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.”
Sandy Kitts, an accounting specialist with the Department of Plant Sciences, is one of four recipients of the J.E. Moss Achievement Award. Established in memory of J.E. and Ann Moss, this award recognizes excellent achievement in teaching, research, and Extension for the Institute of Agriculture. Awards are provided each year for each of the four units of UTIA. They are selected by a committee including the UTIA senior vice president and senior vice chancellor and the deans of the Institute’s four units: the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Herbert College of Agriculture, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Nutifafa Adotey, an assistant professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science; Elizabeth Croy, a senior veterinary nurse in the College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences; and Jun Lin, a professor in the Department of Animal Science, also received this award.
Kitts has 36 years of service with UT and has served in her current role at UTIA for 15 years. In 2004, she received UTIA’s E.J. Chapman Award, and in both 2008 and 2018 she received the Outstanding Staff Member Award. In 2020, she was honored with the ENEP Award of Excellence. Her favorite part of her job is “getting to see students come in as freshmen, graduate and go to graduate school.” Some have even returned as staff members, she says.
Kitts thanks the administration for recognizing her efforts. “I am humbled and honored that members of my department and the UTIA deans value my work ethic and nominated me for such a prestigious award,” she says.
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.