Volume 32, Number 1
May 2020 Newsletter
President’s Letter
Dear Friends,
Spring is a beautiful time of the year. Perhaps the jonquils have been a little confused as they have been blooming since late January! The wild crocus covered my yard with a blanket of purple that looked like a royal robe and then the periwinkle blooms appeared. Next will come the azaleas and dogwood and iris to go along with the green grass and the leaf buds on the trees. For several weeks the cows have been “pretending” to eat grass as the pastures turn green, but I am not sure there is anything there tall enough to eat. Mother Nature is truly at her best, and even with the abundant rain (that is an understatement), these months are ones that spark renewal, regrowth, and regeneration.
Due to the continuous spread of COVID-19, all spring UTIA Retirees meetings are being postponed to a later date. This decision is in keeping with the requests of President Trump and Governor Lee to keep group meetings to ten people or fewer. Also, UTIA Administration and the University of Tennessee are taking drastic measures to reduce the spread of the virus as well… Read the complete message online.
Ruth
Ruth Henderson McQueen
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UTIA COVID-19 Resources Available
Tim Cross, UTIA Senior Vice President and Senior Vice Chancellor
Interim UT System President Randy Boyd has announced that campuses and institutes should take measures to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for faculty, staff, and students. Steps being taken include conversion of classes to online delivery, restrictions on travel, and limiting the number of participants in events.
Earlier this year, a task force was established to lead the development of UTIA plans in response to possible local transmission of the virus. This group includes leaders from various facets of our campus community, and I am confident their work will keep UTIA moving forward.
With the help of the task force, we have launched a UTIA-specific website with information on COVID-19. This site should be used as a resource for all at UTIA and should reduce the number of individual email messages you receive. It has links to related sites and provides access to informational material available for use by our educators and stakeholders. A message from UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman providing details pertinent to faculty and students can be found on the COVID-19 website.
Please refer to the UT Knoxville Coronavirus website and the UTIA Coronavirus website periodically to check for updates and new guidance related to both our on-campus and off-campus facilities and programs.
We will continue to work together to meet needs as they arise throughout the state. Thanks for your cooperation and your continuing commitment to serving our students and clients. We want to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our students, our employees, and those we serve. And we certainly want to do all we can to protect you as you carry out your responsibilities and help achieve UTIA’s mission of providing Real. Life. Solutions.
A Note from Marketing and Communications
Over the last few months as we have dealt with the changes that COVID-19 has brought to the way we live, work and play in Tennessee, our office has experienced weekly, even daily changes as we strive to continue our mission of delivering Real. Life. Solutions. to our state. Our Institute has been doing incredible transformative work (highlighted in a series of videos produced by our office) during these strange times, and each of us is proud to be a part of that. Of course, there have also been frequent changes in priorities and project flows, and we want to thank the UTIA Retirees leadership for being understanding as those have changes have affected our work on your behalf, including the delayed release of this e-version of the newsletter. We continue to strive to provide the level of content that you expect from the Institute of Agriculture, and look forward to continuing to serve with you as we work towards a “new” normal.
The Marketing and Communications team
Information About Retirees
Wisdom for All Ages
Ruth Henderson McQueen, President
UTIA Retirees Association
In this article I continue to share responses from the questionnaire that was conducted during our organization’s Golden Anniversary last year. This information comes from the responses to survey question 3, “I wish that I had known when I was twenty-five years old that . . .”
