乐播传媒

As the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, celebrates Faculty Appreciation Week, February 9鈥�13, the 乐播传媒 is recognizing faculty for their accolades and awards in 2025, a year marked by national recognition, prestigious awards, impactful research, and creative work that continues to elevate the college鈥檚 impact across the allied fields of design.听

In the 乐播传媒, Assistant Professor Kimberly Mitchell was named an emerging scholar by the Aging and Social Change Research Network.听听

Professor Cary Staples serves as senior personnel on 鈥�From Brains to Biosystems: Integrative Research for AI, Economy, and Health,鈥� a National Science Foundation鈥揻unded project led by Principal Investigator and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Liz Derryberry.听

School of Interior Architecture鈥檚 Associate Professor Rana Abudayyeh was named the 2024 Educator Diversity Award, a national honor announced at the 2025 International Interior Design Association (IIDA) conference, recognizing her leadership and commitment to equity in design education. She also secured two Interior Design Educators Council听(IDEC) Special Project Grants, both awarded in the same year. Her article, 鈥淚n Flux: Unplanned Spatial Adaptions in Syrian Refugee Camps,鈥� was accepted into Idea Journal. 听

Woven works by Assistant Professor Felicia Francine Dean were featured in two exhibitions including, Fiberart International in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.听听

Assistant Professor Hojung Kim, in collaboration with former Visiting Professor Ha Nguyen, received a Graham Foundation grant for their research on sustainable development in Mang Th铆t, Vietnam. The duo were also named New Experimental Fellows at Bauhaus Earth for 2026, an international recognition of innovative, place-based research. Their project, 鈥淪ituated Regionalism,鈥� will explore the use of unfired brick across Vietnam鈥檚 seven ecological zones.

Assistant Professor Aaron Neal and a team of designers participated in the 2025 Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, creating structures inspired by Jewish tradition.

鈥淧ublic Interiority: Exploring Interiors in the Public Realm,鈥� written by Professor Liz Teston, received the 2025 IDEC Best Book Award. Last summer she pursued research on the topic of public interiority as a Fulbright Specialist at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Her creative collaborations were featured in multiple international exhibitions.

Director and Professor Milagros Zingoni Phielipp and Associate Professor of Practice German Valenzuela published “Conversations from South to South,鈥� developed from a series of lectures by architects from the Global South.

The School of Landscape Architecture鈥檚 Assistant Professor Sarah Bolivar published 鈥淩econstructing the 鈥楽elf鈥�: Representation Tactics for Multispecies Empathy鈥� in Landscape Research expanding literature on biodiversity loss through spatial changes in land and sea use.

Expanding off his 2024 graphic novel, Assistant Professor Andrew Madl presented an animated short film, 鈥淭he Nuclear Chronicles: Cultivated Aftermath,鈥� at the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Madl is also contributing computational research as part of a NATO task force, in collaboration with UT鈥檚 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, to support work with NASA and the U.S. Navy.

Capitalizing on opportunities available through UT, Assistant Professor Faye Nixon received a Digital Humanities Fellowship, was admitted into the Research Development Academy, and secured a $60,000 ORIED grant for LiDAR equipment to support advanced research and teaching within the college.

Faculty Appreciation Week provides a meaningful opportunity to say thank you and recognize the expertise, creativity, and commitment our faculty bring to their students, colleagues, and the discipline. These honors reflect the excellence they model every day for students and colleagues alike.

This is not exhaustive of achievements by faculty in the 乐播传媒.