Students at UTM, along with faculty, community members and members of the International Club at UTM raised money to fund a memorial bench in honor of Sandra Koch.
Koch has been many things: a mentor, lecturer, journalist, wife, friend and so much more. Whether speaking to a colleague, loved one or student, the sentiment shared about Koch was always the same; she was well educated, passionate and loved her job.
Koch passed away on Aug. 31, 2016, after battling cancer. She began as a full-time instructor for UTM in 2011 and was the faculty advisor for the International Club. During her time at UTM, she worked closely with students to develop the International Club and create a better understanding of diversities on UTM’s campus.
Her legacy was memorialized with the placing of a bench on Friday, April 20, 2018, between Gooch Hall and the Business Administration.
The memorial bench was funded by donations taken up in 2017 during the Captain’s Challenge. Members of the International Club, many of whom were in attendance for the bench dedication ceremony, encouraged friends to donate to their goal of $2,000. The goal was met and exceeded, with the total amount raised reaching $2,300.
Nathan Daniels, a UTM graduate of December 2016, currently living in Savannah, Georgia, was the primary coordinator for the memorial bench and the ceremony to dedicate it. During his time at UTM, he was the Multicultural Affairs Committee Chairman for SGA, where he wrote legislation resolving that UTM should create a Diversity Center on campus, and he also served as the president to the International Club after he began work with Koch to help found it.
Daniels said that without Koch, he would not have been the student he was at UTM.
“When I transferred to UT Martin she really helped me find my way. She really encouraged me to pursue public service. She really helped me find my passion for international affairs. And so I really wanted to find a way to honor her.”
Daniels also recognized the support and help of Carrie Humphreys, the new International Club Advisor and Charley Deal, Interim Director for the Office of Research, Grants and Contracts, as points of contact in helping him complete his work on the bench and dedication ceremony from afar.
During the reception which followed the dedication, members of the International Club had the opportunity to speak to Koch’s husband, Malcolm, who says he was grateful for this initiative and the continued work of the programs that Sandra helped start.
“We had very international lives [when we met], it was only natural for us to get involved in an international way.”
Though Humphreys has now taken over as the advisor to the club, she has often commented on how Koch was a mentor to her and even made an effort to discuss club matters with Humphreys when she was sick and not teaching. Koch always served as a guide to her in any way that would help the club and kept the interest of the students close to her heart.
Sandra Koch’s legacy is not only living on through the memorial bench, but also through the renaming of a travel-study grant, and in the hearts and minds of the many students and faculty she influenced.
(Keith Carver, Malcolm Koch and Nathan Daniels participate in the Sandra Koch bench dedication on April 20. \ Photo credit/ Rachel Moore)
