College Honors Students and Faculty at Annual Convocation

The College of Communication and Information presented awards to its top students and faculty members Monday, April 21 at the college's annual Honors Convocation.

"The College is proud of its students and faculty and is pleased to recognize their outstanding achievements," said Mike Wirth, dean of the college.

The event was held in the University Center Ballroom and honored students and faculty from each of the college's four schools.

Three of those schools - the School of Advertising and Public Relations, the School of Information Sciences and the School of Journalism and Electronic Media - each held individual school convocations in the UC following the college event. The fourth school, the School of Communication Studies, will hold its convocation on April 28.

More than 75 students and faculty members received college-wide awards at the convocation. In addition, the college recognized students and faculty who received awards at the university-wide Chancellor's Honors Banquet.

College-Wide Awards

The Karl A. and Madira Bickel Scholarship is one of the most prestigious academic awards in the college, and goes to students who have shown superior academic achievement and professional promise.

Undergraduate Students

• Lindsay Haas
• Hannah M. Kim
• Kindle Ann Rouse
• Rebecca Whitefield

Graduate Students

• Sukanya Bhattacharya
• Jamie Bumpus
• Sarah Copeland
• Shuhua Dai
• Sheri Edwards
• James Hataway
• Laura Headlee
• Martha Howell
• Jakeun Koo
• Kitty McClanahan
• Sara McIntosh
• Thomas Meade
• Joshua Roth
• Andrew Schmid
• Suzhan Shi
• Casey Skinner
• Antoaneta Vanc
• Lei Wu
• Yan Yang

The Myron G. Chambers Scholarship is given to an outstanding junior or senior interested in the business aspects of print media.

• Lucy Courtney
• Christie R. Sithiphone

The Coca-Cola Minority Scholarship is awarded to minority students with strong academic performance.

Undergraduate

• Asia Acebedo
• Katelyn Greer

Graduate

• Angela Thorton
• Amber McReynolds
• Tanya Shelton-Council
• Alexandria Payne

The Edye Ellis Scholarship is given to a CCI undergraduate student who has performed very well from an academic perspective.

• Clayton Culp

The Donald G. Hileman Scholarship is named for the man who served with distinction as Dean of the College of Communications from 1970-1984. He particularly admired undergraduate students who excelled in scholarship and who were committed to professionalism.

• Kelly J. Harlan

Nedra Jones created the Nedra Jones Scholarship for undergraduate students from Memphis who are majors in the College of Communication and Information.

• Natoya Norwood

Dr. Faye D. Julian has a long history with the College of Communication and Information from being its first doctoral graduate to serving as Dean of CCI. She created the Faye D. Julian Scholarship to honor outstanding achievement by a CCI undergraduate.

• Kayla Steele

The Faye D. Julian Fellowship recognizes graduate students with an interest in teaching at the college level who also demonstrate successful academic performance.

• Hannah Shinault
• Angela Pratt

The Bernard King Scholarship recognizes academic excellence and supports students from Tennessee with academic needs.

Undergraduate 

• Robert Vest

Graduate 

• Paula Mate
• Siony Flowers

The Wallene T. Leek Scholarship is given to an undergraduate student in the college who demonstrates outstanding leadership in extracurricular and community activities.

• Ashley M. Sink

The John Robert Randt Scholarship is named for a 1967 journalism graduate from the University of Tennessee. He was a veteran newsman known for his writing. 

Undergraduate

• Shiela Hakins
• Megan Harville
• Rachel Ingram
• Jessica Puckett

Graduate

• Lee Billings
• Sandra Bauer
• Rebecca Byrd
• Rachel Smith
• Allyson Rutherford

The Scripps Networks Scholarship award goes to students who demonstrate successful academic performance and show professional promise.

Undergraduate

• Ashley Carter

Graduate

• Ashley Cerasaro
• Jue Rui

The winners of the Jerry H. Whitener Scholarship are CCI undergraduate students who have demonstrated successful academic performance. 

• Jamil Price

Leslie Meredith Williams was a senior in the College of Communications and an officer in the Association of Black Communicators at the time of her death. The Leslie M. Williams Scholarship has been established in recognition of the quest for academic excellence among CCI undergraduates.

• Gus Paxton

The Herbert H. Howard Fellowship is given to a graduate student who has demonstrated high academic performance. This award is named for a long-time broadcast faculty member and former associate dean for graduate studies.

• Nurhaya Muchtar

The Edward J. Meeman Fellowship in International Communication is awarded to students from other countries who wish to do graduate study in communication and information at the university, or who will pursue a career in international communications.

• Huan Chen
• Taewoo Kim
• Taejun Lee
• Jae Hee Park
• Joseph Park

The Reeder-Siler Graduate Fellowship is awarded to students with outstanding academic credentials.

• Arsev Ayinoglu
• Tulika Biswas
• Christa Cordrey
• Allyson Devito
• Sarah Doyle
• Julie Massengill
• Christine Ray
• Sabrina Tribett

Graduate Research and Teaching Awards

Each year the graduate committee solicits nominations for top graduate student teachers. This year's award winner was identified by both her students and her faculty mentors as an outstanding teacher.

• Jessica Smith

The graduate committee also seeks nominations of outstanding graduate student researchers. The winner this year has an impressive list of conference papers and publications that are sure to launch a successful academic career. 

• Sora Kim

Faculty Awards

The winner of the Faculty Teaching Award is Ken Levine.  Ken is an outstanding teacher who leads his students through vibrant learning experiences both in the classroom and in the study abroad program in France.

Michael Palenchar is the winner of the Faculty Research Award. Michael is a prolific researcher who has established himself as a leader in risk communication research. His work has been published in many prestigious journals and presented at many important conferences.

The Faculty Service/Outreach Award goes to Lisa Fall who is a leader in service and outreach. Lisa and her students have worked tirelessly on projects ranging from care for the caregivers to fundraising for cancer awareness.

The Lecturer Teaching Award recognizes Thomasena Shaw's outstanding contributions to teaching. Her students rate her as a highly effective teacher in many types of classes - from the college introductory course to PR skills classes.

Catherine Luther is the winner of the C. W. "Bud" Minkel International/Intercultural Award. Catherine earned a prestigious Fulbright award to study in Japan last fall.  She continues to apply broad lessons from her global experience to her research and teaching.

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Contact: April Moore, (865) 974-0463, amoore9(at)utk.edu

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