Excellence in Advising is bestowed by the Office of the Chancellor and the Teaching Council of the Faculty Senate to honor outstanding work in advising.
Amanda Gandy
Amanda Gandy is an academic advisor in the College of Social Work. Through a professional advising model Amanda brings her experience from the social work field into the advising experience. Amanda’s advising approach focused on each students’ unique strengths and skills to help them achieve academic and professional success.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
To embody the true Volunteer spirit, one commits to continual education and self-reflection on systems of oppression and personal biases. But more importantly, a Volunteer has the courage to respond to and make calls for positive change to the UT community.
Debbie Mackey
Building partnerships and relationships with students is a priority for Debbie Mackey. She meets students in class and engagement fairs, and recruits students through engagement meetings to assist them in finding an internship and start the career transition. Debbie always has time to talk to a new student or assist a current one with her passion for success and engagement for the students.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means you are passionate, energetic and you are always supporting Rocky Top and our students. It means wearing orange on Big Orange Friday and singing Rocky Top every chance that you can. It means conveying the Vol Spirit to your classes and at every event academic or athletic. Being a Volunteer means helping students through hard times and listening to their concerns and giving them hope and solutions. Being a Volunteer is assisting them with the transition from the classroom to career.
I have three degrees from UT and am so blessed to be empowered by many amazing people such as Carroll Coakley, my PhD chair and my current department head Anne Smith. They believed in me through challenging times and encouraged me to continue to reach goals and to reach hundreds of students, I could not have done anywhere else. I love everything about our university and love coming to work at UT. Coach Pat Summitt worked harder than anyone I know, and I have read all her books. She continues to inspire me to reach more students and convey the Volunteer Spirit every day.
Kerri Cline
Kerri Cline is a senior academic advisor for the Tickle College of Engineering, in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. Native to West Virginia, Kerri earned her master’s degree in strategic leadership in 2010, and has worked in higher education since 2006. Kerri has served in her role as senior academic advisor for five years and also currently serves as president of TennACADA.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means that you have the desire to help others. When faced with challenges, like we have been this past year with the pandemic, Vols are ready to take action and rise above obstacles. UT has empowered me to seek ways to learn and grow in areas of diversity, equity and inclusion that I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to do elsewhere. Being a Vol is truly a Verb.
Megan Haselschwerdt
Megan Haselschwerdt is an associate professor in child and family studies. She studies intimate partner violence and teaches about child and family diversity, families and stress, and qualitative research methods. She strives to join her colleagues and students in pushing for a more equitable university and field of family science. She wouldn’t be able to do all of this without the love and support of her partner, David, or the love and joy that her toddler and two wild dogs provide.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means working hard to create a physical and virtual world in which all students, faculty, and staff are treated equitably and historical and contemporary wrongdoings are acknowledged and eradicated through collective work. UT has given me access to a wealth of knowledge from all sorts of disciplines and communities.