Beautifying Rocky Top: Ernie and Bonnie Cadotte
Office of Advancement - Donor
An avid soccer player, biker, swimmer and gardener, Ernie Cadotte spends much of his free time enjoying the great outdoors of Tennessee. His wife, Bonnie, shares his passion for nature, especially the mountains.
The Cadottes came to Knoxville in the 1970s when Ernie joined the faculty at the Haslam College of Business. Today, Ernie studies learning processes, assessment, entrepreneurial decision-making and customer satisfaction as the college’s John W. Fisher Professor of Innovative Learning.
Ernie and Bonnie raised their three children, Joseph, Kate and John, in East Tennessee. “We came here from the Detroit area,” says Bonnie. “Knoxville is smaller, slower-paced and has been a great place to raise a family.”
Soon, though, the outdoor-inclined Cadottes noticed the lack of natural beauty on the Knoxville campus. “It’s a wonderful educational institution, but there was a lot of cement,” says Ernie. “The campuses I’d been on previously all had beautiful landscapes, open spaces, and wooded areas.”
Before construction began on the Glocker Building, Ernie noticed that the tennis court across the street had been repurposed as a parking lot. “I looked at that and started talking with some people about it,” he says. “I suggested, ‘When they’re done, why don’t we turn it into a park?'”
As demolition and construction began on the new Haslam College of Business building, the Cadottes met with university planners and spearheaded a campaign to create a campus park next to the new building. “Bonnie and I met with central administrators and proposed the idea of putting a small park where that tennis court was,” Ernie says. “The idea was that Bonnie and I would donate money and if the Haslam fund and the university would donate the same amount, we’d have a decent pool from which to work.”
The funding did in fact come together and as the park idea progressed to the planning stage, Ernie and Bonnie remained involved, meeting with campus administrators and landscapers throughout the process. “The traditional way of thinking was very functional,” Bonnie says. “We went back and forth, and they eventually agreed to a more open plan with less cement. It was a little bit of a shift for UT to be more interested in soft spaces, trees, wide lawns, spots to sit and read and places to meet people instead of just walkways.”
Through the efforts of the Cadottes, the park took shape as Blueberry Falls, a combination of two of Ernie’s favorite outdoor elements. “I love waterfalls, and even built one in our backyard at home,” he says. “The other thing is, I love fruit and have a big berry patch in my yard with 200 blueberry plants.”
As the ideas took shape, university officials jumped on board. “Everybody fell in and started to get excited about it.” Bonnie says. “Willow Ridge Garden and Landscaping of Oak Ridge designed the water falls and did a great job. It’s become one of the most photographed places on campus.”
Later, the Cadottes also helped to expand Blueberry Falls beside the new student union and are especially happy with the cascades they added to the park. There are more than sixty blueberry bushes throughout the park for everyone to enjoy in June.
The Cadottes continue to enjoy the process of seeing UT’s campus cultivate green spaces. “Students are working hard, and they need places to rest, to talk to their friends and to get outside,” Bonnie says. “They need beautiful places.”
“For me, the thanks is in the giving,” Ernie says. “This campus is my home, and who wouldn’t want to make their home more beautiful?”