Midterms at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture arrive with a familiar set of pressures: lab reports, exams, and long hours in the library. On October 13, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Pendergrass Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Library will offer a different kind of study break. Jordan Kaufman and her certified H.A.B.I.T. dog, Grimm, will be on hand at 2407 River Drive for "Pop-Up Pup at Pendergrass," a bi-annual event designed to give UTIA students a well-deserved pause during midterm exams.
The premise is simple and, for many students, irresistible. A certified therapy dog settles in at the library, and anyone who needs a few minutes away from the books can stop by, say hello, and pet a dog. There is no cost and no registration implied by the listing. The event's stated goals are to reduce student stress, boost morale, and support academic well-being -- the kind of low-stakes, high-return intervention that has become a fixture of campus wellness programming.
What makes this particular visit notable is the pairing behind it. Grimm is not simply a friendly pet brought to campus for an afternoon. He is a certified therapy dog working through H.A.B.I.T., or Human Animal Bond in Tennessee, a program with deep roots at the university. Kaufman, Grimm's owner and handler, is herself part of the UT community: a research data librarian and assistant professor who graduated from UT's School of Information Sciences master's program in 2018 and returned to Rocky Top in 2025 after working elsewhere. According to a profile published by the College of Communication and Information, Kaufman first came to Knoxville in 2014 as an administrative assistant in the College of Arts and Sciences, used UT's employee education benefits to pursue librarianship part-time, and was later selected for the UX-A cohort, an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded program that brought twelve students to UT to earn their MSIS with a specialization in user experience and assessment. She has described librarianship as a long-held goal, and her current work has her collaborating with faculty, students, and staff across the research lifecycle -- data collection, analysis, preservation, and open sharing.
That a research data librarian would also volunteer as a therapy-dog handler fits the event's setting. Pendergrass Library serves students, faculty, staff, and the public seeking information related to UT's Institute of Agriculture and its two colleges, the Herbert College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The library is named for Webster C. Pendergrass, and its collections and services are oriented toward agricultural and veterinary research -- a natural venue for a program built around the human-animal bond.
H.A.B.I.T. itself is the deeper story behind the visit. The program was founded in 1986 by John New, a veterinarian and public health professional, together with Ben Granger, then dean of the College of Social Work. According to the UT Center for Veterinary Social Work, which honors New as its founder, H.A.B.I.T. was one of the first animal-assisted interaction programs in the country and became a model for similar initiatives nationally. New's work bridged veterinary medicine and social work at a time when the two fields rarely collaborated. He co-authored a paper titled "Veterinary medicine and gerontology: a vital link," created the Pet Attitude Inventory to measure the human-animal bond, and explored pet ownership in later life. His broader interests included the link between human and animal violence, animal-related grief and bereavement, and humane education -- concerns that helped pave the way for veterinary social work as a recognized interdisciplinary field. The center describes him as a staunch and balanced advocate for both people and animals.
That legacy is visible in how H.A.B.I.T. operates today. The program trains and certifies human-animal teams -- a handler and a dog working together -- and sends them into settings where the presence of an animal can do something a pamphlet cannot. At UT, that has included partnerships beyond the library. In January 2025, UT's Pride Center partnered with H.A.B.I.T. to bring therapy dogs to students on a weekly basis, part of an effort to support mental health and connection. The university's Division of Student Success folds therapy-dog visits into its broader academic-support programming as well, listing "Pop Up Pup with H.A.B.I.T. Therapy Dogs" among the wellness offerings tied to its finals-period event series, Big Orange Finish Line. The same division runs Vol Success Week, a midterm-focused series of workshops and well-being programming. Pop-Up Pup at Pendergrass sits squarely within that institutional habit: meet students at the moment they are most stressed, in the building where they are most stressed, and offer something that requires nothing of them but a few minutes.
The bi-annual timing is deliberate. The event recurs around midterms, when the library is full and the pressure is highest. For students in the Herbert College of Agriculture or the College of Veterinary Medicine, the venue is already familiar -- Pendergrass is their library, and the visit happens where they study rather than at a distant student center. For Grimm, the work is a few hours of being petted. For the students who stop by between problem sets, it is a small, free, and genuinely restorative interruption.
Grimm and Kaufman will be at Pendergrass Library, 2407 River Drive, Knoxville, on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern. The event is open to drop-ins, and the only requirement is showing up.