President’s Awards
The President’s Awards represent the highest honor a UT employee can receive. Building on the many outstanding recognition programs at each campus and institute, this program celebrates exceptional faculty and staff from across the state. The awards spotlight success, elevate achievements and inspire a culture of excellence throughout the UT System.
About the President’s Awards
The UT President’s Awards program recognizes outstanding contributions of staff and faculty centered around the UT System’s Be One UT values. Honorees are selected each year from a systemwide pool of candidates nominated by campus and institute leaders. Commemorative and monetary awards are presented during an annual ceremony, and faculty and staff winners help select honorees in future years.
There are 14 statewide award winners, two from each category. Awards are presented to individuals who exhibit the behaviors associated with each goal.
2025 Honorees and Nominees
Bold and Impactful Honorees
John Sorochan
Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences, UT Institute of Agriculture
Faculty Award
John Sorochan, a Distinguished Professor of Turfgrass Science and Management at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, is internationally recognized for his leadership in sports turf innovation and safety. He directs the University of Tennessee Center for Athletic Field Safety and serves as the primary investigator for research supporting the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and 2026 FIFA World Cup. A consultant for FIFA, the National Football Players Association and other major sports leagues, his work enhances athlete safety and turf sustainability worldwide. With over $12 million in research funding and 80-plus published studies, Sorochan also teaches plant sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and supports global outreach, including co-founding Dream Academy Soccer in Botswana. He lives in Knoxville with his wife and two children.
Jennifer Tourville
Executive Director, SMART Initiative, UT Institute of Public Service
Staff Award
Jennifer Tourville is an East Tennessee native with a doctor of nursing practice from Vanderbilt University and a background as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She began her career at the University of Tennessee as a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Nursing, where she primarily taught pediatric and newborn care.
Her experiences working with families and children affected by opioid use inspired her to focus on addressing the opioid crisis across Tennessee. She now leads the Substance Misuse and Addiction Resource for Tennessee Initiative within the UT Institute for Public Service, guiding a statewide team of public health experts who support local governments in developing community-based solutions. Tourville also serves on several addiction-related boards and committees at the university and community levels.
Embrace Diversity Honorees
Stanton Belford
Associate Professor and Chair, School of Mathematics and Science, UT Southern
Faculty Award
Stanton Belford is an associate professor and chair of the School of Mathematics and Sciences at the University of Tennessee Southern. Now in his 12th year at UT Southern, he teaches biology and leads research in coral reef biodiversity, mentoring over 15 undergraduate students. His work has been published in Oceans, Thalassas and other marine science journals.
Belford serves as vice chair of the board of directors for Black in Marine Science (BIMS), where he co-led strategic planning and co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology. He was honored with the 2024 BIMS Advocacy Award and continues to lead hands-on marine science education efforts locally and internationally.
Tara Tansil-Gentry
Lecturer, Health and Human Performance, UT Martin
Faculty Award
Tara Tansil-Gentry has served the University of Tennessee at Martin for 30 years. A former student-athlete, she attended UT Martin on a basketball scholarship and was inducted into the UT Martin Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000. She is third on the all-time UT Martin list with 1,702 career points and has had her high school and college jerseys retired.
Tansil-Gentry remains deeply engaged on campus, serving on multiple university committees and mentoring students. She is the faculty advisor for the National Society of Black Women in Medicine. Outside of UT Martin, she gives back to her community as a volunteer girls’ basketball coach at her alma mater, Greenfield High School.
Kameron Echols
Director, Student Life, UT Martin
Staff Award
Kameron Echols is a dedicated leader in higher education with a master’s degree in higher education leadership from the University of Tennessee at Martin. As director of multicultural affairs at UT Martin, he focuses on student engagement, with an emphasis on minority student recruitment, retention and development.
He has a strong track record of increasing student participation in multicultural events, campus initiatives and leadership opportunities. Echols has led and advised more than 20 multicultural student organizations and co-coordinated UT Martin’s annual Civil Rights Conference as well as UT Martin’s first-generation initiative. He has also contributed to enhancing academic intervention services and campus involvement.
Beyond campus, Echols serves on the Weakley Prevention Coalition, PBS Community Advisory Board, and the Martin Public Library Board of Trustees. He lives in Martin with his wife, Courtney, and their two children, Jaylen and Allie.
