Center for Health Education & Wellness
The Center for Health Education and Wellness leads and collaborates on issues focused on sexual misconduct awareness and prevention. In 2025, CHEW continued to facilitate engaging and successful initiatives.
In the spring semester, CHEW partnered with the Office of Title IX to facilitate a variety of events and presentations including Volentine’s Day and Consent pop-ups. They also collaborated to lead Sexual Assault Awareness Month activities, engaging students, faculty, and staff in a variety of events and trainings to increase awareness of sexual assault and its prevention (see Prevention Spotlight: SAAM).
In the fall semester, CHEW’s Vols2Vols peer health educators led and facilitated CHEW events and trainings as the relationship and sexual violence prevention coordinator role was vacant. The first event of the semester was the consent campaign kickoff, during which students painted the Rock with words and phrases that expressed what consent meant to them. Messages included statements such as “Consent is required, mutual, revocable, ongoing, and awesome.” Participants engaged in consent discussions with staff and peer health educators and had a Swig drink, with a customized menu that reflected consent. Additionally, during the fall semester, CHEW conducted three consent T-shirt giveaways on campus, collaborating with the Hazing Prevention Team on one pop-up to raise awareness of hazing and consent.
In October, CHEW partnered with the Center for Student Engagement’s Student Programming Team to provide engagement opportunities around Domestic Violence Awareness Month. On October 21, CSE hosted the screening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. More than 135 students were given green and red flags to wave while shouting out healthy (green) or unhealthy or abusive (red) relationship behavior portrayed in the film. This is CSE’s fourth iteration of the event, and they look forward to continuing it. October 23 was designated Purple Thursday, and the university community was encouraged to wear purple and paint the Rock. Lastly, the Vols2Vols peer health educators hosted a Health Hut event, Love Shouldn’t Be Scary, which provided education on healthy relationships in a Halloween-themed format.
Athletics Prevention Programming & Wellness
The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics continued its education and prevention efforts in 2025 through various avenues, seeking to engage student-athletes with the university community and create a shared understanding of expectations, available supports, and resources, both on and off campus, accessible to student-athletes. Each team participated in a presentation and discussion with the Office of Title IX and engaged with multiple tabling activities, educating members on pertinent topics related to overall health and wellness. Teams also participated in team talks, led by a full-time staff member in the athletics department, to continue discussions regarding the definition of consent, how to give and receive consent, signs of healthy relationship patterns, and prevention strategies for concerns related to sexual exploitation.
In the third year of having a dedicated assistant director of mental health and wellness within the department, Michaela Rausch left the university to pursue other opportunities after doing a tremendous job growing the program. In year four, Kelly Wilson will take on the role, bringing years of experience in one-on-one and couples therapy as well as adjunct teaching experience. Wilson joined the university in late fall and looks forward to putting her experiences and background to work with the student-athlete population as a member of the mental health and wellness staff.
Office of Sorority & Fraternity Life
Throughout 2025, the Office of Title IX served as a prominent partner of the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, speaking at several health- and safety-related programs and council meetings and expanding the Greek community’s knowledge of Title IX resources, supports, and reporting options. The office provided 22,454 educational opportunities to Greek members through health- and safety-related programming during the year. Enhanced outreach efforts engaged a broader audience, facilitating key programs such as the new member health and safety module, bystander intervention training for the entire Greek community, and sober monitor training for all new members. Staff members continued one-on-one consultations with chapter executive boards to discuss accountability and the implementation of safe social event practices.
2025 Highlights
OSFL Prevention Team. The OSFL Prevention Team continued to meet monthly throughout 2025. The team is composed of representatives from OSFL, the Office of Title IX, the Center for Health Education and Wellness, the Center for Care and Resilience, the Office of the Dean of Students, the Office for Campus Culture and Community, Student Conduct and Community Standards, the Knoxville Family Justice Center, Metro Drug Coalition–The Gateway, and the Sexual Assault Center of East Tennessee. The team discussed current health and safety trends, specifically within the sorority and fraternity community, and executed programmatic collaborations.
New member health and safety orientation module. The new member health and safety orientation module was used in both the spring and fall semesters to educate new members of the Greek community on mental health awareness and support; the prevention of sexual misconduct, alcohol, and drug misuse; and ways to prevent, identify, and report hazing. A total of 3,113 new members completed the training in 2025.
Bystander intervention training. Bystander intervention training has been required for all chapter members since 2022. In 2025, the training was updated and included video clips from popular shows such as Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life and Death in the Dorms. New members were trained separately, enabling the incorporation of scenario-based small group discussions and activities. In total, 49 chapters trained more than 7,700 Greek students in 2025.