- I should spend more time with my family. (Jim Byford)
- It could be that cold at Ames, Iowa! (Gary Lentz)
- Not to take life too seriously, relax, and enjoy the journey. (Bernice Knox)
- What a wonderful, full life I’d have. (Wanda Russell)
- 4-H members remember everything you do as their agent. (Robbie Melton)
- I might forget things—I would have asked more questions and recorded more memories! (Cherry Lane Darken)
- There are so many great people across the US and World. (Pat Sobrero)
- I didn’t have to be all things to all people. I often put my work over my family. (Jackie Donaldson)
- Time would pass so quickly. (not signed)
- Save more money, invest, and don’t smoke. (Roger Thackston)
- The Extension Service had so much to offer, although my Mom was in Home Demonstration Club and our children had guidance through 4-H with Ben and Charline Powell. (Betty Hill)
- So blessed in being a 4-H Volunteer and all the places I got to go. (Anita Fields Turner, former agent who had to “retire” when she married)
- The nature of changes in Agriculture. (Don Richardson)
- Technology was going to be so important today. I would have made a greater effort to learn more about it. (Mike Smith)
- To celebrate each day more and stress less on things! At age thirty-six I started my Extension career, which culminated twenty-nine years later with retirement. In 1995, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, my philosophy became “Count it all joy!” (James 1:2-3). We all face trials and I am still “counting it all joy,” when in 2017 I learned that I have Parkinson’s disease. I am now learning to maneuver challenges with this chronic situation. (Theresa Allan)
A sincere thank you to all who took the time to participate in the survey. There is still more to come in future issues of the newsletter.
Catching up with the UT Extension Cumberland District
Submitted by Linda Tinch
Linda Tinch and Jenny Yeary have been happily visiting some of the former UT Extension Cumberland District Offices. Both ladies served in the district office. Each county office, with an administrative assistant employed during the Cumberland District time, has either been visited with at their office or in another location. It has been great to catch up with what’s happening in everyone’s life—from marriage to grandchildren to everything in between. Linda and Jenny loved visiting with Kim Smithson Koon, Cannon County; Pam Moreland, Coffee County; Ellen Branham, Cumberland County; Cathy Potter, Fentress County; Kelly Grant, Rhea County; Stephanie Boyatt, Scott County; Barbara Vantrease, Smith County; Terry Toney, Trousdale County; Sharon Shockley, Van Buren County; and Tina Smock, Warren County. They look forward to visiting with other retirees from the Cumberland District soon!
Charles Walker, retired news editor, Marketing and Communications, is now a resident of West Hills Health Care in West Knoxville. He has advanced Parkinson’s and is in a wheelchair. He would love to hear from old friends.
Retired, But Not Disappearing Yet
Tim Prather
January 1, 2020 is marked on my calendar as “Tim’s Independence Day” from 36 years, 8 months, and 5 days as a UT Extension specialist in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department. The time has come in my career and my family that I feel that I should retire so I can attend to other needs. Besides that, I don’t want to do like some of my friends by staying too long and leaving in poor health.
I am forever thankful that Dr. Houston Luttrell (Ag Engineering Department Head), Dr. Lloyd Downen (Ag Extension Dean) and others had enough faith in me to hire me as the farm safety specialist in 1983 fresh from completing my MS in agricultural engineering from the University of Georgia. And, I’m thankful for the mentoring of seasoned professionals like George Grandle, Jim Wills, Ike Sewell, and others that helped me learn what it takes to be effective here. I learned something from every one of you that I met, so thank you!
Extension has been a rewarding career, and I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed almost all of it (exceptions would be compiling annual reports and impact statements, performance reviews, and of course SUPER).
I have been rewarded with opportunities to work with many great people here on campus, in the counties, across our great nation, and a couple of other countries (thank you Neal Eash and Forbes Walker).
I’m hesitant to start naming names since it’s impossible to find a stopping point without omitting someone, but I do want to thank Eileen Legault, Joetta White, and Finis Stribling for their collaboration on AgrAbility and Beginning Farmers Grant projects. Do you realize how significant it is that Tennessee AgrAbility has been funded continuously by three- and four-year competitive grants since 1994? That’s a testament to the work those folks have done, and we’ve helped a lot of people regain some independence from their disabilities. I’ve mostly coordinated the proposals and reporting and supported them however I could.
Some of the most fun times were hands-on fire extinguisher training and taking 4-H members to San Diego for the National 4-H GIS/GPS Leadership Team events. Some of the most heartwarming were seeing 4-H members mature from scared kids their first time at Roundup or their first trip to San Diego to become poised young leaders a year or two later. It’s also worth all the effort when AgrAbility was finally able to help a young farmer obtain a lift that takes him from his wheelchair to the cab of his tractor for the first time in two years since being paralyzed in a mishap on the farm, and he can now contribute more to the farm enterprise with less help from his parents. County Extension folks know hundreds of such stories.
