Category: Academics

This year Tennessee Tech is a new member of the Southern Literary Festival, a consortium of Southern colleges and universities that gathers each spring to celebrate undergraduate writing.  Three Tech students won monetary prizes at the 2022 conference: Michael Lewis and Angel Filyaw in fiction, and Michaela Crawford in poetry. Funded by a URECA grant from Tennessee Tech, these writers and their creative writing professors traveled to Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, MS, so that the students could present their work.  The Southern Literary Festival was first held in 1937, and past winners of undergraduate prizes include Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty. Congratulations to our English majors for representing writing excellence at Tech!

Rebecca Firth, a senior pursuing a major in Chemistry and a minor in Astronomy, is the recipient of the 2022 Kurt Eisen Excellence in Liberal Arts Award. This is the highest student award given by the Tennessee Tech College of Arts and Sciences. Rebecca is recognized for her chemistry research and service to the American Chemistry Society though various leadership and outreach roles. Rebecca joined Dr. Gichuhi’s research team as a sophomore. She has presented research on negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy of deprotonated benzonitrile at the regional and state levels. Working with Dr. Gichuhi, Rebecca is planning to submit her Benzonitrile work to the American Chemistry Society’s Journal of Chemical Information and Modelling. According to Dr. Gichuhi, “this level of research productivity by an undergraduate student, especially in the area of physical chemistry, is not only extraordinary, but a clear indication of how intelligent, dedicated and talented Rebecca is.”

Do you have a writing deadline for the end of the semester? Need some help with a final paper? One extra push to get you through to May? The Writing Excellence Studio at Tech (WEST) is here for you! Our trained consultants can work with you on any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to revision to final polishing. We are here to serve any students in a 3000-level or higher course, or to help on any writing project you have that might not be for a specific class! Our services are free to all students, and you can schedule an appointment via TechConnect. For more information, including our updated hours during Finals Week, visit our website or contact Dr. Brian Williams (bjwilliams@tntech.edu). We look forward to working with you!

Is this the semester when you stop letting your first draft be your final draft? When you actually have the time to revise and edit your paper for class? Do you struggle with revising for content, and instead spend all your time making minor grammar and punctuation changes? Does your instructor keep telling you to revise your work, and you’re just not sure what they want? WEST, the Writing Excellence Studio at Tech, is here to help! On Tuesday, 4/12, we will be leading a dead hour workshop on revision strategies. We will talk about organization, how to see your work with new eyes, how to focus on cohesion and flow, and all sorts of useful things that will help you revise your papers like a professional writer. The workshop will be in Henderson Hall 304B, from 11:00-11:50. No registration is required, and all are welcome! For more information, contact Dr. Brian Williams (bjwilliams@tntech.edu).