Optimistic and Visionary Honorees
Rick Dierenfeldt
UC Foundation Associate Professor and Interim Co-Head, Criminal Justice, UT Chattanooga
Faculty Award
Rick Dierenfeldt is a University of Chattanooga Foundation Professor and head of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He also directs the UT Chattanooga Violence Reduction Initiative, a research center focused on reducing violent crime through community-based partnerships with justice agencies and local organizations.
Before joining UT Chattanooga in 2018, he served as an assistant professor at Penn State Wilkes-Barre and spent over a decade as a police officer and criminal investigator. He earned his Ph.D. in criminal justice from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Dierenfeldt’s research centers on violent and drug-related crime, policing and corrections, with over 30 peer-reviewed publications and $4 million in external funding.
Gina McClure
Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student and Residential Life, Student Affairs, UT Martin
Staff Award
Gina McClure serves as the assistant vice chancellor for student and residential life at the University of Tennessee at Martin. A proud alumna, she holds a master’s degree in secondary education and a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Health.
McClure has been actively engaged in student life at UT Martin since 1997. A former student-athlete, she began her career as assistant men’s and women’s tennis coach before transitioning to campus recreation, where she served for 18 years—16 of those as director. In October 2016, she assumed her current role, overseeing housing, campus recreation and student health and counseling.
Dedicated to holistic student development, McClure also leads leadership workshops across West Tennessee. She lives in Martin with her husband, Marty, and their daughter, Molly. They enjoy horseback riding, sports and outdoor activities.
Nimble and Innovative Honorees
Tami Wyatt
Associate Dean of Research, College of Nursing, UT Knoxville
Faculty Award
Tami Wyatt is the Torchbearer Professor and associate dean of research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Nursing. In this role, she supports faculty research and scholarship by fostering mentorship, developing research agendas and connecting faculty with university-wide resources.
Her own research focuses on health care innovation, in which she collaborates with engineers, designers and strategists to develop technologies such as mobile apps to improve patient experiences and precision health solutions using artificial intelligence. Wyatt serves on the information technology expert panel for the American Academy of Nursing and co-leads the Digital Health and Innovation Task Force for the Nursing Knowledge Big Data Initiative. Her work centers on advancing health care through innovation, technology and AI.
Erica Holmes Truijillo
Director, College of Arts and Sciences Student Success Center, UT Chattanooga
Staff Award
Erica Holmes Trujillo is a Nashville native who came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after over a decade in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. She earned a bachelor’s in sociology and a master’s in higher education administration and leadership from Adams State College.
She began her career advising at a rural community college and has experience in recruitment, enrollment, retention and student support. At UT Chattanooga, she helps improve the student experience for arts and sciences majors by building strong, equity-focused partnerships.
Outside of work, she enjoys time with her daughter and husband, visiting family in Nashville and supports her stepson, a student at the University of New Mexico.
Judith Nyabando
Chief Data Officer and Director, Institutional Research,
Institutional Effectiveness and Decision Support, UT Health Science Center
Staff Award
Judith Nyabando serves as director and chief data officer in the Office of Institutional Research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She leads strategic efforts in institutional reporting, analytics and data governance while fostering a team known for its responsiveness, technical expertise and stakeholder focus.
Recognized as a solutions-driven leader, Nyabando embraces curiosity and adaptability in her approach to institutional research. She has led several transformative initiatives, including converting the academic bulletin from a static PDF to a dynamic, web-based format and implementing Digital Measures, a faculty activity system that streamlined annual reviews and enhanced transparency through online profiles.
Her leadership continues to drive innovation and efficiency across academic and administrative processes.
Excel in All We Do Honorees
Tracy Brewer
Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Chair and Clinical
Professor, College of Nursing, UT Knoxville
Faculty Award
Tracy Brewer is a clinical professor and director of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She brings more than 30 years of clinical experience in obstetric, neonatal and pediatric nursing, along with over two decades in academia.
Dedicated to advancing evidence-based practice and health care quality, Brewer recently led a comprehensive redesign of the DNP curriculum, contributing to the program’s rise to No. 22 among public institutions, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. She is widely published in the areas of evidence-based practices and health care quality and actively mentors students and early-career faculty, while consulting with academic and health care organizations nationwide.
