The Alliance of Women Philanthropists has approved the following five projects for a total of $40,454 in support for the 2024-2025 Giving Circle Grant cycle:

$11,767 to UTC for “Empowering Independence: Establishing an Innovative Aging in Place Lab”

This grant was fully funded to allow the establishment of a simulated home environment teaching laboratory. This innovative lab aims to cultivate excellence in research, practice and advocacy for the older adult population.

$4,687 to UTC for “Library Whole Student Wellness Collection”

This grant was fully funded to allow for the development of a circulating collection of wellness and stress/anxiety management resources, including noise cancelling headphones, meditation devices, weighted lap blankets, guided stress relief activities and tip sheets. 

$8,000 to UTK/UTHSC Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology for “Creating a Play Space to Support Learning and Development of Children with Special Needs”

This grant awards partial funding that will allow for the purchase of inclusive playground equipment to create an environment to meet the varying cognitive, physical, social and sensory needs of patients with special needs and their families while allowing students to experience best-practice treatment strategies.

$8,000 to UTM for “Canine Model for Teaching and Demonstration”

This grant awards partial funding that will support the purchase of hyper realistic model simulation equipment which enables hands-on practice of student skills prior to live animal use and supports the UTM Veterinary Science Program. The canine model increases student confidence, reduces use of live animal demonstrations and increases interest in veterinary science through outreach. 

$8,000 to UTM for “Large-Animal Reproductive Models for Animal and Veterinary Science Curriculum and Outreach”

This grant awards partial funding that will provide animal and veterinary science students, as well as beef cattle producers, with models that replicate real-world productive techniques. These models will reduce the need for unnecessary large animal procedures and allow for simulation of birthing difficulties and pregnancy palpation, and allows for reduced risk to animals while providing a hands-on education in a controlled environment.

The Alliance of Women Philanthropists has approved the following five projects for a total of $41,224.29 in support for the 2023-2024 Giving Circle Grant cycle:

$6,000 to UTHSC/UTK for “Community Hearing Screening Outreach for Children.”  

This funding will enhance the Department of UT Audiology and Speech Pathology’s hearing screening outreach program to local schools and preschools. This project will provide experiential learning for speech-language pathology graduate students while also serving the community.

$5,370 to UTM for “Smart IV Pumps for Campus Lab Medication Administration.” 

This funding will allow nursing students to have the opportunity to practice intravenous medication administration using the same current pump utilized in hospital clinical settings.

$16,029.29 to UTS for “Building Both Competency and Confidence of Nursing Students Using Simulation.” 

This funding will allow the implementation of opportunities to foster best practices for in-hospital, patient cardiac emergency situations in the simulation lab setting through cardiac monitoring technology for nursing students in a Baccalaureate of Science Nursing Program at the University of Tennessee Southern.

$5,825 to UTM for “Child Sexual Abuse Prevalence: Implications for Counselors in Training.”

Child sexual abuse victimization is a prevalent issue and is often underreported. However, if shared, it is often done so within a school or clinical mental health counseling setting. Thus, this program seeks to train counselors in training in recognizing, reporting and preventing child sexual abuse victimization.

$8,000 of partial funding to UTS for “Chemistry/Physics Outreach Program.” 

This funding will go to purchasing materials for a new chemistry and physics outreach program to foster increased interest in STEM education by providing engaging learning experiences for students grade 5-12 in our local public school system.

The Alliance of Women Philanthropists has approved the following six projects for over $40,500 for the 2022-2023 Giving Circle Grant cycle: 

$5,216 to UT Chattanooga for “Bringing Chemistry to Local Kids in Chattanooga Public Schools” 

This proposal is requesting the support for building partnerships between selected Chattanooga local public schools and the Department of Chemistry/Physics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The proposed activities will provide a supporting channel for collaborative science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) education opportunities to students in the local Chattanooga public schools. 

$16,500 to UT Martin for “Acquisition of a ‘Thomas Model 4 Wiley Mills’ for Multidisciplinary Lab Education” 

The requested funds will be used to procure a ‘Thomas Model 4 Wiley Mills’ that will provide opportunities for multidisciplinary research and education collaborations within the College of Agricultural and Applied Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Martin. 

