To UTC Faculty and Staff,

I'm pleased to announce the creation of a new Faculty and Staff Expertise
Profile that will be posted on the UTC web site to provide
information to the community about areas of faculty and staff expertise.

Earlier this year I asked Karen Adsit and Chuck Cantrell if they would be
able to create a searchable data base that lists areas of expertise for
all faculty and staff who choose to participate, and to provide links
between those areas and personal contact information. They have now taken
the first step, allowing for entry of subject areas by each faculty and
staff member. There is also a search engine to retrieve information that
has been entered.

Let me explain in very simple terms how this idea works. Let's say a newspaper
reporter is writing a story on a case currently before the US Supreme
Court, and wants to contact someone for a clarification of the issues and
perhaps a quotable comment. She would go to the "people" window on our web
site (http://people.utc.edu), click on the first drop down menu (the
default is "last name") to get the field "expertise research,"  type in a
few key words (e.g., "constitutional law,"
"First Amendment," etc.) and then click "Search." A list of people who have
included those topics in their profile would
appear. She would choose one or more of those individuals and click on a
hyperlink that would take her to either their directory listing with phone
numbers, or to an email address. The contact would be made and the story
would follow. (Eventually we will also create an alphabetical index of key
words and phrases to simplify the search process, and there will be a
direct link from the UTC main home page.)

Another example: A resident of Chattanooga has just inherited what appears
to be a valuable piece of Japanese art work. He wants to know more about
it, the history, style, perhaps a rough valuation, etc. He contacts the
Faculty and Staff Expertise Profile, types in a key word or finds an
appropriate topic in the
index, and contacts someone from the Art Department or the History
Department or some other appropriate unit.

A new faculty member attends a meeting at which he has a discussion with
Professor X. Following the meeting she wants to learn more about Professor
X's professional interests, so she looks X up on the Profile. Or she wants to
prepare a research proposal for an interdisciplinary project she's been
thinking about, and needs some help from a biostatistician. She can find out
who does biostatistics through the Profile.

The Faculty and Staff Expertise Profile is a way of linking faculty and
staff to each other, to the media, and to the community. It communicates in
a very useful way regarding the greatest treasure we have at our
University -- the knowledge and experience of our employees. I don't expect
that it will lead to millions of dollars of new revenue, but I do believe
it will create much good will for UTC in the community and some unexpected
and welcome
opportunities for some of our faculty and staff.

Karen Adsit will soon follow up with instructions on how to enter
information. When she does, I
hope that many of you will take advantage of this opportunity and submit a
list of your areas of interest. You will be able to edit your list at any
time. Participation is purely voluntary, although obviously the more
complete the list, the more useful it will be.

Areas of interest need not be limited to the purely academic - other
professional expertise should be a valuable addition, and many hobbies
could also prove to be popular topics. (I can envision an expanded list
bringing together people who share a love for quilting or fly fishing, and
not just medieval French history or critical care nursing.)

It is my hope that once this project takes off, it will evolve in a way
that is useful to the entire community. I invite your comments and
suggestions, both on the general framework of the concept and on the
details of its implementation. Please feel free to contact Chuck Cantrell,
Karen Adsit or me with your comments.

Best wishes for a relaxing and productive summer.

Sincerely,

John Friedl


John Friedl, Ph.D., J.D.
Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
102 Founders Hall, Dept. 5555
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
Phone: (423) 425-4633
Fax: (423) 756-5559
Email: [log in to unmask]