Living in Blount County has been good for my wife and me. Lynn has put up with me for over 36 years while completing her BS in nursing at UT, working as a registered nurse for almost 30 years, and being mom to Daniel (28) and Hannah (24), and running the church kitchen to feed about 100 children and their teachers every Wednesday evening. Both of our children are UT graduates and live in Blount County.
Everybody asks what I’m planning to do next. I have a few plans of my own, but my wife and kids have lists too. The only firm immediate plans are for Lynn and me to go with my parents on a cruise to the Panama Canal at the end of January. Then, I need to address an accumulation of deferred maintenance around the house, do stuff for our church, and I will continue for a while with the National 4-H GIS/GPS Leadership Team. I will probably see some of you at UT Ag Research Field Days or Extension events. Of course, anybody that knows me knows I like to travel, so I’ll be looking for places to explore and catch a few fish. All our parents and siblings live in our hometown of Good Hope, Georgia, so I’ll have more time to hang out there than I’ve been able to recently. And since our parents are 80ish years old, we may face a time when we’re needed there to provide our fair share of assistance.
As for my Extension programs:
Mr. Troy Dugger (Center for Profitable Agriculture) is now project director for AgrAbility and the Tennessee Beginning Farmers Outreach Program grants.
Dr. Andrea Ludwig (Biosystems Engineering) is now the project director for the Disaster Education grant project in Sevier, Blount, and Cocke Counties, and the EDEN Point of Contact.
Dr. Solomon Haile (TSU) will be a GIS advisor to the National 4-H GIS/GPS Leadership Team.
Dr. Lori Duncan (Biosystems Engineering) may be able to help with your other GIS related questions.
Morris Long (Western Region—Solar Farm) does energy education programs.
Thank you to all UTIA folks for what you do to deliver quality research-based information that helps people make informed decisions. I sincerely hope that Tennessee maintains a strong county-based Extension program for many years to come. When we lose that base of support, Extension will lose its relevance like we have seen in some of our neighboring states. I firmly believe that the Morrill Acts of 1862, 1867, 1890, and 1994; the Hatch Act of 1880; and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 are the foundations of the best research and education system in the world. I believe Tennessee still has one of the strongest Extension programs in the country. And, I am hopeful that the UTK-UTIA reunification will eventually be a good thing for Tennessee, despite the botched process. It will take time to rebuild reputations, but Extension will persevere and will stand on its merits.
Best wishes to each of you, and I hope the new decade brings fulfilling challenges and rewards for you and your families.
Jill Martz
Iva K. Marlow
Betty C. Neilson
The UT Human Resources Office reports the following persons retired or departed recently from UTIA.
Retirements
- Elizabeth Paula Moss Bailey, Coordinator III, IACUC, UTCVM
- William Alan Bruhin, Extension Agent III and County Director, Sevier County
- James T. Blackford, Professor, Large Animal Clinical Sciences, UTCVM
- Stephanie Yolanda Brown, Extension Program Assistant II, Hamilton County
- John C. Cummins, Research Associate II, Plant Sciences
- Dennis E. Deyton, Professor, Plant Sciences
- Robert S. Freeland, Professor, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
- David Scott Howell, Clinical Specialist I, Large Animal Clinical Sciences, UTCVM
- Bruce Wentland Kauffman, Extension Assistant II, Soil, Plant and Pest Center
- James K. Morrow, Agricultural Service Supervisor II, Ames Plantation, AgResearch
- Selene Denise Moser, Medical Administrative Specialist I, UTCVM
- Virginia M. Neal, Extension Administrative Support Assistant II, Robertson County
- Deborah Faye Nelson, Business Manager, UTCVM
- Timothy G. Prather, Extension Specialist I, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
- Robin Gail Ramsey, Extension Agent I, UT Extension Bradley County
- Kimberly Jo Stallings, Graphic Designer, UTIA Marketing and Communications
- Lois D. Stinnett, Accounting Specialist II, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
- Dianne Jean Trent, Laboratory Section Chief III, Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, UTCVM