$10,154 to UT Southern for “Enhanced Simulation to Address Healthcare Needs of a Geriatric, Rural, Medically-Underserved Population” 

The objective of this project is to implement opportunities to foster best practices in telehealth with the geriatric, rural, medically underserved population in the simulation lab setting through telehealth technology for nursing students in a Baccalaureate of Science Nursing Program at the University of Tennessee Southern. 

$5,000 to UT Martin for “UTM Engineering Control Theory Lab Equipment” 

Partial funding will allow the acquisition of one of the three QUBE Workstations (Fully integrated, modular servomotor experiment setup) to establish the UTM Department of Engineering Control Theory Laboratory. The planned control theory lab provides a hands-on learning experience starting with their Fall 2022 cohort of students. 

$1,401 to UT Martin Parson’s Center for “Improving the Understanding of Emergent Childbirth Scenarios in a Rural Nursing Course” 

The purpose of this project is to enhance the learning of emergent perinatal complications in a rural BSN course. Providing this resource will allow exposure of these complications to students in preparation for examinations and graduate practice. 

$2,261.47 to UT Knoxville for “PantrySoft- Pantry Management Software” 

PantrySoft will streamline Big Orange Pantry’s overall operations and service delivery. This software will provide a greater understanding of client data, minimize learning curve for first-time volunteers, and allow direct communication to patrons. 

The Alliance of Women Philanthropists has approved the following five projects for over $43,000 for 2021 Giving Circle Grant cycle: 

$10,500 to Grant #11: Multidisciplinary materials characterization Laboratory Equipment- UTC 

This proposal is aimed at the acquisition of a high magnification trinocular microscope “AmScope ME600TZC”, or its equivalent microscope from another source, to meet multidisciplinary research and educational needs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). 

$6,000 to Grant #4: Scrappy’s Cupboard Food Pantry Expansion- UTC 

The grant would be used to fund freezer/refrigerator unit(s) for Scrappy’s Cupboard, the on-campus food pantry, to provide free cold and/or frozen food items to student and employee users. Additionally, the grant would allow Scrappy’s Cupboard to partner with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga’s “Mobile Market” to visit campus weekly, providing low-cost perishable food items not otherwise available. 

$16,200 to Grant #14: Paleontology for All: Promoting Women & Underrepresented Participation in Geosciences- UTM 

Provide opportunities for women and underrepresented groups to participate in STEM field and laboratory paleontology research at the UT-Coon Creek Science Center by participating in collecting, identification, preparation of fossils. Participants will produce short YouTube videos of their personal research fossils to be used to help future visitors. Participants will serve as volunteer docents to share what they have learned. 

$8,183 to Grant #3: Using Community Science and Telemetry to Study the Dispersal of Dasypus Novemcintus- UTC 

The nine-banded armadillo is rapidly extending its range throughout the eastern United States. As this species quickly adapts to inhabits new ecosystems, there is a need to study what factors affect their dispersal. The information this research conducted by Carissa Turner will provide can be used to help 

Incorporating Pediatric Simulation Into BSN Curriculum
UT Martin

The purpose of this project is to incorporate pediatric simulation into the curriculum of a rural baccalaureate nursing education program at both the Martin Campus and Parsons Center.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,035.37

UTCVM Shelter Medicine Spay-Neuter Outreach Expansion Project
UT Institute of Agriculture

This outreach project allows the UTCVM Shelter Medicine program to expand our life-saving operations by approximately twenty percent annually through service-learning and community engagement.

Grant Amount Awarded
$16,808.00

Bring the World and More to Teachers and Students of the Tennessee Valley
UT Chattanooga

This project will “Bring the World and More to Teachers and Students in the Tennessee Valley Region” by establishing a virtual and augmented reality lab that will allow 1000 participants each year to travel the world, visit museums, explore the moon, travel the stars and more.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000.00

UTC Collaborative Clinical Medical Laboratory Equipment
UT Chattanooga

This proposal requests funding to purchase specific equipment that will be shared among the PA, DPT and OTD programs at UTC, as well as in collaborative learning experiences with Nursing, Athletic Training, Social Work and Counseling.

