University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd announced today that Linda C. Martin will serve as interim chancellor for the University of Tennessee Southern, beginning July 1.
Martin currently serves as the vice president for academic affairs and student success for the UT System. She has been serving as interim senior vice chancellor/senior vice president for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) since September 2021. Her interim position at UTIA will end on June 30. Bernie Savarese, associate vice president for student success, will serve as acting vice president while Martin serves in Pulaski.
“Linda Martin is a respected university leader with a proven track record in student success,” Boyd said. “I greatly appreciate her stepping up to fill this critical role while we search for UT Southern’s new leader.”
The university will launch a search in January to fill the role permanently.
Martin’s 10-year career at Ohio State also includes serving as the Sanford G. Price and Isabelle P. Barbee Endowed Chair for Teaching, Advising and Learning since 2010 and as associate dean and director for academic affairs for the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences since 2007.
Previously, she was assistant dean for academic programs for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University from 2002 to 2007. Martin began her career in higher education as a faculty member at Kansas State University, serving in the department of animal sciences and industry for 15 years. In all, she has spent more than three decades at land grant institutions.
Martin earned a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree from Virginia Tech, and a doctorate from Colorado State University – all in animal science.
UT Southern joined the UT family on July 1, 2021 after the acquisition of Martin Methodist College (MMC) by the University of Tennessee System. The addition of UT Southern represented the fourth undergraduate college within the UT System, and the first new campus since UT Chattanooga joined more than 50 years ago. Additionally, UT Southern is the only four-year and graduate institution of higher education between Sewanee in the east and Freed-Hardeman in the west, serving a southern middle Tennessee region of 13 counties near the Alabama border.
Tags: Chancellor, Featured, Linda C. Martin, UT Southern