Julie Paque Receives College Philanthropist Award

Alumna Julie Paque Receives Philanthropy Award

The College Philanthropist Award is the epitome of the extraordinary impact that volunteer service and philanthropic giving can have on our college. 

Julie Paque (’79) received her bachelor’s of science degree in geology. She was accepted into the doctoral program at the California Institute of Technology and worked as a research scientist at Caltech studying trace elements in meteorites. Her scientific career directly utilized her degree and brings honor to the College of Arts and Sciences. She even gave her name to a newly described mineral, a calcium-titanium-aluminum silicate called paqueite. 

While working as a research scientist, Paque supported her alma mater faithfully for 31 years, primarily giving to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and recently, honoring her long time mentor by establishing the Dr. Hap McSween Fellowship in Earth and Planetary Sciences.

“Residing far away in California, it would have been easy for Julie to forget her undergraduate roots at the University of Tennessee; but through the decades she has donated consistently to the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,” wrote McSween in his letter supporting her nomination. “Julie has discouraged personal recognition for her philanthropy, and perhaps even for her scientific achievements. She is a remarkable scientist, just now past the apex of her career, and her life’s work reflects positively on her undergraduate education at UT. When Julie was a student here, science as a profession was not as supportive of women as it is now, and there were not many women geology majors – a situation which has now improved considerably. Our institution should also appreciate her as an early role model for women in science.”

The impact of her philanthropy is significant to the department and the university’s quest to retain and support its best faculty. Chris Fedo, the current Hap McSween Fellow, has been able to use endowment funds to further his research program involving both master’s and doctoral students engaged in understanding depositional environments on Mars, specifically related to aspects of the Mars Science Lab mission.

“Dr. Fedo has also used the funds to conduct studies of weathering processes on rocks in analogous environments on Earth, such as lake and delta systems in the southern California and Nevada region,” said Alycia Stigall, head of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “The availability of these funds has greatly enhanced the training and scientific achievements of students within Dr. Fedo’s research group.”

In her acceptance speech, Paque shared how a girl from Wisconsin ended up in Tennessee in 1976. During the 1960s, her mom taught at the Aramark School of Arts and Crafts almost every summer, which meant her family vacations were in Gatlinburg. 

“In 1969, we were here for a special week – the week that man landed on the moon. We were allowed to stay up late and watch it and it was wonderful!” Paque said. “That really made a difference in my life in terms of my interest in planetary science. Also, I started swimming competitively, so when I was looking for college, I wanted a geology department and a swim team and decided Tennessee was one of my choices.”

When Paque sold her house in California, she decided to give back to UT because of everything the university, faculty in the department, and specifically, Professor Hap McSween, did for her. 

“Philanthropic investments such as these so often make a critical difference in our ability to attract and retain talented faculty,” Hinde said. “We are humbled by Julie’s generosity and honored to recognize her this evening.”