Grant Amount Awarded
$8,660.00

Want to Play? Establishing Communication Rich Playgrounds for Children who are Nonverbal and Their Peers
UT Health Science Center

The objective of this project is to develop and install 25 communication board supports on elementary school and preschool program playgrounds around the East Tennessee area. Additionally, this project will provide initial, as well as ongoing, training and support to teaching staff, parents, students.

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,500.00

TOTAL AMOUNT FUNDED: $48,003 (5 projects)

Housing Food Pantry
UT Martin

This grant will allow the UT Martin Office Housing to expand the Captain’s Food Pantry to be a strong resource for students to use in fighting food insecurity.

Grant Amount Awarded
$4,625.88

Preparing Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and Speech-Language Pathology Students
UT Knoxville

This project will examine existing developmental screening instruments, with a one year goal, of developing a working electronic model for identifying and referring children who might be at-risk for speech-language-hearing impairments (i.e., autism, language, motor, feeding, or hearing aids), while providing an opportunity for nursing, speech-language pathology, and engineering students to collaborate on the basic design, content, and development of the electric clinical decision tree.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,876.00

Autism Employment Project
UT Chattanooga

This project is designed to create opportunities to make young adults with ASD more employable and marketable for their future careers as well as educating employers on the benefits of hiring individuals with ASD. By funding technology, materials, business luncheons, and our annual Reverse Career Fair, students will become more career minded, workplace prepared, and marketable to the workforce.

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,330.00

Interdisciplinary Standardized Patient Program
UT Chattanooga

An Interdisciplinary Standardized Patient Program is an active, experiential learning program for students across all health profession disciplines. Funding is being provided to assist with Phase I of program development to include: assessment for feasibility and sustainability, curriculum development, training faculty and standardized patients, and a software program to manage scheduling and accounting tasks.

Grant Amount Awarded
$9,100.00

Growing Older: Using Simulation to Encourage and Improve Care
UT Martin

The older population is the fastest growing population in the United States. As the aging population increases, they will be cared for in a variety of settings. This funding will provide simulation equipment to assist students caring for these individuals by creating realistic situations in the student experience.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000.00

SusSTEMability Pilot Program
UT Knoxville

SuSTEMability is an outreach program to engage elementary school girls in STEM through hands-on activities teaching environmental sustainability. The pilot program will be implemented at Bower Elementary School, one of the most economically disadvantaged schools in Roane County. The program will be taught by women graduate students in STEM fields to provide role models and mentors.

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,794.00

Growing Green and Sustainable Communities with Rain Gardens
UT Knoxville

Through rich community partnership, this project will engage residents of three Knoxville neighborhoods in an urban rain garden program. A team of Social Work, Engineering, and
Agricultural Extension faculty and students will work with lower-to-moderate income residents to install and maintain rain gardens on their properties. The project includes extensive
community outreach, a program evaluation, and creation of transferable educational materials.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,000.00

TOTAL AMOUNT FUNDED: $50,725.80 (7 projects)

Clarence Brown Theatre Open Captioning Initiative
UT Knoxville

Funds will be used to purchase three LED displays screens for each of our stages and the necessary software to continue providing Open Caption performances with live text displayed, for future productions.

Grant Amount Awarded
$9,617

Hortense Parrish Writing Center
UT Martin

The Hortense Parrish Writing Center seeks funding to convert its paper attendance and filing system to an electronic format.

Grant Amount Awarded
$2,994

Automated Crash Cart Simulation
UT Martin

The purpose of this project is to incorporate an up-to-date crash cart system in the simulation setting for students in a rural baccalaureate nursing education program.

Grant Amount Awarded
$2,797

Medication Administration using Simulation
UT Martin

The purpose of this project is to incorporate an up-to-date medication management system in the simulation setting for students in a rural baccalaureate nursing education program.

Grant Amount Awarded
$12,521

Home Visit Simulation
UT Martin

To implement a Home Visit Simulation Room for home care visits, safety competencies, improve therapeutic communication and interpersonal skills for care of individuals/vulnerable populations.

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,019

Roots of Rhythm
UT Martin

To support the purchase of traditional Trinidadian steel drums for UT Martin Percussion Studio and Roots of Rhythm community engagement program.

