The UT Board of Trustees began looking toward 2030 during its meeting Friday, March 1.
During the meeting held at UTM, UT Board Chair John Compton said the board should begin a dialogue and working toward what the university needs to be successful in 2030.
“We all recognize the world is changing. There is transformation that could be coming to education,” Compton said. “That is what we should be considering in our meetings.”
Compton said the board needs to think strategically about what it would take to grow enrollment and graduate those students as well as to increase research that impacts the world. With UT graduating the majority students in the state, what happens at the university matters.
“If you want a strong state of Tennessee, we need a strong University of Tennessee,” he said.
Compton said it will take time to develop ideas and choose the best to pursue as a board.
“In the business world, I can look back on one or two decisions that mattered. There are one or two decisions that we could make that will materially matter,” Compton said. “If we get it right, it will materially matter for the good.”
Trustees agreed to continue discussions regarding working toward UT 2030.
“It’s a good time to do this,” said Trustee Amy Miles. “We have a new board. We have a new leader in Randy (Boyd, UT interim president). I’m glad we’re headed in this direction.”
Boyd discussed his Transparent UT initiative, which is geared toward providing easier access to information.
“In our Transparent UT initiative, we’re making sure the things we’re proud of and what people want to know about us are easy to find,” Boyd said.
Trustees approved a second year of no student tuition and fee increases for UT Health Science Center undergraduates. Since the Health Science Center’s academic year begins in July, the board considers its fee increases during its March meeting. Tuition and fees for the other campuses will be considered during the June meeting.
In other business, trustees approved:
- Naming the UTK Center for Leadership and Service in honor of Clay and Debbie Jones.
- Amended bylaws to require the president to inform and seek the advice of the chair of the board and any appropriate committee chair before changing the compensation and employment terms of chancellors and other officers.
- Revised the standing rule on requests to address the board to allow one hour instead of 30 minutes.
- The process for campus advisory boards to provide recommendations to the president on the proposed strategic plans and annual operating budget, including tuition and fees, for campuses.
- The process for appointment of a non-voting student member of the board.
- The process for appointment of a faculty member to the Education, Research, and Service Committee.
- The UT Institute of Agriculture and UTK policies and procedures governing application for tenure before the sixth year of the probationary period.
- The UT Institute of Agriculture and UTK procedures for enhanced tenure-track review.
- Revisions to the UT Health Science Center Faculty Handbook on peer review of teaching and on relationships with students.
- New academic programs of a Master of Science in Data Analytics at UTC and Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences at UTK.
- The student code of conduct and proposed honor code for UTC.
- The revised fiscal year 2018-2019 operating budget.
- Use of proceeds for renovation of the UT Conference Center in Knoxville for the UT Health Science Center Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology.
For more information, contact Jennifer Sicking, assistant director of media relations for the UT System, at 865-974-5179 or jsicking@tennessee.edu.