Health and Safety Summits. The Health and Safety Summit is held twice a year to increase sorority and fraternity members’ knowledge about alcohol, drugs, hazing, sexual misconduct, and mental health. Members of the OSFL Prevention Team facilitated breakout sessions aligned with the health and wellness priorities highlighted in the We’re Committed campaign. Again in 2025, the summit offered a President’s Track in which Title IX and Student Conduct and Community Standards engaged in in-depth conversations about consent, support through Title IX, and investigative processes within the university. In 2025, 332 Greek students attended the summits.
We’re Committed campaign. The We’re Committed campaign seeks to raise awareness of OSFL’s health and safety priorities. Each month of the academic year is themed, often in conjunction with national awareness months, allowing OSFL and Psi Society (Greek peer health educators) to program around the prevention topic. April’s designation was “We’re Committed to Sexual Misconduct Awareness.” Highlights from the month include the following programs:
- Title IX and hazing prevention SAAM educational program. For the second consecutive year during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Hazing Prevention Team partnered with the Office of Title IX to host a hazing prevention lunch-and-learn focused on healthy relationships and the intersections between sexual misconduct and hazing. During the 2025 session, facilitators used the video The Lonely Dog to guide discussion and reflection. The program brought together employees from across campus to explore topics such as organizational culture, the signs of healthy and unhealthy organizations, and effective ways to intervene when an employee suspects that a student may be experiencing hazing.
- Denim Day. OSFL partnered with Psi Society and the 33 organizations across all four Greek councils for Denim Day. Chapters were paired to create unique denim display designs, which were exhibited and judged at the event. For the first time, OSFL collaborated with the Center for Student Engagement and the Center for Health Education and Wellness to integrate Denim Day into the SAAM Wrapped event, expanding campus engagement and awareness around sexual assault prevention and support.
Office Of Title IX
Annual Title IX Training
During fall 2025, the Office of Title IX continued to enhance and expand the annual Title IX training assigned to all employees. The training remained housed in the K@TE learning management system for faculty, staff, and graduate students. The completion rate was 99 percent for UT Knoxville, the UT Institute of Agriculture, and the UT Space Institute, and 100 percent for UT System administration. Across all campuses, 99 percent of graduate student employees completed the training.
The office continued to offer training to graduate and international students through the Sexual Assault Prevention for Graduate Students course, developed specifically for graduate and international students by Vector Solutions.
360-Degree Evaluation of Supports
To assess the supports and resources offered to those who engage with the Office of Title IX, a 360-degree anonymous survey was provided to all individuals—complainants, respondents, and pregnant students—who had contact with the Office of Title IX in 2025. These evaluations have been conducted since spring 2018. Depending on which supports and/or processes the individual has received or engaged with, they are asked about their experience with the respective offices and resources, including the Office of Title IX, Student Conduct and Community Standards, the Office of Investigation and Resolution, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Accessibility, and the UT Police Department. The following is a snapshot of the 2025 results.
Complainant Survey Results
Ninety-five percent of student complainants and 95 percent of employee complainants stated that the Office of Title IX had informed them of the resources and support available to them. Eighty-one percent of student complainants and 89 percent of employee complainants stated that they would recommend the Office of Title IX to a friend if they needed help. Sample comments:
- “Thank you, Office of Title IX, for all of your kindness, support, and excellent communication during an extremely difficult time in my life.”
- “I’m hopeful & once again excited about my career path moving forward with UTK.”
- “I really appreciated the support and how on top of it my Title IX connection was. She made me feel supported, and I knew I was not alone in dealing with my situation.”
- “Everyone in the office was wonderful. I felt safe and comfortable throughout the whole process.”
Respondent Survey Results
One hundred percent of student respondents stated that they were informed of the resources and support available to them when speaking with a staff member from the Office of Title IX and that they would recommend the Office of Title IX to a friend if they needed help. No employee respondents chose to complete the survey.
Student Pregnancy Survey Results
Ninety percent of pregnant students stated that they were informed of the resources and support available to them when speaking with a staff member from the Office of Title IX and that they would recommend the Office of Title IX to a friend if they needed help. Sample comments:
- “My experience with the Office of Title IX has been reassuring and supportive. From the initial communication, I felt that I was being listened to and that there were resources in place to help me manage my situation. The information provided was clear, timely, and tailored to my needs, which made a stressful time feel more manageable.”
- “What stood out most to me was the tone of empathy and concern in the communication; it wasn’t just procedural, but personal. It gave me confidence that I’m not going through this alone, and that there are people genuinely committed to helping students feel safe, heard, and supported.”
- “It was reassuring to know that someone is actively looking out for my well-being and is committed to helping me successfully navigate and manage my situation. That level of compassion and attentiveness truly made a difference and helped me feel seen and supported.”
