Meet the Haslam community

This summer, we are excited to continue spotlighting our Haslam community members with spolight editions of Haslam Headlines. Each edition, we'll be spotlighting students, faculty, staff and alumni. Check out the Haslam Instagram account on Wednesdays to meet the Class of 2024, our newest members of the Haslam community.
 

What is some advice you might share with a student in Haslam?

You are the future leaders of tomorrow, and the choices you make during your time here at UT can help you succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Take this time to live unselfishly, laugh often, and love yourself fully on this education journey.

Read more from Quannah.
 

What do you do for fun?

I am an avid sports nut; I used to play a lot of sports but sore knees has curtailed that. I still follow a lot of sports, however, and went into mourning when March Madness and the NBA season were canceled this year! I used to coach HS lacrosse at Farragut back about 10 years ago as well - finished 3rd in the state in 2009, one of my fondest achievements! I am also in what I will affectionately call a "geezer band" with several of my colleagues from HCB called Shadyland. We play a lot of rock and Americana covers from today all the way back to the classics.

Read more from Ted.
 

Why did you choose business?

Both of my parents are in business, so I was inclined to major in business because it was familiar. Three years later, I like studying business because it is directly applicable in life. Throughout the past few months, my understanding of economic and social changes due to business classes has been so useful.

Read more from Maddie.
 

What has been your favorite class you’ve taken during your college experience?

Despite being a business student, my favorite class was Classics 232: Archaeology and Art of Greece and Rome. Blame it on a childhood of watching Indiana Jones, but for me, history and ancient cultures are areas of wonder and excitement.

Read more from Danny.
 

What does a day in the life of look like?

One of the things I love about my job is that every day is different and presents different challenges. As in-house counsel, a good portion of my day is devoted to meetings and phone calls with other business units to provide legal guidance. I may attend a meeting about a new initiative in which my role at the meeting is to discuss the legalities of that initiative and evaluate any legal risk that may be associated. I also partner regularly with Human Resources to provide legal guidance on employment-related issues and to review policies and training to ensure compliance with state and federal laws. We are in over 40 states, so part of my job is to stay abreast of any changes in state or federal laws and work with the appropriate business units to implement processes to adhere to the new law. I also manage employment-related litigation; therefore, on a daily basis, I am connecting with outside counsel to discuss litigation strategy or discuss the status of a case.

Read more from Meghan.
 

What is a professional development skill a business student should obtain before graduating?

Networking. To me, this is the most important skill all students should hone throughout their career. Consider this, there are 257,000 UTK alumni and this number grows with each graduation. We're all part of a very special family and the Volunteer spirit is to help each other. Challenge yourself to ask for help from this family when you need it and always pay it forward and help others from this family when you can. We lived in a bunch of different places including the last 20 in Texas. There's only one Orange and it can really open some doors for you if you'll just push yourself to develop a Volunteer network.

Read more from Philip.
 

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