- Joseph Paul Weigel, Associate Professor, Small Animal Clinical Sciences, UTCVM
- John B. Wilkerson, Professor, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
Departures
- Keith Vickrey Garner, Research Specialist II, Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries
- Virginia Reid Jessup, Extension Program Assistant III, Washington County
- Amber Saffels Walker, Extension Administrative Support Assistant II, McMinn County
- Mac Robert Edwards, Agricultural Service Assistant I, Highland Rim AgResearch and Education Center
- Steven Michael Huff, Extension Agent II, Jefferson County
- Gregory William Fay, Extension Assistant I, Clyde Austin 4-H Center
- James Charles Dee, Research Associate I, Entomology and Plant Pathology
- Christie Dianne Banks, Coordinator II, Herbert College of Agriculture
- Holly Williams McMahan, Extension Agent II, Knox County
- Teresa Jean Payne, Coordinator II, Forestry, AgResearch
- Ronnie Lee Cowan, Extension Agent II and County Director, Lewis County
- Julie McKnight Konkel, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
- Karen Patricia Bernard, Extension Agent I, Shelby County
- Lauren Eileen Rosa, Clinical Assistant I, Laboratory An. Fac., UTCVM
- Lorannda Tinin Borja, Extension Agent I, Morgan County
- Rebecca Jane Campbell, Extension Administrative Support Assistant II, Sullivan County
- Kacey Lauren Roberts, Extension Program Assistant II, Rutherford County
Name links to obituary.
Sue Cox, retired Extension food marketing agent, passed away November 27, in Knoxville, at age 94. She retired in 1988 after a forty-year career with Extension. She had worked in Lewis, Rutherford, and Giles Counties in Middle Tennessee and Knox and Union Counties in East Tennessee.
Rural Peace, former UT Extension district supervisor in the Upper Cumberland Area, passed away Sunday, January 5, in Sparta, Tennessee, at age 89. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alan W. Peace Endowment Fund, Tennessee 4-H Foundation, 110 Morgan Hall, 2621 Morgan Circle, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Knoxville, TN 37996-4502, Attn: Evan Beech.
Jackie Donaldson, age 73, of Cookeville, passed away Saturday, January 18. Jackie began her career in 1967 as the 4-H agent for Putnam County and retired as the UT Extension Leader for the county. She worked as a Family and Consumer Sciences Extension agent and Extension leader with the UT Extension in Cookeville.
Alice Faye Harless, who retired from UT Extension Plant and Soil Science, Knoxville campus office, on December 31, 2002, passed away January 29, 2020. She received the E.J. Chapman Award for outstanding service and the first Specialist District Staff Award of Excellence. She also served on the UT Employee Relations Board.
Eric Drumm, Professor Emeritus and former head of the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Sciences, passed away February 7, 2020. In lieu of flowers the family would appreciate contributions to the University of Tennessee Eric Drumm Construction Science Program Enhancement Endowment.
We express sincere comfort and/or speedy healing to the following UTIA employees or retirees:
Sympathy is expressed to Alice Darnell, retired UT Extension agent in Williamson County, in the death of her mother, Maria Winton Baily Goodloe, former program assistant with the UT Extension, who passed away December 18. A full obituary is available online.
Sympathy is expressed to Kim Stallings, retired graphic designer in UTIA Marketing and Communications, in the death of her mother, Virginia R. (Jenny) Corn Davenport, age 80 of Sevierville, who passed away Friday, December 20, 2019. A full obituary is available online.
Sympathy is express to 4-H state specialist Justin Crowe in the December 3 passing of his grandmother, Martha Nell Crowe. A full obituary is available online. Cards may be sent to Justin and Julie Crowe, 113 Templeton Rd #11, Knoxville TN 37918.
Sympathy is expressed to Ed Burns, retired adult agriculture Extension agent in Franklin County, in the November 18 passing of his daughter, Lauren Meagan Burns. A full obituary is available online. If you wish to send a card to Ed and Teresa Burns, the address is Mr. & Mrs. Ed Burns, 220 Staton Road, Belvidere, TN 37306. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial donations to be made in her honor to: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959.
