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2022 Volunteer Spirit Award

The Volunteer Spirit Award is the highest honor given to a staff member at the university. Its significance is similar to the Torchbearer for undergraduates and the Macebearer for faculty.

Ashley Blamey

Ashley BlameyAshley Blamey received her bachelor’s degree in special education from East Tennessee State University and both master’s and doctoral degrees in social work from UT Knoxville. After working with asylum-seeking families in England, she returned to Knoxville to serve as a social worker in inpatient psychiatric and chemical dependency programs. She joined UT in 2008 as its inaugural student case management specialist. She has served the university as the inaugural director for the Center for Health Education and Wellness and assistant vice chancellor for student life. Blamey established UT’s first stand-alone Office of Title IX in 2017. Blamey is the university’s representative on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Action Collaborative to prevent sexual harassment in higher education. She is a founding member and past president of the national organization Higher Education Case Management Association.

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?

A Volunteer works beside others for a greater good.

Over the course of the last 14 years, the University of Tennessee has provided me opportunities to grow in ways that I could not have hoped. I have been supported by supervisors, inspired by students, and worked beside the best in both faculty and staff. It is humbling to do the work that most matters to you in a place that you love.