Grant Amount Awarded
$12,500

TOTAL FUNDS RECOMMENDED FOR AWARD: $46,448 (6 projects)

Educational Enhancements for the Energy Mobile Classroom
UT Martin

Educational Enhancements for the Energy Mobile Classroom (UTM) – We are requesting funds for iPads, stands, and an FLIR thermal Imager. These items will add a new dimension t our Energy Mobile Classroom, advancing energy education in our region. Not only will UT Martin students benefit from this project but it will also reach K-12 students and the general public through West TN. (Amount requested: $4,600)

Grant Amount Awarded
$4,600

Braille Embosser and Tactile Graphics Suite
UT Martin – Disability Services

The Disability Services office at UTM requests funds to replace obsolete braille embosser. Current embosser does not have capacity to produce tactile graphics, charts, STEM content, non-standard text. New embosser and software suite will contribute greatly toward accessibility initiatives. (Amount requested: $6,695)

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,695

Recycle EASE
UT Martin

We are requesting money for recycling dumpsters for an outdoor self-sorting convenience area beside our campus recycle facility in increase the efficiency of our recycling efforts and to mainstream the process of recycling for the campus and the community. (Amount requested: $7,074)

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,074

Summer Learning Disorder Screening Project
UT Knoxville

The proposed project is to help remediate learning skill deficits for students from an at-risk population while providing an opportunity for special education teachers in training and school psychologists in training to collaborate on basic assessment and intervention design. (Amount requested: $8,131)

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,631

Jefferson County Targeted Spay/Neuter Project
UT Institute of Agriculture – College of Veterinary Medicine

This project will allow veterinary students the opportunity to vastly improve shelter animal outcomes in Jefferson County by targeting spay/neuter options to this underserved community. It will also greatly help those that care for these animals by decreasing overpopulation, thus decreasing shelter intakes, euthanasia, and infectious disease rates. The impact will be felt community-wide with a true One Health approach, affecting the welfare of animals and humans alike. (Amount requested: $20,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$15,000

UTK Museum/Nursing Collaboration
UT Knoxville – McClung Museum and College of Nursing

The McClung Museum and the UTK School of Nursing are proposing a collaborative workshop to teach students to use visual analysis of art to improve their observation skills, ultimately making them better clinicians. (Amount requested: $14,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$4,000

TOTAL FUNDS RECOMMENDED FOR AWARD: $44,000 (6 projects)

Stroke Rehab Exercise Video Production (4)
UTC – Departments of Occupational & Physical Therapy

This grant’s funding will support the labor-intensive creation of digital exercise videos and interprofessional telehealth educational resources, including students’ learning assessments. With support of graduate student workers and hired older-adult actors, we will create a digital video library of 90 exercises for individuals post-stroke. The digital video library will be integrated with a telehealth system and interprofessional telehealth educational resources for professional graduate education.(Amount requested: $12,457)

Grant Amount Awarded
$12,457

Overcoming a Rural Nursing Education Barrier Through Simulation – Phase II
UT Martin – Department of Nursing

Addition of SimScreens to the simulation lab in UTM’s Department of Nursing would add to the realism for student simulations. This project would build on the 2012-2013 project which initiated simulation in the Nursing curriculum at UTM. (Amount requested: $9,200)

Grant Amount Awarded
$9,200

Skyhawk Veterans Association Lounge
UT Martin – Veterans Association

The student veterans of UT Martin need a lounge to support their transition from military life to civilian and university life. Often they are at the university for a whole day without a place to study, relax, or fraternize. (Amount requested: $5,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,000

Shelby County Schools Student Asthma Screening Project
UT Health Science Center – College of Nursing

Undergraduate nursing students will provide asthma screenings in Shelby County Schools to as part of their community health and populations practicum. Students, ranging in age from kindergarten to 5th grade, will be provided with free screenings. Funding from this grant will provide equipment and supplies to carry out approximately 2500 screenings. (Amount requested: $25,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$14,600

The College of Dentistry Special Needs Clinic
UT Health Science Center – College of Dentistry

The College of Dentistry Special Needs Clinic will provide dental services for families in Memphis while training future generations of dentist to treat our special needs population whose care is often more critical and unique. Our mission is to introduce special needs dental patients to high-quality, accessible, and affordable dental care. (Amount requested: $25,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$25,000

