Sandra Prior, who has been the Director of Environmental Health and Safety at the University of Tennessee since the fall of 2018 will retire on April 1, 2024.
In her time with EHS, there are a few things she is proud of, making her time here at UT memorable.
“One of the things I am most proud of is my team, with their professionalism, energy, commitment to the university, and their drive to improve their technical knowledge and skills,” said EHS Director Sandra Prior. “Since I joined the department, with continued encouragement and support, more than 15 team members have acquired or are pursuing a higher education degree.”
She has also praised her department for their continued success and growth. Numerous employees at EHS have also received professional certifications in a variety of areas, such as lead inspectors, lead managers, chemical hygiene, or associate/certified safety professionals.
“We have worked to grow the department into a first class EHS organization with the right mix of technical specialists and service support units,” said Prior. “The continued growth in our department and the team’s technical strengths have reaped vast improvements in our relationships and collaboration with our stakeholders and increased the safety culture across the university.”
One of those benchmarks being the award-winning laboratory safety culture initiatives that we have been working hand in hand with our Facilities Services partners on, and she expects that growth to continue.
When Prior isn’t diving into the EHS world and working with her team, she spends her time seeing America on her motorcycle. As of now, she has checked 39 states off her list, and plans on visiting the remaining 11 in her retirement.
She will also continue her volunteer work helping veterans and bringing awareness/prevention of veteran suicide through the Irreverent Warriors organization and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association.
“When I am not busy with those things, I hope to resume volunteering providing science demos for elementary and middle schools around the area,” said Prior.
Of the people she worked with, far too many names to list, but all hold a special place with her which she will reflect on in her retirement.
“Every one of my EHS team members, including those who moved on to other ventures or retired, they are all special to me and I hold my memories of my time working with all of them in my heart,” said Prior. “I know everyone will continue to do and accomplish great things.”
Assistant Director of EHS, Brian Payne will be the interim director as the selection process begins for the leading role.
You can read more about Payne here: https://ehs.utk.edu/index.php/2020/08/28/environmental-health-safety-hires-new-assistant-director/