• Request Info
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give
  • Request Info
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give

Search

  • A-Z Index
  • Map

College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences

  • Academics
    • Academics Overview
    • Undergraduate Students
    • Graduate Students
    • Professional Licensure
  • Student Experience
    • Student Experience Overview
    • Student Organizations and Involvement
    • Student Support
    • Advising
  • Centers and Outreach
    • Centers and Outreach Overview
    • Centers
    • Outreach
    • Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships
  • Access and Engagement
    • Access and Engagement Overview
    • Resources
    • The Volunteer Orange Book
  • About
    • About Overview
    • People
    • Working at CEHHS
    • College and University Resources
    • Research and External Funding
    • News
    • Alumni
  • Academics
    • Academics Overview
    • Undergraduate Students
    • Graduate Students
    • Professional Licensure
  • Student Experience
    • Student Experience Overview
    • Student Organizations and Involvement
    • Student Support
    • Advising
  • Centers and Outreach
    • Centers and Outreach Overview
    • Centers
    • Outreach
    • Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships
  • Access and Engagement
    • Access and Engagement Overview
    • Resources
    • The Volunteer Orange Book
  • About
    • About Overview
    • People
    • Working at CEHHS
    • College and University Resources
    • Research and External Funding
    • News
    • Alumni
Home » Archives for September 2024

Six CEHHS Alums Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

Archives for September 2024

Six CEHHS Alums Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

Six CEHHS Alums Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

September 27, 2024 by Douglas Edlund

Six CEHHS Alums Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

Six alums from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences received recognition for their extraordinary achievements at the annual Alumni Awards. The ceremony, held in September, singles out alums who have made significant contributions to their professions, service to UT, and future promise.

This year’s recipients include: Mary Cayten Brakefield, Bryan Coker, Brain Lee, Linda Lee, Monica Onwuka, and Sparky Rucker.

2024 Alumni Promise Winner: Mary Cayten Brakefield (’20)

Portrait photo of Mary Cayten Brakefield. She has fair skin and dark hair. She is wearing a floral dress and is smiling in the photo
Mary Cayten Brakefield

Mary Cayten Brakefield is the co-founder of Brakefields, a mother/daughter founded fashion label that brings joyful comfort to women of all ages, sizes, and abilities. Designed with care in Nashville and produced on demand in Phoenix, Arizona, garments from Brakefields are available in sizes XXXS-6X with multiple hem lengths and optional accessibility adaptations. With elevated functionality at the core of the brand, each piece is created to ensure women of all bodies and lifestyles have a closet that equips them, not restricts them, for all the opportunities their day holds.

As a member of UT’s swim team, Brakefield’s passion for functional design largely originated from her time in VOLeaders, a leadership program for student-athletes at UT that exposed her to the frustrations of many disabled athletes she met. Soon after, the effects of a genetic condition changed her own ability levels which further intensified her passion for accessible products.

After beginning to explore adaptive design, Brakefield realized that the same approach resulted in better designed clothes for a multitude of women who have been historically frustrated by the garments available to them, such as postpartum moms, those feeling the effects of growing older, and simply particularly tall or short women. This realization inspired a brand that takes a different approach to inclusion where all needs are considered and addressed without creating more separation between groups in the final shopping experience. The education Brakefield received through UT’s retail and consumer sciences program, coupled with a master’s in marketing from Vanderbilt University, helped turn her desire for a more inclusive world into a platform for change to help make that desire a reality.

2024 Alumni Professional Achievement Award: Bryan F. Coker (’10)

Portrait photo of Bryan Coker. He has fair skin and short grey hair. He is wearing a grey suit with a white shirt and striped tie.
Bryan Coker

Bryan F. Coker, PhD serves as the 12th President of Maryville College, a 205-year-old liberal arts institution of 1,200 undergraduate students, located in East Tennessee. Coker has served as Maryville’s president since July 2020 and has focused heavily on connections between the college and surrounding region, especially the Great Smoky Mountains. During Coker’s time as president, the college has experienced a 15 percent increase in student enrollment, addition of its first graduate program, opening of a new alumni center, construction of a new track and field facility, substantial increases in major gifts, and creation of the Maryville College Downtown Center. Several new academic and athletic programs have been introduced or are in progress.

Coker is the founding chair of the Collegiate Conference of the South athletic conference and a member of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council. He serves on the boards of the Appalachian College Association and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities. He is an affiliated faculty member at UT and previously taught at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Prior to Maryville, Coker was vice president and dean of students, as well as acting president, for Goucher College in Maryland. He previously served for 10 years as dean of students at Jacksonville University and as director of student judicial affairs for UT. He has also served as an accreditation evaluator for both the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Coker is a graduate of both Leadership Tennessee and Leadership Knoxville. He is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church USA and has served in various church leadership roles.

