GREBE is the graduate student organization within the EEB department at UTK meant to foster a sense of community amongst students within the department and to advocate on behalf of the graduate student population.

 

Our main responsibilities as part of the Executive Board for this group include planning Welcome Weekend, a three-day excursion for incoming graduate students to get to know Knoxville and returning graduate students to reconnect, and Recruitment Weekend, a multi-day event that hosts prospective graduate students interviewing within the department. 

 

I first served as Treasurer from 2024 - 2025, during which we officially became a student organization and hosted the inaugural GREBE Fundraising Gala. I then became President for the 2025 - 2026 year, continuing our efforts as an official student organization.

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As President, I participated in the Rocky Top President's Institute, a 6-week cohort-based program meant to train student organization leaders in emotional leadership. My work culminated in a Pecha Kucha presentation focused on setting an action plan for GREBE to help the organization become more successful.

Staring March of 2025, I became the first official Librarian for the Gordon M. Burghardt Ethology Library, a specialized resource center focused on supporting research in animal behavior, neuroscience, psychology, and related fields. The library provides vital access to hundreds of academic and reference materials relating to ethology and behavior, including several first edition, foundational books from the 1900s. Located in Austin Peay, the Ethology Library fosters a sense of community for researchers, students, and professionals in the fields of ethology and behavioral science at UTK.

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As the librarian, I helped catalogue the collection, run book check-in and check-out, and manage the space as a meeting place for various members of CoLAB.

I became an official member of the Mentoring Committee during the Spring of 2025. This Committee is dedicated to providing resources to undergraduates who are interested in pursuing careers in the field, especially through the pairing of undergraduate mentees with graduate student mentors. 

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At the end of the school year, we host an Undergraduate Research Symposium to highlight research conducted by undergraduates in fields related to EEB, regardless of whether the student is an EEB major or not. As an official member of the committee, I assisted with planning the event, advertising to folks across campus, and judging student posters for the awarding of prizes.