{"id":69056,"date":"2025-07-01T13:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=69056"},"modified":"2025-10-02T16:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T20:35:55","slug":"utcs-rick-dierenfeldt-and-erica-holmes-trujillo-honored-with-2025-ut-system-presidents-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2025\/07\/utcs-rick-dierenfeldt-and-erica-holmes-trujillo-honored-with-2025-ut-system-presidents-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"UTC\u2019s Rick Dierenfeldt and Erica Holmes Trujillo honored with 2025 UT System President\u2019s Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr.

Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt and Erica Holmes Trujillo are recipients of 2025 UT System President’s Awards. Individual photos by Angela Foster. Awards photo courtesy of UT System.<\/p><\/div>\n

Two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standouts, UC Foundation Associate Professor Rick Dierenfeldt and College of Arts and Sciences Student Success Center Director Erica Holmes Trujillo, have been named recipients of the 2025 UT System President\u2019s Awards<\/strong><\/a>\u2014the highest honor a faculty or staff member can receive from the UT System.<\/p>\n

UT System President Randy Boyd announced the award-winning faculty and staff selections from across the statewide UT System during the just-completed annual UT Board of Trustees meeting held on the UTC campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese awards celebrate the dedication and remarkable work of our faculty and staff throughout the state,\u201d Boyd said in the UT System announcement. \u201cTheir contributions create a better University of Tennessee and also impact the state and far beyond. Each play an important role as we continue building the greatest decade in UT history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dierenfeldt, head of UTC\u2019s Department of Criminal Justice, was selected in the \u201cOptimistic and Visionary\u201d category. Holmes Trujillo earned recognition in the \u201cNimble and Innovative\u201d category.<\/p>\n

They will be formally recognized in person at the One UT Cabinet Retreat on August 7 in Nashville.<\/p>\n

\"Rick

UC Foundation Associate Professor Rick Dierenfeldt<\/p><\/div>\n

A former law enforcement officer turned academic changemaker, Dierenfeldt is the founder and director of UTC\u2019s Violence Reduction Initiative (VRI), a research and policy center focused on public safety, firearm violence prevention and community-centered crime intervention.<\/p>\n

He first rose to national attention as co-lead of the Chattanooga Police Department\u2019s federally funded Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), which resulted in a 27% decrease in firearm homicides, a 36% drop in overall homicides, and a 42% decline in shooting victims. The CGIC effort received the national Excellence in Crime Gun Intelligence Award from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n

The success of that project sparked the idea for a broader UTC-based initiative to centralize data-driven criminal justice research, inform policy and train the next generation of public safety leaders. Dierenfeldt\u2019s response was the Violence Reduction Initiative\u2014launched with minimal overhead and a strategic plan for long-term, grant-based sustainability.<\/p>\n

Since its founding, the VRI has earned major federal grants through collaborations with the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County Alternative Sentencing Programs. These include the nearly $2 million CURV project (Chattanooga United to Reduce Violence) and the $844,000 Recidivism Reduction Initiative. Both efforts aim to prevent future violence through community partnerships, after-school engagement, trauma-informed care and embedded student research support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis centralization of the department\u2019s efforts in partnering with area law enforcement and justice agencies has led to a swift influx of federal money to study violence in the Chattanooga community,\u201d said Dr. Pam Riggs-Gelasco, dean of the UTC College of Arts and Sciences. \u201cThese efforts build on his own successes over the past nine years that have led to notable improvements in the levels of violence in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dierenfeldt\u2019s applied research model has led to more than 30 co-authored student publications, direct influence on CPD policy and expanded UTC visibility in regional and national criminal justice networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message from President Boyd was extremely humbling,\u201d Dierenfeldt said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t the sort of notification you expect to receive, especially when there are so many amazing innovations constantly being introduced across this campus. The caliber of work being performed is just so high. But that is also what makes this award so meaningful. It is a reminder that what we are doing in Criminal Justice\u2014the partnerships we are building, the research we are producing, the effort to have a positive impact within the community\u2014all of it is seen and valued. Every bit of that work has been a team effort involving everyone from student researchers and fellow faculty to communications staff and campus administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting ideas on paper is the easy part. Putting them into action cannot happen without the support of other people, something that almost always requires significant investments of time and energy. I am very proud of the work we do at UTC, and I am incredibly grateful for the daily opportunities I\u2019m given to work with and alongside the remarkable staff, faculty and administrators who call this University home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Erica

Erica Holmes Trujillo<\/p><\/div>\n

As director of the College of Arts and Sciences Student Success Center, better known as The Hub, Holmes Trujillo has reshaped the way UTC supports transfer students\u2014a vital student population.<\/p>\n

She launched \u201cSoar with the Mocs: Supporting Transfers from First through Final Flight,\u201d a multifaceted initiative aimed at improving enrollment yield, persistence and graduation rates for transfer students. Through a blend of peer mentorship, direct communication and personalized outreach campaigns, she developed a proof of concept for a scalable, campuswide approach to supporting transfer student success by addressing an institutional gap with sustainable solutions.<\/p>\n

Holmes Trujillo\u2019s impact has been both strategic and deeply personal. From orchestrating high-impact transfer social events to eliminating bureaucratic friction with user-friendly petition and override systems, her innovations have resulted in dramatic improvements. The yield rate for spring 2025 transfer admits hit 72%\u2014a substantial jump from prior years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn everything she does, Erica tries to remove barriers to success for our students,\u201d Riggs-Gelasco said. \u201cThis single arching principle helps align her work for maximum impact. Through her work and her colleagues in The Hub, CAS has increased its four-year graduation rate by 11%.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her leadership on transfer student success and her role as co-director of the Integrated Studies program, Holmes Trujillo has driven numerous advising-related improvements for UTC\u2019s largest college. She created advising guides for every major, led website overhauls, reengineered study abroad and general education petitions, and helped departments rethink enrollment forecasting, bottleneck courses and curricular barriers.<\/p>\n

Her broader mission, she said, has focused on establishing a central space where students from all majors and all backgrounds receive consistent, high-quality advising support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at UTC in 2019, we had a small staff and a big idea\u2014creating a centralized support system that ensured every Arts and Sciences student, no matter their major, had access to meaningful, professional guidance,\u201d Holmes Trujillo said. \u201cOver time, we have built a team of advisors whose role is not just answering questions but helping students navigate the institution with confidence. We want each student to feel supported and we\u2019ve achieved that without losing the unique identity of our programs. That\u2019s what makes this work so rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes Trujillo said her passion for supporting transfer students stems from a career spent at institutions serving a broad range of nontraditional learners.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransfer students arrive eager, determined and ready to succeed\u2014and we see firsthand what barriers they\u2019ve already overcome,\u201d she said. \u201cUTC has all the right pieces to support them, and we\u2019ve worked to put those pieces in the right places.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it goes back to why I entered higher education in the first place. Education changes lives. It\u2019s one thing that no one can ever take away.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Photo

Photo courtesy of UT System<\/p><\/div>\n

The President\u2019s Awards<\/strong><\/a> were established in 2016 to annually honor UT faculty and staff whose work advances the University\u2019s Be One UT values:<\/p>\n