Originally from North Carolina, Coker received his BA from Rhodes College, is a member of the college’s Hall of Fame and was previously recognized as Rhodes’s first-ever Young Alumnus of the Year. He holds an MEd from the University of South Carolina, and a PhD from UT (’10). Coker is married to Rhodes classmate Sara Barnette Coker, and they have four children.

2024 Alumni Service Award: Brian Lee (’92)

Portrait photo of Brian Lee. He has fair skin and short brown hair. He is wearing glasses, a green shirt and green vest. He is smiling in the photo.
Brian Lee

Brian Lee has always believed that it is a true privilege to serve others and so having a career in hospitality came naturally for him. His roots are deeply planted in East Tennessee, and he is proud to share this special corner of the world with others. Lee’s life began on a dairy farm in Monroe County, Tennessee, before his family settled in Seymour. He attended Heritage High School in Blount County and graduated from UT with a major in Hotel and Restaurant Management. His love of travel has taken him around the world, and he returns home each time with a refreshed perspective and inspired by the people and cultures experienced.

As Director of Guest Relations at Blackberry Farm, Lee focuses on the quality of the guest experience and ensures that the company’s mission of legendary hospitality, memorable experiences, and generational sustainability is fulfilled each day. For Lee, the company’s mission is all about creating lasting relationships with guests and team members. He believes that ‘yes’ should always be the attitude and that leaders should encourage their teams to live their best lives and create an environment where that is possible. He is in his 29th year at Blackberry Farm and continues to strive for each guest’s experience to be the best it can be. Service is noble work, and Lee knows that his time studying at UT was the cornerstone for a great career.

Lee is proud to give back to UT as a Chancellor’s Associate; member of the Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management Advisory Board; commencement speaker; instructor in the classroom; and mentor to students. He affirms every day that it is great to be a Tennessee Vol!

2024 Alumni Service Award: Linda S. Lee, PhD (’72)

Photo of Linda Lee. She has fair skin, medium length grey hair and is wearing a purple top. She is smiling in the photo.
Linda S. Lee

A native of Hendersonville, North Carolina, Linda S. Lee enrolled at UT in 1968, initially majoring in journalism. After an introductory course in child development, she changed majors and graduated with honors in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. While at UT, Lee was active in the Clement Hall Residents’ Association, Usher Corps, Phi Mu Fraternity, and Student Government Association.

After graduation, Lee taught in two upstate South Carolina school districts in Comprehensive Child Development Centers. After leaving public school education, Lee directed training programs in South Carolina for parents and childcare providers through the Mobile Child Development Training Program of the South Carolina Appalachian Health Commission, and the Greenville County Library’s Project LITTLE KIDS, which received special recognition from the Southeastern Library Association and the then US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. After earning her master’s in early childhood education from the University of South Carolina, she established an academic child development training program at Greenville Technical College. She then served as Dean of Allied Health Sciences at Greenville Technical College for three years before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where she earned her PhD in Education in 1991.

Her studies at UNC exposed Lee to a new career path for advanced degree educators: medical education. She joined the Duke University School of Medicine faculty as an Education Specialist in 1991 and retired from Duke in 2017 as Associate Professor Emerita of Medical Education. Since 2018, Duke’s Master of Biomedical Sciences program has awarded a graduating student each year with the Dr. Linda S. Lee Professionalism Award.

Lee has promoted student engagement with UT Libraries by providing incoming freshmen from the Research Triangle area of North Caroline with student memberships in the John C. Hodges Society and distributing materials about the libraries to students and their parents at freshman “send-off” parties sponsored by the Triangle UT Alumni Chapter. Lee served on the Advisory Board of the John C. Hodges Society for ten years and was chair from 2019 to 2021. Remotely, she transitioned the board to a virtual working group when on-campus activities were curtailed due to pandemic restrictions. In addition, Lee has provided ongoing gift support to the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and UT Libraries.

2024 Alumni Promise Winner: Monica Onwuka (’16,’21)

Photo of Monica and Chima Onwuka. They both have dark skin and dark hair. Monica is on the left and wearing a black top. Onwuka is on the right and wearing a black shirt and striped tie. Both are smiling in the photo
Monica Onwuka and Chima Onwuka

Monica grew up in Memphis, Tennessee,  Monica earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and later earned her Master of Science degree in Higher Education Administration.

As a student, Monica was a member of the Minority Mentoring Program where she participated in the Miss Freshman Scholarship Pageant and was crowned Miss Freshman during the spring 2013 semester. Monica dedicated her time to UT, giving campus tours and working admissions events as a student ambassador for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and as a member of the Student Alumni Associates. Upon graduation, Monica started her higher education career with UT, recruiting future Vols as the Houston-based regional admissions counselor for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and went on to serve in the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement in the Haslam College of Business as the coordinator of pre-collegiate programs and outreach. As Associate Director of Academic Success under the office of Student Success, she continues her career with UT Health Science Center, where she has worked in community engagement, academic coaching, recruitment, and student engagement.

