Alyssa Seisser, Author at College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences

Undergraduate Student to Give Back to CEHHS Through Summer 2023 Washington, D.C. Internship

May 11, 2023 by Alyssa Seisser

Undergraduate Student to Give Back to CEHHS Through Summer 2023 Washington, D.C. Internship

By Macy Roberts, CEHHS Student Reporter, Class of 2024

Despite being a Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology major in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Arts and Sciences, Benjamin Bridges has ties to the University’s College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and plans to give back to the college through his internship in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Bridges is connected to CEHHS through his work as a STEM Coordinator at VolsTeach for Appalachia since 2019.

Benjamin Bridges (back row, right) with Vols Teach intern cohort

Bridges has wanted to pursue a career in the medical field since he was a student at Bearden High School, where he took many related courses.

“One of these courses was Cardiovascular Services, and this was where I really fell in love with learning all about the organ in charge of supplying your body with blood, oxygen and nutrients,” Bridges said. “It was also at this time that I first discovered my passion for advocating for others. I have since realized that each of my jobs or roles at the University revolve around advocacy in some form.”

Benjamin Bridges

Bridges received his Emergency Medical Responder license in 2018. Two years later, he received an Associate of Arts Degree from Pellissippi State Community College.

Since being a student at UT, Bridges has served on the Office of the Dean of Students’ Rocky Top Roundtable and is an undergraduate student researcher in the BCMB department, where he studies Rett Syndrome, a rare autism spectrum disorder that affects only females.

During the fall 2022 semester, Bridges came across the university’s Congressional Internship Program on Handshake.

“Since I am not a political science or history major, I was initially very reluctant on applying, but I felt like I would be missing out on a great opportunity and was told that applying will never hurt my chances at anything,” Bridges said. “I believe that proper advocacy manifests and presents itself in many different shapes and forms, so having the chance to travel to the nation’s Capitol and support part of the State of Tennessee’s delegation would be a very new, challenging and exciting way for me to apply these skills and experiences to advocate for an entirely different population of people.”

So, despite his initial doubts, Bridges applied for the internship and ended up being offered a position in Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s office in the summer of 2023. In this position, Bridges will be performing data analysis and visualization of various voter and constituent metrics of all 95 counties in Tennessee. Additionally, he will serve as a Capitol tour guide.

“This internship is a way for me to give back to the CEHHS since I will use many of the communication skills and experiences that I have learned from working in VolsTeach for Appalachia while in Washington, D.C. this summer,” Bridges said.

Bridges expressed thanks to his career coaches in the Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration for supporting his interest in the internship. These individuals include Diondre Brown, Jesse Fisher and Mary Beth Woodward.

As a fifth-year undergraduate student, Bridges felt like he was potentially running behind and a less competitive applicant, but his mentors encouraged him and proved to Bridges that this wasn’t the case.

“This journey has been neither quick nor easy but rather exceptionally meaningful and I attribute much of the professional growth I have made this year to these people,” Bridges said. “I urge everyone to visit the CCDAE as early into their college career as possible and to use them as a resource to not only figure out where you want to go, but figure out the best way for you to get there.”

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.

Child and Family Studies Scholars Receive $5,000 Student/Faculty Research Award

March 3, 2023 by Alyssa Seisser

Child and Family Studies Scholars Receive $5,000 Student/Faculty Research Award

By Macy Roberts, CEHHS Student Reporter, Class of 2024

As members of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences’ Child and Family Studies Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, graduate student Hannah Thompson and assistant professor Lori Caudle were awarded a $5,000 Student/Faculty Research Award for their project entitled, “Social Emotional Learning Trauma-Informed Intervention Preschool Study (TIIPS): A Partnership with Rural Southeastern Teachers.”

Previously, this research was unfunded, so receiving the Student/Faculty Research Award means there is now financial support for main project activities, stipends for partnering teachers and research materials, such as a 360-degree smart camera.

The research-practice-partnership uses a trauma-informed intervention framework to foster children’s social emotional development and prioritize workforce well-being among educators.

The partner school in the study is located in a small mountain town outside of the Qualla Boundary, home of the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians, where Caudle and Thompson work with local educators to collect child-level data through classroom observations, engage in reflective coaching and support educators through professional learning community meetings. They also hope to implement bug-in-ear consultation to support teachers through challenging behaviors in the classroom.

The two CFS representatives will also be working with Cathy Grist, a developmental psychologist specializing in early childhood social emotional interventions, as well as a professor and Birth-Kindergarten program director at Western Carolina University.

Throughout the partnership, Caudle and Thompson aim to identify how their efforts support teacher well-being, trauma-informed practices and classroom-level interventions. They also intend to analyze whether or not the partnership resulted in improved social emotional competencies and behaviors in children.

According to Caudle, there is a widely recognized need for trauma-informed practices in Pre-K education. However, there has been little research conducted that prioritizes trauma-informed professional development for early childhood educators.

“There is a need for intergenerational interventions that include adults with adverse childhood experiences histories to break the cycle of negative outcomes and develop concrete plans that enhance resiliency and promote healing,” Caudle said.

Lori Caudle

Caudle recognized the importance of these intervention plans in rural schools in the Appalachian region of the Southeastern U.S., given these communities face higher risk factors and generational trauma due to ongoing social inequities and a lack of upward mobility. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for interventions in these areas particularly.

“An important note about our work is that we are actively supporting the early childhood educators who are supporting the young children in their classrooms,” Thompson said. “This work centers the voice and perspectives of the teachers and uplifts both the lead teacher and teaching assistants in the classroom through reflective coaching practices, responsive relationships and building sustainable trauma-informed skills.”

Student/Faculty Research Awards are open to all disciplines, with award amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

Caudle and Thompson believe their project was fully funded because the University understood the value of supporting early childhood educators and young children and recognized the direct impact research-practice-partnerships can have on communities.

“Educators’ well-being influences the quality of teacher-child interactions, their ability to build relationships with children and the types of decisions they make when faced with challenging behaviors in the classroom,” Caudle said. “While academic initiatives are valuable, we must continue to advocate for educational programs that consider the social and emotional needs of the whole child and prioritize educator well-being in order to see improvements in child outcomes.”

Caudle has been Thompson’s major advisor for nearly two years, so the two are already quite familiar with each other and look forward to getting to work more closely together on this project.

“Dr. Caudle is a great example and model of what it looks like to be successful as a scholar in our field,” Thompson said. “Dr. Caudle always leads with compassion, a critical perspective of supporting others and is a wonderful mentor.”

Caudle praised her advisee Thompson, saying that she “regularly goes above and beyond the requirements of her graduate research assistantship and coursework.”

“We bring different perspectives and experiences to the project, which lead to rich conversations and critical reflections about next steps,” Caudle said.

Both Caudle and Thompson believe in the importance of community-based research and issues regarding early childhood education at large. The Student/Faculty Research award will allow them to make an impact on the community while collecting crucial data that can be used to advance understandings of teacher and student well-being.