UT Institute of Agriculture Presents Top Faculty and Staff Awards for 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture celebrated the accomplishments of some of its top faculty, staff, researchers and Extension experts at UTIA’s annual awards and promotions luncheon. This year’s ceremony was held in the newly-opened Agriculture and Natural Resources Building on the UTIA campus in Knoxville on August 14, 2024. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by faculty, alumni and friends of the Institute.
UT Institute of Agriculture Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President Keith Carver hosted the award winners and praised them for their work. “I continue to be amazed by the dedication, enthusiasm and expertise demonstrated by the impressive work of our UTIA faculty and staff,” says Carver. “The awards are well deserved, and the impacts of these accomplishments are seen across the state and will benefit Tennesseans for generations.”
Mitchell Mote, Extension agent III, with UT-TSU Extension in Rutherford County, is a recipient of the Tennessee Association of Agricultural Agents and Specialists – Hicks Award of Excellence. Established by the Tennessee Association of Agricultural Agents and Specialists (TAAA&S) and other endowed funds, this award is presented annually to up to three agricultural Extension faculty who are also members of TAAA&S. Lindsay Stephenson, county director of UT-TSU Extension Haywood County, and Creig Kimbro, county director of UT-TSU Extension Grundy County, also received the award.
Mote has been with UT for more than 35 years serves as an agriculture and natural resource agent and has been a part of many projects such as Certified Lawn Care Professional training program online. His passion to his work and his constituents places him in the perfect position to be one of this year’s recipients.
Mote was previously honored with this award in 2009, but he has not stopped cultivating a fantastic program for the people he serves. Mote has been a part of offices in both Rutherford and Moore County and says, “I am very much aware of the depth, breadth and quality of work conducted by ANR Extension agents for their clientele in Tennessee. To be chosen as a recipient of the TAAA&S Hicks Award of Excellence from this field of possible recipients is truly humbling.”
Since the beginning of his career, Mote has demonstrated a passion for education and the real life solutions that UT Extension brings to his community. Mote received his B.S. in agriculture from the University of Tennessee at Martin.
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture is comprised of the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, and UT Extension. Through its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach, the Institute touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. to Tennesseans and beyond. utia.tennessee.edu.