As president and vice president of Grind City Cares, husband Chima and Monica serve the greater Memphis community and have worked with a multitude of companies and organizations to provide a wide variety of community services.

2024 Alumni Professional Achievement Award: Sparky Rucker (’71)

Photo of James "Sparky" Rucker playing a guitar on stage. He has dark skin and grey hair. He is wearing a hat and a dark shirt in the photo
James “Sparky” Rucker

James “Sparky” Rucker has been singing songs and telling stories from the American tradition for over 50 years. Internationally recognized as a leading musician, author, storyteller, and historian, he has released 16 music recordings, including a variety of old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, Civil War music, spirituals, work songs, ballads, civil rights music, and originals.

Rucker has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has also been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and Morning Edition. His recording, Treasures & Tears, was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award, and his music is also included on the Grammy-nominated anthology, Singing Through the Hard Times. He has played at major folk festivals, including two American Folk Blues Festivals in Europe, the Gurten-Bern International Festival in Switzerland, and the National Folk Festival in Australia. In 2022, he was honored with the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship. As an author, Rucker was included in anthologies such as Breathing the Same Air, More Ready-To-Tell Tales, and The August House Book of Scary Stories. He also contributed entries for the Encyclopedia of Appalachia and co-wrote a chapter for the storytelling book, Team Up! Tell In Tandem!

While growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, Rucker began playing guitar at age eleven. He graduated from UT with a bachelor’s in art education from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. He has been involved with the civil rights movement since the 1950s and participated in workshops at the Highlander Center with many prominent people, including Rosa Parks, Myles Horton, and Bernice Reagon. As an activist, he worked with the Poor People’s Campaign and several civil rights organizations. He marched shoulder-to-shoulder with SNCC Freedom Singers Matthew and Marshall Jones and sang at rallies, marches, and sit-ins alongside other folk singers such as Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger. He additionally worked to win recognition and benefits for white Southern Appalachian coal miners as a staff member of the Council of the Southern Mountains in the 1970s.

Filed Under: Alumni, Graduate, Undergraduate

Hazing Prevention Study Expands

Hazing Prevention Study Expands

September 27, 2024 by Douglas Edlund

Hazing Prevention Study Expands

Penn State’s Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research has expanded a national hazing prevention study to include nine more campuses. The WhatWorks study emphasizes the prevention of hazardous drinking, hazing and other resulting behaviors, with the goal of changing student, organization and campus culture. 

The newest cohort includes Auburn University; Bowling Green State University; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Mississippi State University; Virginia Tech; the University of Alabama; the University of Kentucky; the University of Missouri; and the University of Tennessee. 

“This thorough volume is the result of a collaborative effort to study hazing from secondary school to higher education,” said Patrick Biddix, Professor of Higher Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  “It is one of the most comprehensive research projects on hazing prevention, featuring a new definition of hazing and clinical strategies for education and prevention. The findings are influencing national prevention initiatives like the What Works study at Penn State University and are being showcased in various national workshops and presentations.”

Portrait photo of Patrick Biddix. He has fair skin, and short, dark hair. He is wearing a light colored shirt and gray sport coat. He is smiling in the picture.
Patrick Biddix

Biddix is Jimmy and Ileen Chee Endowed Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. He is a leading authority in fraternity and sorority research. His 50 academic publications have been cited over 630 times by scholars and researchers.

“We’re glad to partner with the Piazza Center and our peers on this project, not only to participate in the development of best practices, but also to benefit from the research-driven principles identified,” said Steven Hood, vice president for student life at the University of Alabama. “Enhancing and supporting student safety and well-being are at the forefront of everything we do, so we consider this project important in forecasting the best path forward for universities like ours with robust fraternity and sorority communities.” 

The WhatWorks study, a partnership with the WITH US Center for Bystander Intervention at California Polytechnic State University and the Gordie Center at the University of Virginia, is designed with top prevention and content experts from behavioral health, psychology and higher education. The study allows participating campuses to implement comprehensive hazing prevention programs. Participating institutions work with the Piazza Center and partners to test and validate effective methods of hazing prevention over a three-year assessment cycle. 

“We are building campuses’ capacity to implement effective prevention that increase student safety,” said Stevan Veldkamp, executive director of Penn State’s Piazza Center, a unit in the division of Student Affairs. “The study aims to build comprehensive prevention programs and assess them with precision to ultimately eliminate life-threatening incidents.” 

The WhatWorks study is being led by Robert Turrisi, professor of biobehavioral health and prevention research at Penn State. Turrisi, along with professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee Patrick Biddix, will work with each cohort member to design research-informed prevention strategies. 

Filed Under: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences

335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-3400

Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718

  • fb
  • tw
  • in
  • ln

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
865-974-1000

The flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System and partner in the Tennessee Transfer Pathway.

ADA Privacy Safety Title IX