Judy Sandefer
Executive Assistant, Office of the Chancellor, UT Martin
Staff Award
Judy Sandefer has served as executive assistant to the chancellor at the University of Tennessee at Martin since 2006. Prior to her current role, she worked for 15 years in various academic and administrative offices across campus.
In her role, Sandefer represents the chancellor in interactions with internal and external stakeholders and manages the daily operations of the Office of the Chancellor. She has supported six chancellors during her tenure and is widely recognized as the “face” of the office and a culture champion for UT Martin.
With more than 35 years of service, Sandefer exemplifies UT Martin’s “Campus That Cares” philosophy. Her deep institutional knowledge and relational approach have been instrumental during times of transition and growth.
United and Connected Honorees
M. Mae Decker
Chair, Travis School of Nursing & Health Sciences, UT Southern
Faculty Award
Michelle Decker, a lifelong resident of Tennessee, earned an associate degree in nursing from Motlow State Community College in 1983, followed by a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1985 and later a master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1998. She completed a doctor of nursing practice from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2018.
After 31 years in various clinical and leadership roles within the Lincoln County Health System, Decker joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee Southern (formerly Martin Methodist College) in 2014 and was appointed chair of the nursing program in 2016.
Karen Lasater
Clinical Professor, College of Nursing, UT Knoxville
Faculty Award
Karen Lasater is a clinical professor and coordinator of the family nurse practitioner (FNP) program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. With more than 25 years of clinical experience, she is dedicated to preparing future nurses to deliver compassionate, evidence-based care.
Lasater has mentored FNP students across the country, emphasizing experiential learning and meaningful community engagement. Since 2005, she has led global clinical experiences in which students partner with local providers to deliver primary care to underserved populations and address health disparities.
In 2015, she received a $2.1 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand clinical education through academic-practice partnerships in rural East Tennessee. These long-standing collaborations continue to provide students with hands-on training while meeting critical community health needs.
Her work focuses on empowering students to become skilled, service-minded health care leaders who make lasting contributions to the communities they serve.
Chris Shults
Grants and Research Director, UT Institute for Public
Service, Municipal Technical Advisory Service
Staff Award
Chris Shults joined the University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS) in September 2014. He began his career with MTAS as a grants and training specialist and was promoted to grant and research director for the Institute for Public Service and MTAS in 2025.
Shults holds a doctorate in political science, a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in political science, all from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to joining MTAS, he served as a teaching associate in political science at UT Knoxville.
Transparent and Trusted Honorees
Dr. Natascha Thompson
Associate Dean, Graduate Medical Education and
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, UT Health Science Center
Faculty Award
Dr. Natascha Thompson has been dedicated to graduate medical education since joining the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) faculty in 2003. She initially served as program director for the medicine-pediatrics residency program and associate program director for the internal medicine residency program. She is credited with growing the medicine-pediatrics program into one of the largest in the nation.
After 14 years in that role, Thompson was appointed associate dean for graduate medical education in 2019, a position she continues to hold. In this role, she oversees the education of residents and fellows and manages accreditation for more than 70 UTHSC College of Medicine sponsored programs accredited through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
As a voice for physician trainees, Thompson has served on the board of the Tennessee Medical Foundation since 2021, supporting health care professionals impacted by addiction or mental illness. Nationally, she contributes to graduate medical education through her work on the Education Subcommittee of the National Association of Designated Institutional Officials.
Thompson maintains a clinical practice at UT Internal Medicine’s Baptist Medical Group and also contributes to national clinical standards as a panelist for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis.
Frank Lancaster
Associate General Counsel, UT System
Staff Award
Frank Lancaster earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematical economics, magna cum laude, from Wake Forest University in 1988 and a juris doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1991, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He clerked for the Alex Howard, chief U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Alabama.
He practiced business and commercial litigation at Robinson, Bradshaw and Hinson in Charlotte from 1992 to 2002, and handled environmental litigation for the Tennessee Valley Authority from 2002 to 2012.
Since joining the University of Tennessee Office of General Counsel in 2012, Lancaster has managed a broad portfolio, including intellectual property, regulatory compliance, academic and faculty employment issues, contract review and civil litigation.