The Excellence in Academic Outreach award honors those who exemplify UT’s land-grant mission by using intellectual capital to benefit the citizens of Tennessee.
Jon Shefner
Jon Shefner has always tried to link his scholarly work to outreach and practice in multiple communities. Most recently, Jon created the Community University Research Collaboration Initiative (CURCI) to bring the expertise and needs of community organizations together with UTK researchers and students. That initiative, now in its second year of funding, has brought 14 organizations together with 20 faculty members and multiple students from across the University to address community needs.
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 being supported to pursue my scholarly and community work in an integrated way. I’ve been provided with opportunities to bring sociological substance and method into scholarly debates, but also into concrete efforts to make contributions to causes important to the Knoxville community. It has also meant bringing the wide resources and expertise of the university to the community in respectful and collaborative ways, recognizing we are not the only experts at the table.”