UT Board Committee Approves Agreement with Former UT Knoxville Chancellor

The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Audit and Compliance Committee approved a separation agreement and payment of $1.33 million to former UT Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport today.

By the agreement, Davenport’s employment with the University ends today. No taxpayer dollars, no student tuition or fees, and no donor funds will be used to fund the separation payment. The separation payment comes from interest income and licensing revenue.

The payment is a significant reduction of the amount the University would have been contractually obligated to pay Davenport if she continued her employment in her tenured faculty position. Davenport’s appointment letter allowed her to return to the faculty in a tenured appointment for an indefinite period of time after serving as chancellor. The University would have been obligated to pay her about $2 million in salary and benefits during the first four years of her faculty appointment. Beginning in the fifth year of her faculty appointment, the University would have been obligated to pay her $164,632 annually in salary and benefits.

In December 2017, the Board approved a policy limiting future return to the faculty salaries to not more than 125 percent of the highest salary of full-time faculty in the department with the same discipline and rank (excluding Governor’s Chairs and other special appointments).