KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is giving release time to three faculty so they can work this year in Knox County schools.
Dr. Lynn Champion, director of outreach and public service for the college, provided the following list of the participating faculty, their departments, and the schools where they will be working:
— Dr. Edmund J. Campion, modern foreign languages and literatures, at the Vine Middle Magnet Performing Arts and Sciences Academy.
— Dr. Stuart B. Elston, physics and astronomy, Bearden High School.
— Dr. Beth Conway Mullin, botany, Ritta Elementary School.
All Knox schools were invited to apply to participate in the Scholars-in-the-Schools program. Selection is based on proposals by school administrators, teachers, and parents for utilizing the UT faculty.
A committee of representatives from UT, public schools, Parent-Teachers Associations, and community business leaders made the school selections.
”We feel confident that the schools, the teachers and the parents are committed to making the most of this opportunity,” Champion said. ”Everyone has been working on this since spring, so we are ready to go when school opens.”
UT faculty will enrich the schools’ curricula by providing special experiences related to their fields of expertise for students, teachers and parents, Champion said. The program is starting its fourth year.
Faculty benefit, Champion said, by becoming more familiar with the needs of elementary and secondary schools — important because UT-Knoxville students preparing for teaching careers now complete their undergraduate work in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Faculty assignments are for the full school year, with the professors spending 8 to 12 hours each week in the schools. Financial support is provided by private gifts to the Scholars-in-the-Schools program and the liberal arts enrichment fund, Champion said.
The funding also pays for replacement instructors to teach classes the UT faculty will miss when they are in the schools.
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