Skip to content Skip to main navigation Report an accessibility issue
Exit Site

UT Knoxville Action Collaborative

The UT Knoxville Action Collaborative was established by Chancellor Donde Plowman in 2019 to guide the university in addressing underlying issues that allow sexual harassment to exist and persist in an academic environment.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the collaborative is to implement the following recommendations:

  • Create diverse, inclusive, and respectful environments
  • Move beyond legal compliance to address culture and climate
  • Improve transparency and accountability
  • Diffuse the hierarchical and dependent relationship between students and faculty
  • Provide support for those who have experienced sexual harassment

These recommendations are modeled after the work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, of which the University of Tennessee is one of 28 founding members.

The collaborative’s objectives will mirror the national collaborative’s focus on the following areas:

  • Prevention
    Create environments and organizational climates that prevent sexual harassment.
  • Response
    Develop responses that create an organizational climate where sexual harassment is not tolerated.
  • Remediation
    Create systemic changes that limit the risk of retaliation and other consequence to those who experience harassment.
  • Evaluation
    Measure the climate and effects of policies and actions on sexual harassment.

Membership

The collaborative working group is composed of representatives from across campus:

  • A representative of each college, appointed by their respective dean to a three-year term
  • A representative of the Student Government Association, Graduate Student Senate, and Faculty Senate, appointed annually by their respective group
  • A representative of Human Resources, the Office of the Provost, the Graduate School, the Office of Title IX, and the Office of Equity and Diversity, appointed by their respective office to a three-year term
  • A chair, appointed by the chancellor to a three-year term

Faculty participation in the working group counts toward the faculty service requirement.

2019–22 Membership

Brad Areheart, Associate Professor, College of Law 

Ashley Blamey (chair), Title IX Coordinator, Office of Title IX 

Austin Boyd, President, Graduate Student Senate 

Laura Bryant, Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Prevention, Training, and Evaluation, Office of Title IX 

Melissa Cardon, Nestle Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Haslam College of Business 

Megan Haselschwerdt, Assistant Professor, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences 

Karmen Jones, President, Student Government Association 

Mary Lucal, Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources 

Kim Newkirk, Associate Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine 

Katrice Morgan, Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of the Office of Equity and Diversity 

Patricia Roberson, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing 

Dixie Thompson, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School 

Phyllis Thompson, Clinical Associate Professor, College of Social Work 

Paul Frymier, Associate Dean, College of Engineering 

Deb Welsh, Head, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences 

Erin Whiteside, Associate Professor, College of Communication and Information 

Lisa Yamagata Lynch, Ombudsperson, Office of Ombuds Services 

John Zomchick, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs 


Members will be added to represent the Herbert College of Agriculture and the College of Architecture and Design.