Sympathy is expressed to Pat Grimes, retired senior secretary for the Extension District IV and the Cumberland District, in the death of her husband, Jimmy Grimes, who passed away Thursday, January 9. A full obituary is available online.
It is with deepest sympathy we announce the passing of Faye Nokes, mother of UT Extension Warren County agent Heath Nokes. A full obituary is available online.
Sympathy is expressed to Walter Battle, UT Extension Haywood County director, in the passing of his brother, Anthony Battle.
Sympathy is expressed to Shirley Hastings in the passing of her sister, Linda Welch Ablard, on January 8, 2020. A full obituary is available online. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Linda’s name to the Russell Cemetery Fund, PO Box 313, Duke, Oklahoma 73532, St. Jude’s Hospital, or the charity or organization of your choice.
Sympathy is expressed to Denise Judd Brandon, Extension FCE and earlier District IV Extension staff, on the death of her mother, Louise Judd, on February 29. A full obituary is available online.
UT Gardens Director Sue Hamilton Retires
After nearly four decades of dedicated service to the university, Sue Hamilton, associate professor and director of the UT Gardens, Knoxville, retired at the end of the year. Hamilton has been a true ambassador and leader for the Gardens during her tenure, connecting with local and national garden communities as only she can.
James Newburn, assistant director, has stepped into the interim role of director of the UT Gardens, Knoxville. We appreciate James taking on these new responsibilities as the search process for a new director begins.
Tennessee Farm Bureau Makes Strong Contribution to UT Lone Oaks Farm
STEM Facility to Be Named in Their Honor
The Tennessee Farm Bureau family, made up of Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee and Tennessee Farm Bureau Health Plans, has pledged a two-year commitment of $125,000 to UT Extension, a unit of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The donation will be used for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) barn at the Youth Education Center at Lone Oaks Farm in Middleton, Tennessee.
Faculty Join the Conversation
The Conversation is an independent source for news articles and informed analyses, and UT Knoxville has joined the news site as a premier partner, affording UTIA the opportunity to participate. Media outlets of all sizes, from national newspapers to hometown blogs, may use the scholar-written articles on The Conversation website to reach audiences looking for authoritative information. Because the articles are written by scientists like you, with the assistance of writers and editors with backgrounds in journalism, The Conversation has become a popular source of content for news organizations.
UT Extension Hosts Seven Secrets of Effective Farmers
Webinar Series to Start April 2
Farm operators and value-added agriculture entrepreneurs are invited to participate in a free “lunch and learn” webinar series starting in April.
UT AgResearch and The Nature Conservancy to Partner on Working Woodlands
The UT Institute of Agriculture and The Nature Conservancy have signed a historic agreement to manage the university’s forested research properties under the highest standards for forest management while also selling carbon credits to benefit society and fight climate change.
Herbert College of Agriculture Students Win at Beltwide Cotton Conference
Two Herbert College of Agriculture students took home top honors at the 2020 Beltwide Cotton Conference in Austin, Texas. Dawson Kerns and Shelly Pate, both graduate students in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, won first place in the student oral paper competition in the categories of Cotton Insect Research and Control and Cotton Disease, respectively.
Membership in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Retirees Association is for anyone who has worked five or more years for The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The organization’s membership includes former employees from the Herbert College of Agriculture, the College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension.
It doesn’t matter if you were one of the support staff, a teacher, research scientist, Extension educator, a farm worker, custodian, laboratory technician or an administrator. If you worked at UTIA, we welcome you to join.
A major objective of UTIA Retirees Association is to unite all former University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture workers and to provide channels for communication and friendship after employees leave the Institute. Our newsletter and web pages are communication links with the Institute and current and retired employees.
When employees retire or terminate employment at UTIA, their names are added to our mailing list to receive a complimentary issue of the quarterly newsletter and an invitation to the next area meeting scheduled in the area where they reside. During this period, retirees have the opportunity to decide whether or not they want to continue their contact with former co-workers by joining the UTIA Retirees Association. The cost is $30 for a lifetime membership.
The UTIA Retirees Association newsletter is published quarterly by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, or covered veteran status.
UTIA Retirees Association
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