A Legacy Still Transforming a College
Ken and Blaire Mossman's interests and passions were wide ranging. One was a researcher and a scientist and the other a lover of languages whose career took her into editing scientific journals. It is fitting then that their enduring legacy supports the College of Arts and Sciences, a college whose mission is as broad as the Mossmans' love of learning.
They met one fall day in 1968 at UT's chapter of the Hillel foundation for Jewish Life. Blaire Volman was a sophomore French major. Ken was starting his master's degree in radiation biology. A native of Windsor, Ontario, he had been drawn to UT's Institute of Radiation Biology in part because of its relationship with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ken and Blaire were married in 1970. Ken earned his master's degree that year and a doctorate in health physics and radiation biology in 1973. His dissertation examined statistical modeling of transplantation of bone marrow stem cells into lethally irradiated mice. Blaire graduated with her French degree in 1971 and maintained a love of foreign languages throughout her life.
An accomplished author and international expert on the effects of radiation exposure, Ken served on the faculty of Georgetown University and Arizona State University, where he was an assistant vice president for research, a professor of health physics, and director of ASU's Office of Radiation Safety. In 2007, he was appointed administrative judge for the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, within the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 2014, he was appointed by
President Barack Obama to the US Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Blaire served as managing editor of several scientific journals, including Pattern Recognition, Computers in Biology and Medicine, Computer Languages, and Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. She was founding managing editor of the latter two. Blaire also was part of the professional staff at the National Biomedical Research Foundation in Washington, D.C., which developed the first whole-body CT scanners.
Through planned gifts, the Mossmans—who passed away in 2011 and 2014, respectively—created four endowments to support areas that were both nearest to their hearts and in which they could create meaningful opportunities for UT students. Today, their multiple legacies live on through their impact on students, faculty, and the surrounding community.
The Mossman Scholars Endowment helps as many as 10 students each year travel internationally for language study with $3,000 for travel expenses, tuition, books, and other related educational expenses.
"The scholarships make an absolutely transformational difference in what the student is able to experience," says Adrian Del Caro, head of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. "If students get that opportunity to go abroad and cement the skills they have, they become functionally bilingual for life."
The Ready for the World Program Endowment provides funding toward student foreign study to help them gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today's world.
"We have been able to offer 106 UT students support for their travel to proven academic programs abroad," says Noah Rost, director of Programs Abroad.
The Kenneth and Blaire Mossman Professorship serves as a magnet to attract talented faculty and students. Microbiology Professor Steven Wilhelm, the current holder of the Mossman Faculty Chair, says, "The gift creates opportunities for my graduate students and lab members to venture into areas of research that might seem preliminary or risky on the surface. But that is where some of the potential great discoveries lie."
The Mossman Distinguished Lecture Series Endowment funds a distinguished scholar in any academic discipline to deliver a public lecture to the community at large and a scholarly or technical lecture to faculty and students in a department closely associated with the speaker's academic discipline—affording an intellectual enrichment opportunity for the entire campus and local community.
So far, the lectures have brought to campus Bill Nye, the Emmy Award-winning science educator known for his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy and his advocacy for space exploration and climate science, and Alan Alda, best known for his role as Captain Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H but whose later career has also centered on science education including more than a decade as host of PBS' Scientific American Frontiers.
"Ken and Blaire valued learning and discovery," says Dean Lee. "By endowing scholarships for students to study abroad, they are creating priceless opportunities for experiential learning. By endowing a professorship in biomedicine, they are helping us attract and retain top faculty members and enhance the academic experience for our students. By endowing a distinguished lecture series, they are enriching the intellectual life of our community—both on campus and in greater Knoxville. We sincerely hope that members of Ken and Blaire's family are pleased at the broad, enduring impact of their gifts."
Make an impact on future UT students with an endowed gift and see their aspirations soar. Get started by contacting the Office of Gift Planning at 865-974-3388 or giftplanning@utk.edu today.