TOTAL FUNDS RECOMMENDED FOR AWARD: $66,257

Supporting Language Development in Children with Autism
UTHSC – Dept. of Audiology & Speech Pathology

We are seeking funding to develop a test to determine a child’s essential understanding of language as a tool for communication, and to apply what we learn to improving the treatment of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Funding will allow us both to collect data to validate the test we have devised as well as to evaluate two opposing approaches to supporting language development in children diagnosed with autism. (Amount requested: $7,400)

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,400

Born Drug Free Tennessee
UT Knoxville – College of Nursing

Born Drug Free Tennessee is a campaign designed to provide resources and support to women during their pregnancy. Part of the initiative is to educate any woman of childbearing age the importance of not taking opiates during pregnancy. Another part of the campaign is to educate healthcare providers to Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to treatment (SBIRT) process, and evidence-based modality shown to appropriately assess patient risk and direct patients to needed referrals before a person reaches a point of addiction. (Amount requested: $6,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,000

Book Buddies at the Boys and Girls Club
UT Knoxville – Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature

Continuing to read during the summer months is paramount to high reading achievement during the school year. But not all youth have access to quality reading materials or reading tutors during summer months. The “Book Buddies” program aims to keep vulnerable youth reading all summer long. (Amount requested: $4,500)

Grant Amount Awarded
$3,500

Growing the Farm to School Program Series
UT Institute of Agriculture

There are food safety barriers limiting the adoption of the farm to school program in Tennessee. This project seeks to remove these barriers through education by developing online, in-person, and written resources. These resources will help fill this void and educate current and potential fruit and vegetable growers as well as extension professionals and allow the farm to school program to be more widely adopted throughout the state. (Amount requested: $25,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$25,000

Enhancing the Language and Literacy Outcomes of Children who are Deaf/HH
UTHSC – Dept. of Audiology & Speech Pathology

The goal of the proposed project is to use grant funds to provide a series of workshops addressing literacy and language activities for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh), as well as UT undergrad and graduate students and current professionals. It is well documented that children who are d/hh have significant difficulties learning how to read. This project will start to address some of those needs by developing and examining effective training through workshops for students, professionals, and families. (Amount requested: $5,500)

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,500

UT Martin Undergraduate Alumni Council
UT Martin – Office of Alumni Affairs

We are currently seeking funds to help enhance our organization and be able to help brand ourselves more nationally and within our university and surrounding community. The funds will help UAC be able to travel to CASE ASAP conferences and continue to hold the official I HEART UTM Week. (Amount requested: $12,000)

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,000

TOTAL FUNDS RECOMMENDED FOR AWARD $52,400

House of Math
UT Knoxville – Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

The House of Math project inspires students to learn math by integrating it into museum activities, implementing family math sessions and creating a website that offers resources for parents and students. Research will be conducted to teach students about math in every life.

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,141

Grow More, Give More
UT Institute of Agriculture

Grow More, Give More is service project of the UT Institute of Agriculture and the Society of St. Andrew. The program is focused on feeding the hungry locally with the aim to reduce food waste. Members of the institute and community will be asked to plant extra in their gardens or purchase produce to help feed the hungry. Produce will be collected and taken to area agencies to provide healthy and nutritious meals to the people they serve.

Grant Amount Awarded
$9,933

Systers: Women in EECS at UT Knoxville
UT Knoxville – College of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Systers is a new student lead group which aims to recruit, mentor and retain women in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UTK. This support network will offer programs on topics such as group dynamics, interviewing and mentoring. The grant will partially cover the cost for members to attend The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.

Grant Amount Awarded
$13,305

UT Martin Reading Clinic
UT Martin – College of Education and Behavioral Sciences

UT Martin will receive continued support for remedial reading instruction for 25 students ages 7-17, in rural Northwest Tennessee. UT Martin pre-service teachers are hired to tutor struggling readers who benefit immensely from this program.

Grant Amount Awarded
$8,125

Women’s Leadership Conference
UT Knoxville – Office of Student Activities – Women’s Coordinating Council

This day-long conference will serve as an opportunity for female students to develop leadership skills, network, form relationships, and serve the Knoxville community. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to meet with women leaders on campus who will be able to offer mentor relationships.