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Action Collaborative on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
In 2019, UT became a founding member of the nationwide Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education. This group of committed academic institutions and other key stakeholders is guided and convened by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to develop new strategies and share innovative ideas to prevent and address sexual harassment. UT is the only large public institution in the Southeast to be a founding member of the collaborative. A 2018 NASEM report concluded that existing systems for addressing sexual harassment placed the burden on targets, victims, and survivors and have been ineffective in preventing harassment in academic institutions. In light of those findings, the collaborative developed four primary goals:
- Raise awareness about sexual harassment, its consequences, and approaches for addressing and preventing it
- Share and elevate evidence-based policies and strategies for reducing and preventing sexual harassment
- Contribute to setting a shared research agenda for this work, and gather and apply research results across institutions
- Develop a standard for measuring progress toward reducing and preventing sexual harassment in higher education
Members exchange ideas and information as they work to provide students, faculty, and staff with learning environments and workplaces free from harassment.
In 2025, the Office of Title IX published a description of work to the collaborative’s Sexual Harassment Collaborative Repository. The publication, “Vols Walk for Sexual Assault Awareness Month,” highlights the partnership between the Office of Title IX and the Center for Health Education and Wellness to engage the campus community in raising awareness of sexual assault and misconduct, normalizing conversations about consent and healthy relationships, promoting access to support resources, and reinforcing collective responsibility for preventing harassment.
National Presentations
NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, March 2025
Laura Bryant, Office of Title IX; Andrew Carstarphen, Student Conduct and Community Standards; Kayley McMahan, Center for Health Education and Wellness; and Hailey Flavin, Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, presented “Building a Comprehensive Sexual Violence Prevention Plan Through Operationalization of the Social-Ecological Model, Strategic Partnerships, and Policy,” a half-day preconference workshop at the annual Student Affairs in Higher Education conference. Presenters shared UT’s comprehensive approach to engaging students, faculty, and staff in promoting healthy relationships and consent and preventing sexual misconduct through education, collaboration, resource provision, and transparency in investigative processes, trends, and outcomes. By the end of the session, attendees were able to identify at least two strategies for building buy-in from campus partners to establish prevention teams that prioritize prevention initiatives at their institutions, apply an effective prevention framework that demonstrates how a culture of consent and respect can be implemented across all levels of the social-ecological model, analyze case studies to understand why aligning policy and prevention is essential in Title IX–related prevention and response, and develop a campus-specific prevention action plan to implement at their respective institutions.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, May 2025
During the Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education’s 2025 members meeting, Ashley Blamey and Laura Bryant presented on the development and implementation of the 360-degree evaluation of services, which was highlighted in NASEM’s 2024 Sexual Harassment Collaborative Repository.
Conference on Ending Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Violence, May 2025
Laura Bryant presented a lightning talk on the UT’s innovation in research and practice regarding the 360-degree evaluation of services.
Partner of the Year: Emily Corum
The Office of Title IX is proud to recognize Emily Corum, senior project manager in the Office of Communications and Marketing, as its Campus Partner of the Year. A University of Tennessee alumna, Corum earned her degree in advertising with a minor in business and now works in the same building where she once attended classes. Since joining OCM in 2016, Corum has worked to consistently deliver clear messaging to diverse audiences and foster meaningful collaborations across campus. Her partnership with the Office of Title IX began in 2017 and has continued to evolve into a model of cross-departmental collaboration rooted in trust, shared goals, and consistent messaging on awareness and prevention.
Before returning to UT, Corum gained experience working at an advertising agency in Atlanta. In her current role, she oversees a wide range of creative projects and manages the university’s brand guidelines and communication resources. She works closely with stakeholders to ensure that messaging is clear, accessible, and aligned with the university’s values.
Corum’s partnership with the Office of Title IX has been instrumental in shaping campus-wide prevention and education efforts. Over the years, she has contributed to several important initiatives, including the Does Not Mean Yes campaign, the #VolTruth social norms video series, VOLS Walk for SAAM, and Vols ACT, along with the development of resource guides, digital assets, and annual reports. Those efforts have reinforced prevention, awareness, and access to resources, helping ensure that students, faculty, staff, and visitors know where to turn for support and feel empowered to seek help when needed.
Corum believes that communication plays a critical role in prevention. Her ability to translate policy and compliance information into approachable student-centered messaging has strengthened the reach and effectiveness of Title IX initiatives. Reflecting on her involvement, Corum said, “I know how important the work of Title IX is to our campus community, and I respect it. If I can play a small part in it, I am really happy to help. I am invested because I care.”
