Ashley Blamey, longtime director of UT Knoxville’s Center for Health Education and Wellness, has been selected to serve as Title IX coordinator for the campus. Blamey assumes the new role today.
As UT Knoxville Title IX coordinator, Blamey will lead a campus-wide effort to create a national model for Title IX compliance, which will include overseeing compliance, policy, and resources related to Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972.
“Ashley brings ideal professional experience, academic preparation, and leadership to create a national model for sexual assault awareness and prevention,” said UT Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport.
Jenny Richter, who has had UT Knoxville Title IX oversight responsibility since 2001, will continue serving as associate vice chancellor and director of the campus’s Office of Equity and Diversity. Her responsibilities include ensuring that UT Knoxville is in compliance with all state and federal nondiscrimination laws.
“Jenny is an experienced, valuable member of our staff and has done an outstanding job leading the Office of Equity and Diversity,” Davenport said. “One of the areas mentioned in the [special Title IX] commission report was the responsibilities Jenny had within the Office of Equity and Diversity while also handling both student and employee investigations. Jenny and her staff will now have an expanded focus on issues of harassment and discrimination.”
During her service as the director of the Center for Health Education and Wellness, Blamey served as deputy Title IX coordinator. Under her leadership, the university was awarded a three-year $300,000 grant from the US Department of Justice to develop best practices related to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Blamey had recently assumed the role of assistant vice chancellor for student life. A search for her replacement in that role will begin soon.
“I am grateful for the University of Tennessee’s commitment to this important work. It is an honor to serve as the Title IX coordinator, and I look forward to supporting the continued efforts of our dedicated faculty, staff, and students,” Blamey said.
Blamey earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from East Tennessee State University and has both a master’s and doctorate in social work from UT. Her areas of expertise include distressed students, crisis management, bystander intervention, sexual assault, and alcohol and substance abuse. She joined UT Knoxville in 2008 as its inaugural student case management specialist, bringing prevention and intervention services together. In that role, Blamey represented the university as the founding president of the national Higher Education Case Managers Association.
The UT Knoxville Title IX coordinator will report directly to the chancellor and have dotted-line reporting to the campus vice chancellor for student life.
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Media coverage: News Sentinel, Rachel Ohm, Aug. 8; WVLT Local 8 Now, Aug. 8; Times Free Press, Aug. 9; Campus Safety Magazine, Amy Brennan, Aug. 10
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CONTACT:
Karen Simsen (865-974-5186, karen.simsen@tennessee.edu)