University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Commend Record Enrollment, Carver approved for permanent UTIA post

KNOXVILLE — At a time when national enrollment numbers are facing various challenges, members of the UT Board of Trustees learned more about how the UT System is breaking records at its annual fall meetings.

The UT System saw all-time record enrollment this fall with 58,726 students enrolled in the system’s five campuses, representing a 4.8 percent increase from last fall. Student enrollment growth was led by the System’s largest campus, the flagship UT Knoxville campus, which experienced more than 20 percent growth in 5 years.

Since the fall of 2019, the UT System has experienced steady growth in enrollment, graduation rates and increases in the number of degrees awarded. From that time, UT has experienced increases of:

• 13.8 percent in total enrollment
• 3.8 percent in 6-year graduation rate
• 3.1 percent in 4-year graduation rate
• 9.3 percent in bachelor’s degrees awarded
• 17.1 percent in graduate and professional degrees awarded.

“Ensuring access and affordability to our UT campuses is a fundamental commitment,” UT System President Randy Boyd said. “We look forward to continuing this positive momentum and empowering even more students to succeed.”

An enrollment analysis progress report was presented to trustees by Huron, which showed a 2.8 percent increase in in-state enrollment across the UT System, while national trends are on the decline.

Trustees received information on FY23’s financial performance (unaudited), which included growth in state support, student enrollment and auxiliary revenues. Total revenues across the UT System increased $404 million, or 14.9 percent. Additionally, the UT Foundation reported it has raised more than 41 percent toward its fund-raising goal of $3 billion.

“Our board was pleased to see the continued progress in our overall financial health,” UT Board of Trustees Chairman John Compton said. “Leadership across the campuses and institutes have done an outstanding job of prioritizing resources that generate the best yield to all stakeholders. The financial health of the UT system has never been stronger.”

Trustees approved Boyd’s recommendation that Keith Carver be appointed as the permanent senior vice chancellor/senior vice president of the UT Institute of Agriculture, which oversees and provides leadership to the Herbert College of Agriculture, the College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch and UT Extension. Carver reports to both the UT System President and the UT Knoxville Chancellor.

“With agriculture serving as the primary industry in our state, Dr. Carver’s expertise and leadership will play a pivotal role in advancing our agricultural initiatives and strengthening our impact on Tennessee’s farming community,” Boyd said.

In other business, trustees approved:

• Public-private partnership with Provident Group-UTK Properties, LLC to design, construct, operate and maintain approximately 1,900 new beds of student housing
• An $8 million gift from the Kennedy Foundation, Inc. to name the future home of UT Chattanooga’s School of Nursing the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Building. This represents largest single gift in the UTC School of Nursing history, this will be the first building to be named after an alumna at UTC.

Archived video of the committee and full board meetings can be accessed at https://trustees.tennessee.edu/.

The University of Tennessee is a statewide system of higher education with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, Memphis and Pulaski; the UT Institute of Agriculture with a presence in every Tennessee county; and the statewide Institute for Public Service. The UT System manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory through its UT-Battelle partnership; enrolls about 54,000 students statewide; produces about 13,000 new graduates every year; and represents more than 445,000 alumni around the world.

View photos from the 2023 Fall Meeting of the Board of Trustees –>