McKee Chair of Excellence
History of Chair
The O.D. McKee Chair of Excellence in Learning was established in 1998 in honor of the late O.D. McKee, founder of McKee Foods Corporation, makers of Little Debbie snack cakes. The chair of excellence was originally funded by an endowment from the McKee Foods Corporation and a matching grant from the State of Tennessee for the purpose of providing leadership and direction in research, teaching, and outreach programs for the study of dyslexia and related exceptional-learning conditions.
Current Chair Holder
In 2001, Dr. James A. Tucker became the first professor to fill the position, and he continues to do so. Dr. Tucker is a member of the faculty in the College of Health, Education, and Professional studies, and he teaches specifically in the School-Psychology Program. Prior to arriving at UTC, Dr. Tucker was Professor of Educational Psychology at Andrews University. He formerly served as Director of the Bureau of Special Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Director of Federal Programs for the Department of Special Education, Texas Education Agency, and perhaps most importantly, was a high-school and elementary-school teacher in Florida.
Dr. Tucker is one of the leading authorities in North America on the subject of integrated educational program-development for at-risk students, including students with disabilities. He has served as a consultant and trainer in hundreds of school systems, both public and private, in more than 40 states and provinces in North America, as well as in school systems in Brazil, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, the Philippines, and the West Indies.
Personal Message from Dr. Tucker:
"It is a very serious honor to hold this position. Not only does this chair bear the responsibility for adhering to the vision and mission of the University of Chattanooga, the position is directly responsible for honoring the vision and mission of O.D. McKee, who, having developed an internationally prominent company that upholds the highest standards of quality and service in all aspects of its business, was, and continues to be, one of the premiere visionaries of the Chattanooga region.
It is my goal to represent these values both in the academics supported by the McKee Chair and to provide a dynamic platform of service that encourages engagement between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga regional community."
Current Initiatives
Below is a set of current initiatives plus descriptions and resources possible through the McKee Chair of Excellence.
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Community Service Initiative
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In order to explore the elements of engagement that enhance and develop the capacity of our community, the office of the McKee Chair of Excellence in Learning has launched a series of “Learning Lunches.” The lunches exemplify what we have come to call “learning encounters,” and they incorporate interactive learning processes.
Learning-lunch participants represent a wide range of civic connections, age groups, and interests. Reflection on the interaction is woven throughout the experience. Each lunch is developed around a theme. Themes vary with each lunch, giving participants a number of ways in which to engage with each other and to reflect on their experiences. We see this interactive learning activity and exchange of ideas to be an integral part of developing a strong and prospering community, and we intend to model a community-learning style that will both inform and inspire.
Each session begins with participants writing down a question related to the theme.
At the end of the session, they respond to these two final questions:
What is the most important thing you learned today? What is the primary question that remains unanswered for you as you leave today? -
Learning Research Initiative
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Woodmore Initiative: Emerging from one of the McKee Learning Lunches has been a significant initiative in support of the students at Woodmore Elementary School, one of the five schools in Hamilton County, which were threatened with state takeover if they didn’t improve. The UTC School Psychology program took on a major responsibility to provide individual student assistance via graduate assistants, students taking the EPSY 6240 and EPSY6450 courses (an appropriate field-experience for these courses), and an undergraduate Honors College student who was assigned to the McKee Chair of Excellence for this initiative for two semesters. The UTC students used a proven instructional-support strategy known as incremental rehearsal to aid in the level of reading achievement of Woodmore students.
Incremental Rehearsal is the process of learning factual material by rote memory for the purpose of routine use. The process of incremental rehearsal allows students to create a connection with their teacher and be fluid in their individual learning abilities to develop skills in topics such as letters, sounds, math facts, colors, formulas, or word development. An unforeseen result of the Woodmore initiative was the requests from teachers and administrators of other elementary schools in the district.
When the Woodmore Initiative was formulated in 2016, we had no idea how much value this program would provide, both for the needy students at Woodmore and for the equally needy graduate students, who have thus been enabled to provide instructional support for students who need it most. -
Principles of Learning Initiative
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Learning happens best when there is a collaborative effort from each stakeholder to work together towards a common educational goal. The UTC School Psychology programs takes care and consideration in conveying the importance of ethics in leadership to graduate students. Learning is a science that should be approached through a multisystem approach with specific attention to the various theories of learning, and their subsequent impact on organizational structure.
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Natural Learning Initiative
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