co-lead were able to pitch and secure sponsors for the event and run many of the behind-the-scenes operations of the important event.

“There’s always some growth,” he says of UT. Observing the university as an alum, he realizes that that mentality is ingrained in him from his years at the university. After finishing his Master’s degree, he had a successful career in the sports business before returning to HOLA in 2003 and has leaded as their Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Executive Director (ED) since 2006.

HOLA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “help young people overcome barriers through exceptional, free, integrated programs and personalized guidance in a trusted, nurturing environment.”

HOLA also provides various options and opportunities for young people to explore their hobbies and interests, from visual arts, music, traditional academics, and so much more, to give people a chance to succeed.

HOLA also addresses the educational inequity that exists in many parts of California by placing classes like traditional arts into school and providing them courses after school hours to bridge the gap at any of their four centers in Los Angeles or in South Central Los Angeles in conjunction with Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC).

“There’s not enough time in the school day for young people to discover what they love,” he says. “My hope is to integrate the program, make the school day longer but less of a traditional school day, and allow them to develop their hobbies and grow up to be their best selves.”

In the last twenty years that Brown has been a part of HOLA, he has been an invaluable asset to the organization leading the expansion of their campuses, working with Los Angeles Recreation and Parks to manage a park in South Central; he is also hands-on with several schools as part of the Black Student Achievement Plan providing free arts programs for schools that are predominate black schools and communities.

Brown recalls a dream he had as a child: to one day be involved in bringing people together for the Olympics; however, now he believes that this is his Olympic stadium. He is uniting people to address the inequity in education and the barriers that still hinder students’ success.

“My goal now, at this point in my career, is to create the first unifying force in Los Angeles for out-of-school time providers and then lift that up so that other areas across the country can follow suit and do the same unification.”

Although he may not be able to attend many board meetings, Brown still keeps his bond with UT strong by continuing to serve on the Dean’s Board of Advisors for CEHHS. Brown has also been named a Distinguished Alumni by UT and asked to deliver the commencement speech for CEHHS in previous years. “UT will always always be front and center of my heart.” He mentions that as an alum, he always feels welcome back to UT, hearing the university band playing at games; the game day experience is extraordinary.

“I still find them valuable,” Brown says of his experience at the university. “It’s not just theoretical at UT; I found that at CEHHS, I had a balance of theoretical and practical. A perfect blend.”

Brown believes that his time at the university and in CEHHS has genuinely continued to shape his decisions and his pathways from educator to sports management and business to leader of a multi-million dollar non-profit organization.

“I’ve raised millions of dollars over my career for young people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to those types of funds, and thousands of thousands of young people have benefited from investment in quality resources, and I was taught the skills to do so and given the opportunity to grow in my leadership through the UT’s CEHHS.”

If you want to give or volunteer with Heart of Los Angeles, please reach out through their website, heartofla.org.