The University of Tennessee Space Institute will present it’s 13th Annual Black History Month Program Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m. in the UTSI Auditorium.  Dr. Wesley L. Harris, former UTSI Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, will be guest speaker for the event, and will address the theme “Igniting the Choice of Change.”  A reception to honor Dr. Harris will be held immediately following the program.

Dr. Harris served the Institute from 1990 to 1993.  He is presently the Charles Stark Draper Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Head of that Department, and Director of the Lean Sustainment Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Prior to this position, he served as the Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, responsible for all programs, facilities and personnel in Aeronautics at NASA (1993-1995).

He has developed an outstanding record in advancing cultural diversity in academe and in government.  In September 2007, he was selected to share with a female colleague the office of Associate Provost for Faculty Equity to focus on faculty diversity and gender issues at MIT, including the recruitment, retention, promotion and career development of minority and women faculty.

Dr. Harris has performed academic research associated with unsteady aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, rarefied gas dynamics, sustainment of capital assets, and chaos in sickle cell disease.  He has worked with industry and government to design and build joint industry – government – university research and development programs, centers and institutes, and has effectively transferred technology.  He is credited with more than 100 technical papers and presentations.

The program will include special music and presentations, and is free and open to the community.  Winners of an essay competition will be introduced and presented with awards.

You are invited and encouraged to attend both the presentation and the reception.  For additional information, please contact the UTSI Office of Human Resources at 931-393-7226.