Chattanooga, TN (UTC/The Loop) — UTC Provost Phil Oldham will apparently be named the new president of Tennessee Tech.

According to a report published on the Tech website, Oldham is recommended for approval by the Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees.

Here is that release:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 2, 2012) – Philip Oldham is expected to be named the next president to lead Tennessee Technological University pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents on Friday.

The Board will meet via telephone at 10:30 a.m. CDT on Friday, May 4, to consider TBR Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation for Oldham to replace Bob Bell, who will retire from TTU on July 1 after leading the campus for 12 years. Oldham currently serves as provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

“Dr. Oldham will lead TTU with a commitment to academic integrity, student success and public accountability,” said Morgan. “He has outstanding credentials and is well respected among his colleagues and peers nationwide, and I am pleased to recommend him as the next president for Tennessee Tech University.”

Oldham was selected after an extensive nationwide search that began earlier this year.

He has served the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2007 and has had advisory or direct responsibility for almost every area of university operations. His prior experience was at Mississippi State University, where he joined as a faculty member and held various positions, departing as dean of Arts and Sciences before moving to UTC.

At UTC Oldham has served as the chief academic officer with direct responsibility for all academic and research programs at the university as well as the library, admissions, financial aid, records, institutional research and planning, and partnerships and sponsored programs, among other offices. While there he led efforts to improve the university’s first-year retention rates, which jumped 12 percent in two years.

Along with a number of professional awards, publications and presentations, Oldham is the joint owner of two patents for research-related projects. He has also been solely or partially responsible for some $4.2 million in research funding provided by government agencies and private industry.

Oldham holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Freed-Hardeman University and earned the Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Texas A&M University. His full resume is available at http://tinyurl.com/poldham.

TTU, which is governed by the TBR, is located in Cookeville and enrolls almost 12,000 students in more than 60 programs of study, including doctoral degrees in engineering, environmental sciences and exceptional learning. The university is recognized by the state for its unique mission as the state’s only technological university and for outstanding programs in engineering, the sciences, and related areas. TTU also provides strong programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, agriculture and human ecology, nursing, music, art and interdisciplinary studies. Tennessee Tech serves students from throughout the state, nation, and many other countries, but it retains a special commitment to enrich the lives of people and communities in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.

The May 4 meeting is open to the public and the press as listeners. Those wishing dial-in information for the call should contact Monica Greppin-Watts at monica.greppin-watts@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 before 4:30 p.m. May 3. Anyone with a disability who wishes to participate should use the same contact to request services needed to facilitate attendance. Contact may be made in person, by writing, by e-mail, by telephone or otherwise and should be received no later than 4:30 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, May 2.

The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions, including TTU. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 27 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.

Chattanooga, TN (UTC/The Loop) – UTC Safety and Risk Management personnel and a beekeeper are monitoring a swarm of bees located between Davenport and Frist Halls.

Please avoid the area if possible.  This situation has called for cordoning an area around several cars.  If you are the owner of one of these cars, please call UTC Campus Police for assistance at 425-4357.

Update from Chuck Cantrell, University Relations

From Chuck Cantrell, University Relations

The EMCS Building is currently evacuated. A small fire has been extinguished by Chattanooga Fire Department. The building is being ventilated to remove smoke and will reopen soon. Text and email messages will be sent when the building reopens.

Chattanooga, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) — A UTC student apparently vandalized several apartments at the Walker Apartments. The student was injured during the spree and taken to a local hospital. Here is the information released by Chuck Cantrell with University Relations.

The University Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Walker Apartment complex at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Upon arrival, officers encountered an individual who had entered and vandalized several apartments.  The subject had become injured during the vandalism and was taken into custody shortly thereafter and transported to the hospital for treatment. The subject has been identified as a UTC student.

Due to presence of bodily fluids in several rooms and to allow police to conduct the investigation, several floors were closed for cleanup and decontamination. The residence hall is expected to be fully reopened this evening.

A follow-up email will be sent when the residence hall is fully open.

By Gloria DeWeese

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop)  -   As students watch the wacky weather waver from day to day, UTC has a department watching for the newest weather developments and alerts.

K. Tim Pridemore, C.F.P.S., Emergency Management Specialist in Safety and Risk Management Department at UTC, said “We have about ten different ways to get the word out.” In addition to the new alert beacons being installed in every classroom, we are in process of framing maps to show the safest tornado shelters on the campus, Pridemore said. He also said, about 10 or 20 different threat factors are monitored consistently.

“Once the heat index goes above 95 degrees, we start watching it. When it goes above 100 degrees, at that point we will typically, in that area, we will start sending out messages to the campus,” Pridemore said.

“Probably the oddest thing of all the threat factors that we watch, the oddest one right here at spaceweather.com,” Pridemore said. “We actually watch for solar flares, and the reason we do that is because the campuses communications system are so heavily dependent on continuity. The radios are wireless.”

Aside from the storms with our unusually high temperatures, pollen is, ironically, not a concern by the department, Pridemore said. “Hay fever is not contagious. We watch more for different strands of the flu or other diseases,” he said.

Although pollen count is not an issue the department monitors, students affected by seasonal allergies say :

“The worst effect from the temperatures is my sinuses,” Jameese Cox said, Cleveland, junior.

“My allergies are the biggest issue with the weather from pollen,” Ben Cocilo said, Los Angeles, Calif., senior.

“My allergies are killing me,” Caleb Powell said, Chattanooga, sophomore.

“My eyes start watering, my nose starts running. It’s very aggravating when running outside. I just want my legs to run, not my nose,” Jaya Todai said, Houston, TX, freshman.

Pridemore said, “Pollen count poses no significant threat. They (Sinuses) are uncomfortable. They are something to cry about and they, definitely, are something to sneeze at.”

Whether storms, solar flares, or snotty noses, the wacky weather has many effects on students’ campus life. Pridemore and the Department of Safety and Risk Management watch for what weather wonders or threats April brings.

By Cole Mokry

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - Some South Campus apartments will be converted to allow two students in what were previously one-person rooms.

“A portion of the rooms [in South Campus] will now house two students as part of the university’s master plan,” Ryan Hall, area coordinator for Housing, said.

The change is because of the large size of the incoming freshman class, the requirement that all freshmen must live on campus and the growing number of upperclassmen who want to live on campus past their first year.

Several students cited the university’s apartment-style housing as one of the reasons they attend UTC.  Some said they worry the number of applicants to the school will decrease when fewer rooms are available.

Several students said they think there should be a decrease in tuition if they are not able to live on campus. “It only makes sense that if the rooms in which we live become smaller, so should the checks we’re writing to the school,” Lauren Ruth, Kingsport freshman, said.

“If I’m paying the same price to share a room as I was to have my own, why would I come back?” Devon Carter, Memphis sophomore, said.

But Hall said apartment-style living remains a readily available option to students and the university wants to employ “a variety of choices” for housing.

Other students have suggested making on-campus residence an option for freshmen, citing the dozens of nearby apartment complexes, which many upperclassmen currently live in, as credible alternatives. This would create less of a demand for on-campus housing and ease the pressure on the school to create more space for the growing student body, some said.

The South Campus double-bunking situation is just one option the administration is implementing for the school. Other options currently being discussed include renovating current residence halls as is being done in Stagmaier, or building new ones on recently acquired property near the campus.