Extraordinary Service to the University honors faculty members, staff members, or friends for noteworthy service to the university.
Cheryl Travis
Cheryl Travis has been a trailblazer for years—forty years, to be exact. She was the university’s first female tenure-track faculty member in psychology, helping carve a path for women faculty members in psychology and throughout the university. She also oversaw the promotion and tenure of the department’s first tenure-track minority faculty member. Her nomination letter states that Travis’s “commitment to diversity and equity has been steadfast.” Travis has broken new ground as well in her academic research on women in psychology. She helped found the academic field of psychology of women, an accomplishment that earned her the highest national award from the American Psychological Association. Travis has “not only greatly impacted the national agenda with her research, but has brought much positive attention to the University of Tennessee,” her nomination letter notes. During her four decades at UT, Travis has shown exceptional devotion to her department, serving four times as associate department head and once as acting department head. For many years she has chaired the Women’s Studies Program in Arts and Sciences and served on the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women. Her nomination letter notes that Travis “has a remarkable record of service, of going above and beyond the call of duty, and students, faculty, and the university as a whole are far richer for her many contributions.”