Grant Amount Awarded
$4,000

Development & Validation of a Multipurpose Reusable Dog and Cat Manikin
UT Institute of Agriculture – College of Veterinary Medicine

The purpose of this study is to develop realistic, reusable manikins to teach veterinary students a wide variety of important clinical skills while minimizing the use of live animals. Manikins would also be used for individual study and practice, improving the proficiency of students entering the clinic.

Grant Amount Awarded
$5,090

Financial Literacy Boot Camp
UT Knoxville – Hodges Library

The Financial Literacy Boot Camp program aims to teach college students to be “financially literate.” It helps them to establish a strong foundation in knowledge and skills necessary to manage their resources and have a lifetime grounded in financial awareness.

Grant Amount Awarded
$1,800

Food-Borne Pathogens Research Program
The UT Institute of Agriculture

The program will evaluate food safety at all levels of small farms and prepare farmers for implementation of safety measures through research and education. These measures help to prevent harmful bacteria, such as salmonella and e-coli, from reaching consumers.

Grant Amount Awarded
$12,000

Pathway to Professionalism Program
UTHSC – Department of Clinical Laboratory Service

The UT Health Science Center’s medical laboratory professional’s 2-year program gives minority women the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and become financially self-sufficient. The Giving Circle Grant will cover the cost of books, basic educational items, and the $4,500 medical tech exam for 20 minority students.

Grant Amount Awarded
$15,500

Mobile Market
UT Health Science Center

The Mobile Market is a market on wheels that was created by an industrious group of UT Health Science students as a way to ensure that poverty-stricken Memphis residents have access to fresh and affordable produce, meats and dairy products. The Mobile Market also provides nutritional counseling and education. Their long-term goal is to see improvements in chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension in the North Memphis area.

Grant Amount Awarded
$6,000

Reading Clinic
UT Martin

Since January 2009 the UT Martin Reading Clinic has served 70 struggling elementary school readers in learning the fundamental building block of all education — reading. Student teachers gain valuable experience teaching reading by tutoring students, and the young students benefit from the one-on-one sessions. However, the economic climate has caused many parents to do without or discontinue tutoring services for their children. This grant will assist the Reading Clinic staff in providing 20 year-long scholarships for students with demonstrated academic and financial need.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000

Women Leading Locally, Thinking Globally
UT Martin – Women’s Center

The innovative purpose of this year-long project is to empower minority and first generation college females, through education and experience, to assume leadership roles in their communities and regions. This project will provide participants with specialized instruction, opportunities for networking with females in leadership positions in government, media, and business, and understanding of global issues and opportunities for women. In addition to these opportunities, the participants will design and implement a project that focuses on leading through volunteerism.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,150

Overcoming a Rural Nursing Education Barrier Through Simulation
UT Martin – Department of Nursing

The purpose of this project is to implement high-fidelity simulation into all three levels of the nursing curriculum in order to overcome a shortage of clinical sites. An additional benefit of the implementation of simulation will be the increase in knowledge and skill retention of basic life support, physical assessment, cardiac rhythm assessment, and IV therapy.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000

Women’s Council Aspire Series
UT Alumni Association

The Aspire Series, created in 2009, is a program committed to equip collegiate women with the skills to take into post-collegiate professional and volunteer careers, and to cultivate future alumni volunteers. The Alliance’s investment in the Women’s Council Aspire Series will allow the council to grow the curriculum and marketing efforts to make a larger impact in the student communities.

Grant Amount Awarded
$8,100

Organic & Sustainable Crop Production Program
UT Institute of Agriculture

The project will fund student interns to organize, manage, and market a farmers market on the UT Knoxville campus. Pilot programs were conducted in 2010 and 2011 and these funds will support the market as it grows and develops sustainable funding through corporate support.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000

Natural Playscape and Laboratory Gardens
UT Knoxville – Early Learning Center for Research and Practice

Construction of natural play areas, outdoor classroom space, and a research and teaching garden within the University’s laboratory school will be completed. Pre-service and in-service teachers will receive training in plant-based education and horticulture. Curriculum plans, research findings, and children’s daily experiences in an environmental education setting will be disseminated through publications, teacher training presentations, and the media.

