UT Institute of Agriculture Presents Top Faculty and Staff Awards for 2025
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The accomplishments of the faculty and staff of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture were celebrated at an annual awards luncheon held on the UT Knoxville campus in the new Agriculture and Natural Resources Building on July 30. Many of the awards are gifts made possible by faculty, alumni and friends of the institute.
UTIA Senior Vice Chancellor and Senior Vice President Keith Carver hosted the luncheon and praised the honorees for their work. “The enthusiasm and expertise demonstrated by our UTIA faculty and staff is unparalleled,” he said. “I am always in awe of their dedication to providing real life solutions to the people of Tennessee. These well-deserved awards represent impacts and accomplishments that benefit Tennesseans and society now and for years to come.”
Walt Hitch, director of the UT Plateau AgResearch and Education Center in Crossville, 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 UTIA. Awards are provided each year for each of the four units of the institute. 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. Bryce Burton, a clinical veterinarian with the College of Veterinary Medicine Office of Lab Animal Care; John Buchanan, professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science; and Sreedhar Upendram, associate professor and UT Extension specialist with the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, also received this award.
As director of the Plateau AgResearch and Education Center, Hitch oversees research projects involving the production of beef cattle, fruits and vegetables, and ornamentals. The center is also home to one of the three locations of the UT Gardens, the Botanical Garden of the State of Tennessee.
Hitch has been with UTIA for 31 years and is an alumnus of the Herbert College of Agriculture, with a B.S. agriculture, specializing in agricultural mechanization. Hitch has also earned a MBA from UT Knoxville. He has previously been honored with the national Research Center Administrators Society Distinguished Service Award, the Cumberland County Farm Bureau Outstanding Service Award and the Friend of Extension Award from the Tennessee Association of Agricultural Agents and Specialists (TAAA&S) Cumberland District.
The usually reserved Hitch is pleased to be among the Moss Award winners. “I am very honored to receive this award. There are so many deserving employees in the organization. I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful organization.”
Hitch is a native of Blount County.
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.