After nearly five years of serving as both provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Philip Cavalier will become interim chancellor starting on March 1, pending the approval of the UT Board of Trustees.
UT President Randy Boyd announced on Jan. 26 that Chancellor Keith Carver would be transitioning into the role of Senior Vice Chancellor/Senior Vice President of the UT Institute of Agriculture in Knoxville. Cavalier will lead the university while the search for a new chancellor takes place, a process that should begin in the next few weeks.
Before his position at UT Martin, Cavalier served as provost at Lyon College, a private liberal arts college in Batesville, Arkansas. He has a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo and served as an English professor at Eureka College.
Cavalier said the plans he and Carver have been working on would continue.
“The campus community completed an updated strategic plan, ‘Prepare for Takeoff 2.0,’ in the fall. During the interim period, we are going to work on implementing the strategic plan recommendations. We have a good road map for what we need to do during this interim period,” Cavalier said.
Cavalier also praised Carver for the progress UT Martin has made.
“Chancellor Carver has set the university on a very positive course and positioned us well to take advantages of new opportunities such as possible partnerships with Ford (Motor Co.) at Blue Oval City,” he said.
The chancellor position is not the only change going on with UT Martin staff. Multiple faculty members will be retiring this year, including Dr. Lynn Alexander, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts (CHFA).
“We’re going to continue with all of the faculty searches as planned. … The search for her (Dr. Alexander’s) successor has started and my goal is to name the next dean in April. The finalists for the CHFA dean position will visit campus for a series of meetings with faculty, staff, administrators and students. Campus visits will likely take place in March,” Cavalier said.
Meanwhile, he said, Dr. Anderson Starling will continue as interim associate provost and an acting provost will be named in the next 10 days.
