UT Graduate Student Senate 5K Fundraiser Run/Walk

The University of Tennessee Graduate Student Senate is hosting a 5K fundraising event scheduled for April 9th with Knoxville Track Club.  Our goal is to have over 250 participants in the event including students, faculty, and staff from UTK as well as local community members. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Big Orange Pantry and the Graduate Student Senate’s event fund to organize and host professional development and social events for graduate and professional students.

The Graduate Student Senate is the official voice of graduate and professional students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. We serve over 6000 students across a wide range of disciplines on campus. Each department/academic unit sends representatives to voice concerns and propose ideas to improve the graduate student experience. Our role in GSS is to advocate for all graduate/professional students and convey their views/priorities to the UT administration.

Our initiatives this year include:

--Socially reconnecting the graduate student body as COVID-19 restrictions ease up
--Advocating for graduate and professional student mental/emotional/financial well-being
--Graduate student outreach and raising awareness of different resources and programs offered by the university and graduate school
--Developing, promoting, and hosting social events/activities for our students per university and CDC guidelines
--Evaluating and optimizing current GSS support
Improving the overall graduate student experience and making our school desirable to potential students across the nation

Information on Big Orange Pantry:
The Big Orange Pantry provides emergency food assistance for students, faculty, and staff attending or employed by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Food insecurity and meeting the basic needs of college students have emerged as a critical concern at public higher education campuses across the nation. Studies show that food-secure students typically perform better academically when compared to their food-insecure counterparts.

The Big Orange Pantry opened in the fall of 2020 to help meet the increase in short-term meal assistance program demand and basic needs assistance requests.