Corum also emphasizes the importance of collaboration. She works closely with colleagues on OCM’s media relations and internal communications teams—particularly Lisa Leko and Kerry Gardner, who are integral to campus communication—to ensure alignment and cohesion in university messaging.
As organizational structures evolve, she continues to advocate for relationship building between departments, encouraging campus partners to connect early, collaborate often, and view communication as a shared service rather than an individual function.
The Office of Title IX has particularly valued Corum’s contributions to the annual report process, where her guidance and expertise have helped elevate the messaging of the office’s work and impact. Her attention to detail, strategic perspective, and genuine commitment to the mission have made her an invaluable partner. Corum said she was deeply honored to be recognized as Campus Partner of the Year.
Looking ahead, Corum remains committed to strengthening partnerships and supporting prevention and education efforts. Her work exemplifies the power of collaboration and the impact of thoughtful, intentional communication.
The Office of Title IX is grateful for Corum’s leadership, partnership, and unwavering support, and is honored to recognize her as the Campus Partner of the Year.
Prevention Spotlight Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)—Spring 2025
The Center for Health Education and Wellness, in partnership with the Office of Title IX and other campus collaborators, hosted a dynamic slate of events throughout April to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Events aimed to educate and engage the UT community around the themes of sexual assault awareness, prevention, and support.
Returning programs included the SAAM Lunch and Learn Series, the Title IX Town Hall, Meet Your Title IX Coordinator, the donation drive for the Sexual Assault Center of East Tennessee, and Paint the Rock for SAAM—this year featuring CHEW’s new consent sweatshirts. Additional highlights included the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life’s annual Denim Day decorating contest and the signature event, Vols Walk for SAAM.
SAAM 2025 also welcomed exciting new collaborations and programming, including Milkshake Monday, a partnership with the Office of the Dean of Students, and a second large-scale event, SAAM Wrapped: Denim Day, presented by the Center for Student Engagement, the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life, CHEW, and the Office of Title IX with support from the Campus Events Board.
Third Annual Vols Walk for SAAM
On April 16, CHEW and the Office of Title IX hosted the third annual Vols Walk for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, UT’s signature awareness event. Vols Walk for SAAM unites the campus and broader Knoxville community in demonstrating a shared commitment to raising awareness, supporting those impacted by sexual assault, ending sexual violence, and cultivating a culture of consent.
The event opened with remarks from Title IX Coordinator Ashley Blamey, Chancellor Donde Plowman, and Student Body President Dante Grayson, who shared a powerful message of empathy and action: “We all must be committed to meeting people where they are without judgment. Because when we support survivors, when we educate ourselves and others, and when we work to prevent harm before it happens, we build a campus culture rooted in respect and safety for all.” Kayley McMahan, CHEW’s relationship and sexual violence prevention coordinator and the primary event organizer, reflected on the history of SAAM at UT, from its early roots in 2015’s first annual Hike the Hill in Heels to the evolution of Vols Walk for SAAM.
After the walk, participants gathered in 21st Mortgage Plaza for a reception featuring balloon and marquee light displays, food from CJ’s Tacos, drinks from Swig, Vols Walk T-shirts and tote bags, and resource tables and activities hosted by campus and community partners.
The 2025 Vols Walk for SAAM drew more than 850 participants, breaking the previous attendance record and affirming the event’s growing impact and importance on campus. Of the 850 participants, 6.2 percent completed the post-event feedback survey. Of the individuals who completed the survey, all indicated they were either satisfied (19 percent) or highly satisfied (81 percent) with the event. The event received excellent qualitative feedback:
- “ This was a great event! UT did very well respecting a very serious topic but still making it fun and welcoming to get students involved and raise awareness.”
- “ Loved the walk as a part of the program. It just felt great taking the time to recognize the struggles and issues that many face.”
- “ Kayley and those who helped to set up the event did a great job. Felt it was very well supported by campus; especially with Chancellor Plowman being able to attend and participate.”
- “Wonderful event!”
SAAM Wrapped: Denim Day
A new event, SAAM Wrapped, was held April 30 in conjunction with Denim Day. The Center for Student Engagement spearheaded the planning and execution of the event in partnership with CHEW, OSFL, and the Office of Title IX. The event took place at Humanities Plaza, where campus and community partners engaged attendees through a variety of interactive activities. Participants enjoyed activities such as rock painting, a photo booth, and buttonmaking, received Denim Day and consent T-shirts distributed by CHEW, and had lunch provided by Chick-fil-A.
In addition, 33 Greek organizations participated, creating Denim Day display designs to honor the day and educate the community about sexual assault awareness, survivor support, and campus resources.
To request a printed copy of the annual report, please email [email protected].