Dr. Patrick Akos serves as the associate vice provost for Student Success and executive director of Honors and Scholar. In addition, he provides executive oversight of the Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. His professional experience spans 30+ years as a K-12 teacher, school and clinical mental health counselor, professor and academic leader. For the last 20 years, he was a professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research, teaching, supervision, clinical practice and leadership are grounded in a strengths- based framework (Galassi & Akos, 2007), which is informed by humanistic traditions and empirically supported by contemporary scholarship (e.g., positive psychology). Broadly, he studies how best to support and cultivate thriving, especially during educational and career transitions. He has applied this work in curriculum development, math pathways, data analytics, policy governance, strategic planning, and legislative advocacy in a variety of settings. Akos has a B.S. from Vanderbilt University in Human and Organizational Development and Secondary Education, a M.A. from Morehead State University in Higher Education, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia.

He believes education is a primary pathway to equity and his passion is for empowering others toward agency and well-being.

E-mail: pakos@utk.edu

Dr. Laura De Furio is the acting director for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. She serves on the advisory committee for UT’s Marco Institute. She earned her PhD in English Literature from the Strode Program for Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama and a MA in English from Villanova University. Her research and teaching interests include early modern British women’s writing, John Milton, archival theory, manuscript culture, and politics. Laura’s book project, Femme Covert: Ciphered Politics in Early Modern Women’s Writing, 1640-1680, offers a literary history of women’s secret politicking recovered from neglected archival materials. Her work has been supported by grants from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Laura formerly taught in the English Department at the University of Alabama and started her career as a high school teacher in the School District of Philadelphia as a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow.

E-mail: ldefurio@utk.edu

Dr. Erin Darby is the inaugural faculty director for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships and an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies. Erin is also co-director of the ‘Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project in southern Jordan, where she has mentored numerous UT undergraduate researchers over the past decade. In 2020, she received the Chancellor’s Award for Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year. Erin has been the recipient of several fellowships supporting her research at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan; the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, in Nicosia, Cyprus; and at the Damascus and Aleppo Museums in Syria. She has also received a State Department Educational and Cultural Affairs Research Fellowship and an NEH Fellowship for her work at the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.

E-mail: edarby1@utk.edu

Dr. Janna Caspersen is URF’s assistant director for undergraduate research and an experienced mixed-methods researcher with a history of working in academic and government research and development. Janna earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Geography at UT, where she was also recognized for her teaching with the Chancellor’s Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. While pursuing her doctorate degree, Janna worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performing population research and subsequently took a post-doc position with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Janna’s research and teaching interests include cultural and digital geographies, focusing on narrative dissemination, public memory, social justice, and critical theory.

E-mail: jcaspers@utk.edu

Mari LaCure is URF’s office coordinator and interim program coordinator for undergraduate research. Mari received a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Kansas. Prior to relocating to Knoxville in 2020, she taught printmaking, bookbinding, and drawing at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, where she also managed the continuing education program. She specializes in etching and woodblock printmaking, and has been an artist in residence at the Women’s Studio Workshop, New York, and Emmanuel College, Boston.

E-mail: mlacure1@utk.edu

Ryan Lee is our undergraduate research and fellowships coach. A first-generation college graduate and native of west Tennessee, Ryan holds a B.A. in English literature from The University of Memphis and a M.A. in English from The University of Tennessee. He has several years of experience as a writing tutor, English composition instructor, and academic advisor. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys cooking and reading as well as collecting/fixing old things such as motorcycles and jukeboxes.

E-mail: ryanlee@utk.edu

Ahdya Attea (they/them) is the senior writing consultant in Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. A second-year graduate student in UT’s College of Social Work, Ahdya holds a bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences from UT and an MA in English from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. Their aspiration to support critical literacy and community resilience began through an AmeriCorps VISTA position with UT’s University-Assisted Community Schools program. More recently, Ahdya has worked in community and academic writing centers in Knoxville; Buffalo, New York; and Ripton, Vermont.

E-mail: eattea@utk.edu

Sandra Wairimu is URF’s graduate assistant for undergraduate research and a first-year MPH student. As an undergraduate at UT (food science), Sandra was a research assistant on the USDA-funded GetFruved! project, volunteered with a nutrition education outreach program (N.E.A.T.), and served as a ME4UT student ambassador. Sandra moved to the United States from Kenya as a high school sophomore and received her associate’s degree from Pellissippi State, where she worked as an orientation leader and admissions ambassador.

E-mail: swairimu@utk.edu

Kit Arbuckle (she/they) is a fellowships graduate assistant in Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. A second-year graduate student in UT’s School of Information Sciences, Kit holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Elon University, and an MA in English and MFA in Creative Writing  from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also served as graduate assistant for MNSU’s Office of University Fellowships from 2014 to 2018. Growing up in and around Colonial Williamsburg inspired her passion for archives, museums, and the many different ways to tell a story (and critique the stories we tell through history). Currently, Kit serves as Gilman Advisor and President of UT’s student chapter of the Society of American Archivists.

E-mail: karbuckl@utk.edu