Join us for a seminar to discuss conduct and mental health. Our guest presenters will provide you with information regarding professional conduct expectations and student services that are available to assist you in navigating many personal and professional situations.

Guest presenters to include Title IX Coordinator Ashley Blamey, UT Ombudsman Educational Coordinator Duren Thompson, Associate Director/Director of Clinical Services Sherrie Bruner, and Director and Deputy ADA Coordinator Jill Malolepszy.

Presenter Biographies

Ashley Blamey

Ashley Blamey, UT's Title IX coordinator, has expertise including distressed students, crisis management, bystander intervention, and sexual assault.

Prior to Title IX coordinator, Blamey was named the first director of the university's Center for Health Education and Wellness. 

She has a bachelor’s degree in special education from East Tennessee State University and a master’s in social work from UT. In 2014, she became the first graduate of the UT College of Social Work’s doctoral program. 

Duren Thompson

Educational Program Coordinator Duren Thompson has coordinated education and outreach programming for the UT Ombuds since August 2022. She is a certified trainer in Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue, an administrator of the Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP), and holds a certificate in Cognitive Coaching Foundations from the Thinking Collaborative. An instructional designer focused on systems-change initiatives, Thompson has twenty-five years’ experience supporting educators, staff, and students in higher education, adult literacy, and K-12 contexts to improve learner engagement and outcomes.

Prior to her work with the UT Ombuds, she designed, lead, and supported grant-funded educator professional development as a content expert in a wide variety of research-based topics focused on respectful, inclusive, engaging, and technology-enhanced learning experiences delivered via in-person, hybrid, and online modalities. An advocate for extended, job-embedded, and evidenced-based professional development, Thompson is pursuing a Qualitative Research Certification from UT. She also holds both an MS in education for instructional technology and an MS in education–special education from UT, as well as a certificate in online teaching and learning. Focusing on implementation research, Thompson explores experiences and support needs of educational professional developers, particularly in adult foundational education systems-change.

Sherrie Bruner

Sherrie Bruner, Associate Director/Director of Clinical Services at the Student Counseling Center at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a counselor at heart who holds a PhD in counselor education and supervision from the UT and a master’s degree in professional counseling and marriage and family therapy. She has previously served as a faculty member at both UT and at Syracuse University. Bruner is passionate about supporting quality mental health support services and addressing inequities in access to mental health services on college campuses. 

Jill Malolepszy

In her role, Jill Malolepszy guides our campus on policies and processes to ensure appropriate resources are available to staff, faculty, and visitors in compliance with laws directly impacting equal access and inclusion of individuals with disabilities. Malolepszy approaches her portfolios in the spirit of consultation and collaboration to proactively remove barriers to equal access. She brings almost 20 years of higher education compliance experience, who’s progressive leadership roles have extended to both Canada and the US. Malolepszy earned a bachelor’s degree in ethics from the University of Ottawa, completed a master’s degree in women’s studies at Texas Woman’s University, and is a current doctoral candidate in the higher education administration program at The University Tennessee, Knoxville.