School of Communication Studies

CCI Alum Gives $4.5 Million to Establish the Alan and Wendy Wilson Communication and Leadership Academy

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Alan Wilson (’80) used communication skills he learned at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, every day of his storied business career, which culminated as Chairman and CEO of McCormick and Company. 

“The most important part of my job as CEO was communicating. I spent most of my time doing that, but leadership really is about communication—it’s about helping people understand what your strategies are and bringing them into alignment with those strategies,” he said.

The importance of communication in business and leadership is why he and his wife, Wendy Wilson, are investing $4.5 million to establish the Alan and Wendy

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Graduating Senior Skylar Brown Reflects on Leadership, the Volunteer Spirit, and the Future

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All it took was stepping on to the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for graduating senior Skylar Brown to make it her top pick. Previously deadset on attending her mother’s alma mater, Auburn University, Brown quickly changed her mind after getting the Rocky Top tour her senior year of high school.

“I feel it’s a universal feeling, how most people will talk about how they just come here and there’s something about it that just feels like home. I know it sounds cheesy, ‘home sweet home’ like the song,” she said. “I was walking around and seeing the

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Master’s Student Traci Lively’s Delayed Return to UT Turns into Pursuit of a PhD

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Traci Lively entered the master’s program at the College of Communication and Information in 2004 but put it on hold when she was also accepted into the film studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Fast forward several years and Lively is back in the CCI program, with a concentration in communication studies, and she’s flourishing.

“Life happened and I decided I hated my job and I just wanted to go back and finish what I started,” she said.

As any master’s student heading into a PhD program does, Lively has thrown herself into conducting research. She recently

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Two CCI Schools Introduce Students First-Hand to Career Opportunities in DC

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Whether it was seeing U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in the tunnels beneath the United States Capitol, touring the White House, or meeting with numerous College of Communication and Information alumni, students described a recent trip they took to Washington as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Aimed at introducing students to the careers they could pursue after graduating, the annual trip has been a mainstay for the School of Communication Studies and School of Journalism and Media for several years now. While the two schools had differing itineraries to fit the interests of their respective students—with the journalism and media cohort exploring various … Read more... “Two CCI Schools Introduce Students First-Hand to Career Opportunities in DC”