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Alumni News
- Enjoy Homecoming 2008, September 15-20
- 1958 Football Team Celebrates Anniversary
- Class of 1958 Reunion & 50-Plus Weekend planned
- Alumnus Ben Williams cast in innovative off-Broadway production
- Patrick Mulkey honored as franchise owner
Enjoy Homecoming 2008, September 15-21
Get ready for Homecoming 2008 and enjoy the Moc N’ Roll theme! Many events are planned, beginning with a campus celebration Monday, September 15. The annual kick-off pep rally brings together city and county officials, campus administration, alumni, and students as they join the UTC band, cheerleaders, and Sugar Mocs in the heart of campus. This celebration will be held at 11:50 a.m. at Heritage Plaza, adjacent to the University Center. Following the pep rally will be the dedication of Heritage Plaza, where the donors who created this beautiful campus space will be recognized. Later, court for the Homecoming Queen and Top Moc will be revealed! Enjoy refreshments and birthday cake to celebrate UTC’s Founders Day.
Alumni are invited to the downtown location of Big River Grille on Thursday, September 18, for the unveiling of the traditional homecoming brew. Meet your friends between the hours of 5:30 and 7 p.m.
Valleybrook Golf & Country Club is the setting for Friday’s annual Homecoming Golf Tournament, sponsored by the UTC Alumni Board. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m., followed by a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m.
“The $125 registration fee includes cart and greens fee, mulligan, lunch, golf shirt and other goodies, and an opportunity to win various door prizes and gifts. We want to thank our tournament sponsor, 3-H Hotels Group, Inc.,” said Jayne Holder, Director of Alumni Affairs. To make tournament reservations, call the UTC alumni office at 423/425-4785.
Friday’s events conclude with Nightfall, held at Miller Plaza. There will be a special area for UTC alumni.
On Saturday, the UTC Mocs play Jacksonville State. Join us at 3 p.m. for the annual Homecoming tailgating party at the First Tennessee Pavilion. Enjoy the music of The Beaters, student entertainment, and games for the children. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Special areas will be reserved for alumni seating. The football game will kick-off at 6 p.m.
Homecoming is a time to visit with former classmates, make new friends, and connect again with your alma mater. For additional homecoming details and student activities, visit the website at www.utc.edu/homecoming.
1958 Football Team Celebrates Anniversary
One of the University’s most exciting athletic victories is etched in the minds of alumni who followed the football team to Knoxville on November 8, 1958, to watch the Chattanooga Mocs defeat the Tennessee Vols. Fifty years later on November 8, 2008, members of the 1958 team will be in the stands when the UTC Mocs meet the Appalachian State Mountaineers at Finley stadium.
A committee of team members, including Jerry Arnold, Johnny Green, Ron Haushalter, Don Hill, Ronnie McClurg, Tom Weathers, and Harold Wilkes, are planning a weekend of events that will include a dinner on Friday, November 7, and tailgating and special recognition at the football game on Saturday, November 8.
“The committee is already sharing memories of that day, and the conversation will definitely be lively when this group of former athletes gathers again to reminisce,” said Jayne Holder, Director of Alumni Affairs.
For further details of the weekend’s activities or reservation information, call Scott Koskoski, UTC Athletics, at 423/425-4233, or Jayne Holder, UTC Alumni, at 423/425-4785.
Class of 1958 Reunion & 50-Plus Weekend planned
Graduates of the 1958 Class of the University of Chattanooga received their diplomas the same year the first American satellite was launched into orbit, the “peace symbol” was created by Gerald Holtom and Elvis Presley joined the U.S. Army.
Fifty years later, the UTC Alumni Office thanks 1958 Class Reunion Committee members David Hopkins, Gene Roberts and Jim Pennington for their help in planning a memorable weekend November 7-9. On Friday, November 7, the class will be invited to a special reception and dinner. On Saturday, November 8, class members will be inducted into the 50-Plus Club and then join others who graduated before them for the annual 50-Plus Club Lunch. Next stop: Finley Stadium, to watch the Chattanooga Mocs take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers. The weekend will finish with a special brunch on Sunday.
“Make plans to return to your alma mater, reunite with old friends, reminisce about your college memories of life at UC, and if you have not visited lately, become reacquainted with the campus,” said Patrick Miles, Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs. “All classes of 1958 and prior are welcome to attend.”
For more information, please visit www.utcalumni.com/50Plus2008.php.
