UT Institute of Agriculture Presents Top Faculty and Staff Awards for 2020
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recognized extraordinary service from members of the faculty and staff across the state at its annual awards and promotions event, held this year on August 21, 2020. Honorees were recognized virtually during a Zoom presentation rather than a fun, in-person luncheon. This change in venue did not minimize the amazing accomplishments for 2020. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by past faculty, alumni and friends of the Institute.
Ruth Correll, director for UT-TSU Extension Wilson County, was the only two-time winner for the event. Correll is the winner of the Charles and Patricia Goan Excellence in Customer Service Award. This honor is named for the former UT Extension dean emeritus and his wife and recognizes excellence in delivering Extension programming.
Correll is also one of three winners of the Charles and Julie Wharton Award. The award recognizes winners in agriculture, family and consumer sciences and 4-H and includes an agent from each region of Tennessee. Correll represents agriculture and Middle Tennessee. The other winners are Michele Atkins of UT Extension Henry County, a family and consumer sciences agent from West Tennessee, and Sharon Davis of UT-TSU Extension Knox County, a 4-H agent in East Tennessee.
“I am humbled and honored to have been nominated and selected to receive the Charles and Patricia Goan Customer Service Award and the Charles and Julie Wharton Award for Outstanding Extension Achievements,” Correll says. “Thank you to the many who have been my mentors and supporters throughout my career. I am thankful to have worked with the very best administrators, agents, specialists and staff. I appreciate I was given the opportunity to serve the people of Wilson County at a career that has been a lifestyle, not a job.”
Correll has served with UT Extension for 26 years, all in Wilson County. She is active with gardeners and cattle producers, helping them in herd management, genetics and forage production. She is also a key planner of the famed Wilson County Fair.
UT Institute of Agriculture Senior Vice President Tim Cross hosted the Zoom session for the award winners and praised them for their work. “Now more than ever, it’s critical that we take time to acknowledge the award-winning work that our faculty and staff carry out, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic,” Cross says. “Tennesseans can count on the real-life solutions that the UT Institute of Agriculture provides to students and stakeholders from communities throughout Tennessee and beyond to enhance the economy, conserve the environment, and develop leaders for the future.”
Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.