“The University of Tennessee at Martin Advisory Board, created under the UT FOCUS Act passed by the General Assembly in 2018, is composed of five public members, one faculty member and one student member. The Advisory Board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly.”
The University of Tennessee at Martin Advisory Board met at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, in Room 206 of the Ed and Carolyn Boling University Center. The fall meeting was open to the public and is available for viewing via live stream at www.utm.edu/abmeeting.
The meeting began with recognition for staff and faculty members who had received the 2023 UT President’s Award. This included Henrietta Giles, who won Embrace Diversity; Destin Tucker, who won Optimistic and Visionary; Stephanie Kolitsch, who won Excel in All We Do; and Clinton Smith, who won United and Connected.
The meeting was then passed over to Dr. Andy Lewter, UT Martin’s Vice Chancellor, who began providing information over Welcome Weekend. He covered the different events offered, the amount of residents living on campus and the involvement of students. 
He then spoke about the events held by Multicultural Affairs and the results of the fraternity and sorority recruitment. Lastly, he described events held for student well-being and career development.
Next, Dr. Philip Cavalier, UT Martin’s Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor, was called to provide an update on UT Martin’s enrollment and retention rate. Currently, the university has an overall of 6,950 students, 1,118 of first-year students, 707 graduate program students, a retention rate of 73.5%, and the highest six-year graduation rate ever of 54.8%.
“I think it’s important to note that there has been work done now for six years that has been at the faculty level, staff level and Destin’s work bringing those students in and helping to get them started. It’s been a campus effort, but all those kinds of things that everyone has done… has led to our highest ever graduation rate,” Cavalier said.
Afterwards, Dr. Charley Deal supplied an update on behalf of the College of Business and Global Affairs. He explained the planning for future upgrades to the building for the College of Business and Global Affairs. This included the timeline, estimated cost, floor plan, study rooms, naming opportunities and many more details of the project.
Lastly, Petra McPhearson provided an unaudited overview of the fiscal year 2023, which ends on June 30th every year. Some of the information she covered was over the auxiliary revenue sources, tuition and fees by location, and salaries and benefits. Next, she presented an update on UTM’s capital project, where she spoke on in-design, construction and completed projects around campus.
Chancellor Yancy Freeman then spoke about the improvements that are being demonstrated on campus and how UT Martin will continue to improve. The last UT Martin Advisory Board meeting of the year was then adjourned.
