Forbes magazine recently ranked UT among the top places to work in higher education in the US.
That may be news to some, but not to UT’s employees.
Many UT faculty and staff have spent most if not all of their careers on Rocky Top.
In 2013, UT created the Joe Johnson Lifetime Service Award to recognize employees with fifty or more years of continuous service to the university.
The award is named after UT System President Emeritus Joe Johnson in honor of his five decades of service to UT.
Who are some of the longest-serving UT employees?
- George Schweitzer, a professor of chemistry, will mark an incredible sixty-eight years of service to UT this September. Schweitzer, age ninety-one, was selected as the university’s first Macebearer. He estimates he has taught chemistry to more than 45,000 students during his career.
- In September, chemistry professor T. F. Williams marks fifty-five years of service to UT. Williams is an expert in the structure and behavior of particles known as “free radicals.”
- Shirley Galyon will mark fifty-two years this December with the UT Libraries.
- Joseph Cook, a professor in the College of Law, will celebrate fifty-one years with UT this September. A former Macebearer, Cook coached UT’s National Moot Court team for forty years and has won numerous awards for teaching and scholarship.
- Anna Reynolds will celebrate fifty years with the UT Libraries this August.
- Thelma Hilton, accounting specialist in the College of Architecture and Design, will celebrate fifty-six years this July.
For more information on UT’s Service Awards, visit tennessee.edu/events/service-awards.