Grant Amount Awarded
$15,000

UTC Student Foundation
UTC

The UTC Student Foundation program was established to educate students about the importance of philanthropy and to encourage them to become lifelong financial supporters of UTC. The funding will be used to market the new organization on campus.

Grant Amount Awarded
$2,500

A New Norris House, Phase IV
UT Knoxville College of Architecture and Design

An educational/research/outreach project that entails the design construction, demonstration, monitoring and evaluation of a sustainable model home and landscape. The project is located in Norris, TN and engages the academy, professions, and community to address sustainable design challenges.

Grant Amount Awarded
$9,900

The UT Knoxville LeaderShape Institute
UT Knoxville – Student Orientation & Leadership Development

The LeaderShape Institute is a nationally recognized program which has been hosted by other peer institutions. The session is 6 days and comprised of 60-70 UTK students. Work is done in small ‘family clusters’ and centers on identifying leaders and building community within the campus. Goals for the session include a increased access to leadership opportunities, campus-wide collaboration, and increased commitment to community service.

Grant Amount Awarded
$16,300

UTC Women’s Studies Mentoring Program
UTC – Women’s Studies Program

The UTC Women’s Studies Program’s mentoring program was created to provide services to high ability/low achieving female students. The program also provides an opportunity for high-achieving women’s studies students to mentor the at-risk students and assist them in developing scholarly skills as they interact with faculty advisors and participate in a women’s studies related research project.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000

Women in Politics: An Examination of Oppression in Afghanistan
UT Knoxville – Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy/Baker Scholars

The Howard Baker Center for Public Policy has requested funding to bring nationally-known women’s rights activist, film maker and journalist, Diana Saqueb, to speak at an educational outreach event in partnership with a variety of campus and community organizations. The event will highlight U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and to raise awareness regarding implications for human rights and women’s rights.

Grant Amount Awarded
$1,800

Peer Education Program
UTC – Center for Advisement and Student Success

This program will assist incoming freshmen by providing peer mentors to a portion of those students enrolled in USTU 1250 (First Year Studies course). Funding will go towards training mentors, peer mentor handbook production, and campus activies. The hope is to expand the project to all sections of USTU 1250.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,000

UT Martin Recycles!
UT Martin – Growing Garden

The University of Tennessee at Martin requested $8,500 in funding for the UTM Growing Garden Project. An herb garden will be planted in front of the University Center as well as a series of small vegetable gardens near the residence halls for use by Sodexho and campus resident students. The purpose of the garden is to bring awareness to the need for education of sustainable agricultural practices in addition to the increased demand for food in the rural Northwest Tennessee area.

Grant Amount Awarded
$8,500

Improving the Mentoring of Future Scholars
UT Knoxville – Teaching and Learning Center (TENN TLC)

The Improving the Mentoring of Future Scholars workshops will be designed to provide knowledge of the unique role quality mentoring plays in the development of future college professors, the pros and cons of different mentoring models, the needs of future faculty based upon their diverse backgrounds and experiences, and how to enhance the brainstorming of, and planning for, creative research and instructional ideas. The project will facilitate the design, promotion and implementation of a set of innovative comprehensive workshops that directly address this existing critical need.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,000

A New Norris House: A Sustainable Home for the 21st Century
UT Knoxville School of Architecture with Department of Engineering, Planning, Environmental Studies

This proposal requested $14,400 of funding to support innovative water harvesting, treatment and conservation measures developed for the New Norris House, a demonstration project designed and engineered by a faculty-led team of interdisciplinary UTK students. The support will fund sustainable water systems for the New Norris House which includes rainwater harvesting, filtration and storage that will support 100% of the domestic water use and on-site grey water treatment.

Grant Amount Awarded
$14,400

iCare: Academic Electronic Health Record
UT Knoxville – College of Nursing

To prepare beginning and advanced nurses for advancing EHR technologies, the University of Tennessee Knoxville, College of Nursing along with the College of Information Engineering developed and tested a prototype EHR application, iCare™v.1.0. The system allows students to input data, retrieve pertinent health data, such as lab values and vital signs, while accessing evidence-based health information through a portal to system libraries. iCare™v.1.0 is a learning tool that combines the expertise of information engineers and nurses in a clinical tool with state-of-the-art information systems tools. Further, this tool is unique because it was specifically designed as a learning tool, not an EHR to store actual data. iCare™v.1.0 can generate reports that track student performance over extended periods of time and allows multiple users to document and retrieve data simultaneously on one particular patient, unlike EHRs used in the clinical setting. To ensure iCare™v.1.0 met the needs of students and faculty, usability testing occurred while it was developed using a rapid prototyping process of design and Nielsen’s heuristic methods of evaluation.

