Category Archives: Student Spotlight

May 14, 2021 By Hillary Tune

MSIS Student Karen Beal Awarded Gary R. Purcell Scholarship

Karen Beal is nearing the end of completing her MSIS program, a goal of hers that she’s had since high school. She had put it off for years and finally went for it, and now it has enhanced her current career and given her other options for the future should she wish to go down a different path.

Beal will get to finish out her last year in the program with the support of the Gary R. Purcell Scholarship, which goes, “to a student who shows unusual promise as a leader in the field of information sciences, in research … Read more “MSIS Student Karen Beal Awarded Gary R. Purcell Scholarship”

April 8, 2021 By Hillary Tune

MSIS Student Charlie Mix is Putting Conservation on the Map

Charlie Mix and Nyssa Hunt look at the "Cradle of Southern Appalachia" map. - Photo by Angela Foster, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Charlie Mix and Nyssa Hunt look at the “Cradle of Southern Appalachia” map. – Photo by Angela Foster, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Information is delivered in many forms, and for MSIS student Charlie Mix, maps are his deliverable of choice. Mix earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and went on to work for the National Park Service and for land trust and watershed conservancies before landing at Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technology Lab at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, five years ago.

Two years into his career at the IGT Lab, Mix was bumped up into the position of GIS director, which … Read more “MSIS Student Charlie Mix is Putting Conservation on the Map”

April 1, 2021 By Hillary Tune

Stephanie Walker to be One of the First Undergraduate Students to Earn Her Bachelor’s Degree in the New SIS Major This Spring

While Stephanie Walker is excited to be on the verge of graduating from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with her undergraduate major in information sciences, the senior said it is also a bittersweet moment.

“I look back and almost wish I could have discovered information sciences sooner. I just feel like I spent a good portion of time here at the university studying majors I didn’t particularly enjoy, so I only had one and a half years to really explore information sciences. At times, I wish my undergraduate education wasn’t ending so soon, but nonetheless, I’m excited for what the … Read more “Stephanie Walker to be One of the First Undergraduate Students to Earn Her Bachelor’s Degree in the New SIS Major This Spring”

March 4, 2021 By Hillary Tune

Student Spotlight: Jesse Morris Uses Environmental Science Background and Information Science Skills at Her ‘Dream Job’

Featured Student: Jesse Morris

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Education/Career Background

I got my undergraduate degree in life sciences and environmental studies from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. After I graduated I did a couple of random things – I did some pharmaceutical research and was a GIS technician – and then I fell into being an environmental scientist for about 10 years.

Why information sciences?

I got to a point in my career where I knew I wanted to go further in my education and I was weighing my options.The obvious path was a master’s in ecology and to lean … Read more “Student Spotlight: Jesse Morris Uses Environmental Science Background and Information Science Skills at Her ‘Dream Job’”

December 4, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Student Spotlight: Joshua Melendez Enjoys that BSIS Major Embodies Tech and Creativity

Featured Student: Josh Melendez

Hometown: Clarksville, Tennessee

What drew you to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville?

I’m originally from Clarksville, Tennessee, and I heard about UT from word of mouth and how great the program is and how the faculty and staff really care about students. During my high school time, I did dual enrollment at another university and got familiar with that program, and I felt my peers and teachers weren’t really passionate.

In my first year (2016) as a freshman at UT, I instantly noticed a difference with the professors and my peers in the classroom. They were … Read more “Student Spotlight: Joshua Melendez Enjoys that BSIS Major Embodies Tech and Creativity”

BSIS

October 30, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Undergrad Holland Parkins First Ever SIS Student to be a CCI Land Ambassador

Junior Holland Parkins recently became the first ever College of Communications and Information Land Ambassador for the School of Information Sciences (SIS), a position in which she will represent the college and assist CCI with student recruitment, student retention, alumni relations, community outreach, and college events.

What is a CCI Land Ambassador?

The CCI Land Ambassador program was established in 2012 through funding from Stephen Land, a 1978 graduate of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Land has served on the CCI Board of Visitors, and is CEO of Jupiter Entertainment, a television production company based out of … Read more “Undergrad Holland Parkins First Ever SIS Student to be a CCI Land Ambassador”

October 22, 2020 By Hillary Tune

MSIS Student Spotlight: Adam Hembree Pursues Interest in Public Librarianship and Archives Pathways

MSIS student Adam Hembree poses with donated collections in the basement of the Blount County Public Library, where he's doing a practicum this fall.

Featured student: Adam Hembree

Location: Knoxville, TN

Education: Bachelor’s in Spanish and interdisciplinary studies, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia; Master’s degree in applied linguistics from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Career/Background: After I did my undergrad, I worked my way up at Rosetta Stone to being an area manager in Hampton Roads, Virginia,where I’m from, and it got me really interested in linguistics and language learning – I was already interested in that, but that solidified it. I went back to school for linguistics and I ended up doing a concentration in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other … Read more “MSIS Student Spotlight: Adam Hembree Pursues Interest in Public Librarianship and Archives Pathways”

April 22, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Student Jessica Giles Creates Map to Track People’s Movements During the Pandemic

One of the reasons student Jessica Giles entered the MSIS program was to learn how to better represent data through visualization for her job as an associate data engineer at Intermx in Atlanta, Georgia. She had hoped to gain skills that would allow her to put data and statistics into an easy-to-consume format for the public. Her most recent work project achieved just that: Giles used data of people’s movements during the COVID-19 pandemic and placed it into an interactive map with adjacent graphs that anyone can access and use.

While the idea for the map initially stemmed from clients … Read more “Student Jessica Giles Creates Map to Track People’s Movements During the Pandemic”

March 12, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Student Spotlight Jeff Zentner is a Musician, Lawyer, Author, and Librarian is Next on His List

Featured student: Jeff Zentner

Location: Nashville, TN

Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications from University of Utah, law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School

Career/Background: I’ve had a number of different lives. I used to be a musician. As a musician, I recorded several albums with bands and solo, and wrote a bunch of songs. I’ve worked with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. I toured and played festivals and such. That was a lot of fun but it ran its course.

So I went to law school and was a civil litigator in private practice for four years, but … Read more “Student Spotlight Jeff Zentner is a Musician, Lawyer, Author, and Librarian is Next on His List”

February 26, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Student Spotlight: Kristy Cunningham Combines a Passion for People and Tech

Featured student: Kristy Cunningham
Location: Cookeville, TN
Education: Bachelor’s in Management Information Systems, MBA from Tennessee Tech, will graduate Spring 2020 with an MSIS

Career: I work at Tennessee Tech, but not in the library. I am the assistant director for the Center for Career Development; I do resume reviews, career fairs, classroom presentations about interviews and resumes, and teach students about Tennessee Tech’s Handshake job database system. There are four of us in the office, for a campus of about 10,000 students, so we stay very busy.

I’ve been here 15 years, and this is my third job at … Read more “Student Spotlight: Kristy Cunningham Combines a Passion for People and Tech”