The UTC Alumni Office is also collecting UC photos from 1958. Please label and remit your photos to the Alumni Office at:
Alumni Affairs
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Department 6506
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403
You may also email photos to Patrick-Miles@utc.edu.
Alumnus Ben Williams cast in innovative off-Broadway production
Photo courtesy of Ariana Smart Truman
Theatre and Speech faculty member Karen Henderson recently saw an innovative off-Broadway production of The Sound and the Fury, which she described as “a challenging, creatively original, artistically masterful production featuring ensemble acting of extremely high caliber.” This intriguing adaptation of William Faulkner’s Nobel prize-winning novel featured UTC alumnus Ben Williams (UTC ’03), a former theatre and humanities double major and UTC University Honors student. He studied at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic ‘99-‘00 and at UTC, he earned his BA Magna Cum Laude.
Beginning in October 2008, The Sound and the Fury is going on tour in Los Angeles. Lisbon, Vienna, and Amsterdam will follow.
The Sound and the Fury is an Elevator Repair Service (ERS) production. Williams said ERS develops a show over 18-24 months, in this case through a series of residencies at NYTW and at Dartmouth College and several work-in-progress showings.
Photo courtesy of Ariana Smart Truman“Although the structure of this show ultimately became the first part of The Sound and the Fury, we used dozens of other sources to inform what we do, and all those choices are created by the individual interests and obsessions of the ensemble. John Collins, the director, of course has to pass judgment on whatever it is, but the work is created, really, by finding ways to let all of us pursue whatever interests us. So in a way, for this show, we got to play the roles that we each wanted to play — and then John kept shaping those casting decisions from there,” Williams said.
Drawing on dance techniques from documentaries, an Alan Lomax video about Appalachian dancers, and even Youtube videos about fainting goats, Williams created several characters he enjoyed playing.
“In a more traditional sense of how theater is made, I am cast at times as Luster (a 14 year-old black kid who tends to Benjy in the present), Jason III (the Compson pater familias, an older white man), and TP (an 18 year-old black farmhand),” Williams said. “It’s really fun. The roles shift back and forth according to the way time jumps around within the book, some of trying on accents, some not, some imitating Yul Brynner via the 1959 movie version, some imitating immediate family members.”
Henderson gives kudos to ERS for daring to dramatize the show.
“The audience either heard or read (words projected onto the set’s wall) every single word of Part 1,” Henderson said. “Rather than being ‘star vehicles’ that so many of the plays on Broadway are, this is 100% a team effort.”
Henderson said when the actors change roles, become the narrator/reader, read words straight from the novel, change accents, genders, costume pieces, it all happens without a hitch. This challenging work is very appealing to Williams.
“ERS makes theater, it could be said, by finding things that weren’t necessarily designed to be on stage and creating ways for them to exist on the stage — and celebrating the incongruities and problems that such an encounter creates. The result of this, when dealt with in a truly honest way, is usually something very exciting,” Williams said.
Patrick Mulkey honored as franchise owner
Alumnus Patrick Mulkey was recently named Franchisee Operator of the Year by Taco Bell, selected from a field of 1500 restaurant owners. Mulkey, a native of Soddy-Daisy and 1990 graduate from UTC’s College of Business, owns 17 Taco Bells in the Atlanta area and employs more than 500 people.
According to FRANMAC News, a franchise industry publication, Mulkey serves as president and founder of Atlanta Mexican Foods, Inc., the metro Atlanta franchise organization which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. In 1997, he purchased five restaurants in Atlanta and became one of the first Taco Bell employees allowed franchisee status.
Three years ago, former Taco Bell Corporate veteran Eylmer Bartolome began working for Mulkey as one of three Area Coaches. He told FRANMAC News “I always admired Patrick for his high CER scores and always wondered what his secret was,” says Bartolome. “He had eight stores then and I noticed that he was in a restaurant every day.”
This hands-on executive continues to be available in his stores setting an example for his employees.
“I love working lunches with the crew and I try to do it at least three days a week. Yes, we make tacos, but bottom line, it’s all about the people. Hiring them, training them to do it right with honesty and integrity, and then watching them develop. There is nothing more rewarding,” Mulkey told FRANMAC News.
Recently, Mulkey told the Chattanooga Times Free Press “I don’t believe in asking my employees to do anything I will not do myself. When I go that route then they’re willing to go the extra mile for me.”
When he was a UTC business major, Mulkey became a member of the Chattanooga Singers under the leadership of Glenn Draper. Mulkey said it was one of his best University experiences because the singers travelled nationally to perform for a variety of audiences.
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