It is hard to believe it is already April and the semester is coming to a close – Commencement is May 2nd.
On Friday, March 25th, Cleveland State Community College President, Bill Seymour, and I signed an agreement between our two institutions that allows for concurrent admission of students to both Cleveland State and UTC. This agreement is just part of UTC’s effort to ensure that we support community college students who want to transfer to UTC. Dual admission agreements like this will help students take advantage of the Tennessee Promise and get on track for a four-year degree.
Last week you received an email from me via UTCINFO inviting you to participate in River City Company’s Clean & Green program. The Clean & Green event will take place on April 25th starting at 8 a.m. Participants will work on various cleanup and improvement projects throughout downtown Chattanooga for several hours that morning and early afternoon. Please sign up to volunteer at www.cleanandgreenchattanooga.com and make sure that you indicate that you are signing up as a UTC representative and as part of the UTC team. Thank you for participating and I hope to see you there! If you have any questions about this program, please contact Laura Cagle at laura-cagle@utc.edu.
Thank you to those of you who attended the Budget Town Hall Meeting on Friday, March 20th. Several important issues were raised and I am already seeking answers and clarification from UPRAC. There were several questions that involved programs in the College of Arts and Science and in an effort to address those, Susan Davidson (Faculty Senate President) and I attended a meeting with members of the Executive Team and the CAS department heads. We identified issues of concern to the group and then discussed each item raised. Over the next 10 days, I will continue to ask questions, have informal discussions, and gather information. Final decisions will be made by April 13th. I appreciate your patience during this process.
Our new Strategic Plan was presented to Dr. Joe DiPietro, president of The University of Tennessee System on Thursday, March 26th. Dr. DiPietro agreed with our strategic priorities and gave his OK for the plan to be presented to the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees at its June meeting. Thank you to everyone who participated and a big thank you to Provost Jerald Ainsworth and Mr. Tom Griscom for leading the process, and to Stephanie Rowland for providing administrative and writing support.
Last week, I had lunch with members of the UTC Student Veterans Organization at Crossroads. We had an open discussion about the unique issues of student veterans and how UTC can do a better job to serve them. We are fortunate to have such a fine group of veterans at UTC.
UTC’s annual Blue Ribbon Luncheon took place this past Friday, March 27th. Twelve staff members were honored for serving our campus with special distinction. This year’s winners were Valara Sample, Chris Charland, Scott Newby, Douglas Burkhart, Rebecca Dragoo, Ceasar Wood, Melissa Cate, Bill Beauregard, Kathleen Metcalf, Lee Pierce, Joanna Stephanos and Flocerfina De Guzman. There were many heartwarming stories of the impact that each of these individuals has made on the lives of our students. It made me so proud to be a part of this great university. Congratulations to our award winners and thank you all for your hard work and dedication to UTC! Together, we are UTC.