Grant Amount Awarded
$15,000.00

Graduate Students in Research
UTC – Office of Grants and Research and the Graduate School

This program seeks to encourage female graduate students to produce and publish research worthy of national attention. This mentoring program will pair a successful member of UTC’s female professorate with a promising female graduate student who has had an original research paper accepted for presentation at a national conference. The main objective is for the mentor to pass on knowledge regarding the process of making conference participation successful. By being able to participate at a national level, the outstanding graduate student will be able to avail herself of the broad array of potential colleagues who participate in key conferences in their chosen field.

Grant Amount Awarded
$4,800

School of Nursing Models
UTC – School of Nursing

The UTC nursing program is establishing on-campus lab facilities for students that simulate realistic clinical experiences in anticipated hospital settings. To complete the labs, UTC needs to purchase equipment including ultra-realistic simulators that can be programmed to present many different patient scenarios which challenge students’ clinical and decision-making skills and will provide students the ability to give safe patient care in simulated experiences prior to rendering this care to an actual patient. The new high tech clinical simulation labs will mirror the hospital environment and the equipment students will utilize.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,575

Helping Hands Kitchen Learning Garden
UT Institute of Agriculture – UT Gardens

The purpose of the project is to construct an interactive teaching and learning ‘kitchen garden’ and ‘adaptive kitchen garden’, called the “Helping Hands Kitchen Learning Garden” that will strengthen diverse university and local communities by addressing their educational, social, physical, nutritional, economic, and environmental needs. Several departments, faculty, and students in the Institute of Agriculture will benefit by the construction of this garden. Other UT colleges/institutes will also utilize and benefit from the garden including the College of Social Work, the College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, the UT Culinary Institute, and the Sertoma Learning Center.

Grant Amount Awarded
$18,000

Developing Non-surgical Pet Contraceptives
UT Institute of Agriculture – Vet Med

The purpose of this project is to conduct a study that could result in the development of an innovative non-surgical sterilization product for pets that will be beneficial to all communities worldwide. It is anticipated that the results of the study will lead to a product that has a potential for commercial development. These findings could also serve as a core for further product development that will lead to further business ventures. Developing a non-surgical sterilization method for female dogs provides many benefits to the public and the pet population. It provides a less expensive and less tedious method of pet sterilization and a far superior alternative to spaying female dogs.

Grant Amount Awarded
$18,000.00

Cardiovascular Health Risk of a High Risk Urban Pregnant Population
UT Health Science Center – Department of OB/GYN

Pregnant women from underserved populations will be recruited to participate in a study regarding Cardiovascular Health. These surveys will be analyzed and the results discussed with the participants to evaluate their risk for cardiovascular disease and what they can do to prevent it. The project also seeks to collect data on ways to better include African Americans in prevention research.

Grant Amount Awarded
$10,010.17

Trip to Mexico
UT Martin – Percussive Arts Society

The UT Martin Percussive Arts Society student ambassadors’ trip to Mexico. The group has been invited to visit the University of Tampico and the University of Guanajuato. 15 students and 4 staff will perform several concerts and hope to lay the foundation for future exchange programs.

Grant Amount Awarded
$8,000.00

Youth University Scholarship and Stipends
UTC – Continuing Education, Youth University

Would-be teachers from the Governor’s School and UTC education majors develop their skills while providing inner-city children educationally enriching “camp” sessions for 1st through 6th graders. These sessions are held on the UTC campus and help expose the children to the college environment.

Grant Amount Awarded
$7,500.00

The Women and Leadership Program
UT Knoxville – Student Orientation & Leadership Development

In an effort to create a developmental environment for female students the Women and Leadership program will provide students with mentoring relationships that will also build institution connections and promote women’s leadership. The program will also encourage philanthropy and the development of professional networks.

Grant Amount Awarded
$15,000.00