CHATTANOOGA — The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees elected a new chancellor for UT Chattanooga, received an update on implementation of the UT System Strategic Plan and approved a differential tuition plan at the winter meeting on Friday.
Trustees elected Dr. Steve Angle as chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Angle has been senior vice president at Wright State University since August 2012 and previously served as provost. A professor of chemistry, Angle also has been an administrator and professor at the University of California, Riverside.
A search committee of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members narrowed the field to three candidates, and UT System President Joe DiPietro recommended Angle to the board for election.
“Steve has my utmost support and confidence to lead UTC. He is a proven scholar and administrator,” DiPietro said. “This was an exceptionally well-run search, and I thank the search committee for their work to bring forward very talented candidates.”
For more information about Angle, and the search process go to http://www.tennessee.edu/chancellorsearch/utc/index.html.
The UT System Strategic Plan was approved by the board in June 2012, and since then, implementation has begun for each goal. For the first goal, Enhancing Educational Excellence, a study of current online courses and programs was conducted to help determine the University’s future plans. A System research committee was formed as part of the second goal, Expanding Research Capacities, and an industry advisory council is being developed.
The first action taken for the third goal, Fostering Outreach and Engagement, was to define the metrics that will be used to measure the University’s work to connect with the people of Tennessee. The fourth goal, Ensuring Effectiveness and Efficiency, focuses on making improvements to financial reporting and budgeting processes.
A System-wide marketing and communications committee was formed to assist in the fifth goal, Advocating for UT, and faculty, staff, students and alumni are being encouraged to join efforts to advocate for the University in state government.
“I am encouraged by our progress,” DiPietro said. “Universities often move slowly, but you need to have buy-in from everyone in order to have success, and we have been working collaboratively across the System throughout the planning and implementation process.”
A dashboard for the UT System Strategic Plan is available online to monitor progress. Visit http://president.tennessee.edu/strategicplan/dashboard/index.html.
Trustees also approved differential tuition for students in business, engineering and nursing at UTC, beginning with the 2013-14 academic year. Students will pay an additional $50 per student credit hour for courses in business, engineering and nursing, starting this fall. The differential tuition will increase in future years at the same rate as any future increases in tuition at UTC. Courses for engineering and nursing currently have a $25 per student credit hour fee, which will be discontinued.
Funds from the differential tuition will be used for academic advising and student support services, new faculty, underwrite student financial aid for low income and other students who may encounter difficulty meeting the new fee requirement.
“We have unmet faculty needs in these disciplines. Our enrollments have grown, but our faculty numbers have not grown to meet the need,” said UTC Interim Chancellor Grady Bogue, who presented the plan to the board.
The board also approved a performance and retention plan, performance goals and retention amounts for executive officers, including the chancellors, executive vice president and president.
“This plan aims to motivate and reward and bring more accountability and excellence at our chief executive levels,” DiPietro said. “We set the goals to align with the UT System Strategic Plan.”
The initial retention period for existing executives is three years from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015. The retention amount will not exceed the sum of 15 percent of the base salary of the participant as of July 1 of the first year of the retention period, multiplied by the number of years in the retention period. Goals have been set for each executive based on the Strategic Plan and others related to their particular campus, institute or specialty area. For more details about the plan, go to http://bot.tennessee.edu/docs/2013/022813_ecc.pdf.
The trustees heard a presentation about a gap analysis conducted at UT Martin to assist the campus in developing a set of prioritized improvement directions aligned with campus strategic priorities. UT Martin’s strategic priorities are to increase undergraduate enrollment, improve undergraduate retention, innovate and support academic program quality, strengthen and strategically develop graduate program with focus on online delivery, establish partnership to improve job placement and strengthen regional economic development contributions, and develop a sustainable financial model to allow for continued academic innovation and student success.
In other action, the board approved:
- Honorary bachelor’s degree in community service at UTC to Lewis “Lewie” Card, Jr., who has served as chair of the UTC Roundtable, member of the UC Foundation, member of the UT Development Council, and Chair of the UTC Engineering Campaign.
- Honorary Doctor of Laws degree at UT Knoxville to journalist and First Amendment advocate John Seigenthaler, who was the founding editorial director for USA Today and editor, publisher and CEO of The Tennessean.
- Honorary Doctor of Humane and Musical Letters degree at UT Knoxville to Mary Costa, Knoxville native and internationally acclaimed soprano best known for her role as Princess Aurora in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and as an advocate for the arts and at-risk children.
- Revised undergraduate admission requirements for UT Martin that changes the current regular undergraduate admission requirements of 21 ACT and GPA of 2.5 OR 18 ACT and GPA of 2.85 to 21 ACT and GPA of 2.7 OR 19 ACT and GPA of 3.0. Changes will begin in fall 2014.
- UT Methodist Physicians LLC amendment to the affiliation agreement with Methodist Healthcare-Methodist Hospitals.
- FY 2013 revised operating budget.
- Rating scale for annual performance reviews of tenured faculty and minor clarifying revisions to the tenure policy.
- Revision of UT Knoxville Faculty Handbook concerning the rating scale for annual performance reviews.
- Grant of tenure to Teri Dobbins Baxter in her faculty appointment as Professor of Law at UT Knoxville.
- Modifying the name of the John Tickle Engineering Building at UT Knoxville to the John D. Tickle Engineering Building.
- Modifying the name of the Frank H. McClung Museum at UT Knoxville to the Frank H. McClung Museum of Natural Science and Culture.
- Renaming the former Student Health Center as Temple Hall at UT Knoxville in honor of Oliver P. Temple and his daughter, Mary Boyce Temple. Oliver Temple was a trustee of East Tennessee University, which became UT, and was instrumental in obtaining land-grant status for the institution.
- Naming a new residence hall as the Fred D. Brown Jr. Residence Hall in honor of Brown, an educator who worked to promote diversity and whose efforts are evident in the number of minority students in the College of Engineering.
- Naming the football practice facility as the Anderson Training Center at UT Knoxville in honor of the Anderson family of Knoxville and Florence, Ala.
An archived Webcast of the full board meeting is available for viewing. Access the link at http://www.tennessee.edu/.
The meeting’s full agenda and materials are posted at http://bot.tennessee.edu/.