Chancellor’s Update

You may notice visitors walking around campus next week.  The University’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) on-site review takes place from March 6-9.  The visitors—faculty, staff and administrators from other universities—will meet with UTC personnel to ensure we are meeting SACSCOC compliance standards.

The site visitors will also meet with students, faculty and staff to discuss our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), titled “A Moc’s First Year.”  Just as a reminder: If a reviewer starts a conversation about the QEP, “A Moc’s First Year” is intended to increase the retention and graduation of first-time, full-time freshmen students by building a sense of community in a cohort learning environment.

The Power C Tour will make a stop at Chattanooga State Community College on Tuesday, March 21.  The event will include a dual admission signing agreement and the opportunity for Chatt State students to land scholarships.  Thank you to our Admissions Team and campus partners who have made our Power C Tour a tremendous success.

Also on March 21, we will hold our next Coffee with the Chancellor session, which will take place from 8:15-9:30 a.m. in Room 102 of the Mapp Building.  For those who haven’t been to Coffee with the Chancellor, stop by to chat, grab a cup of coffee, and keep the mug!  The only agenda is a meaningful conversation, so bring ideas, questions and concerns.  Following the event, John Freeze and the Center for Professional Education staff invite everyone to walk through their space in the Mapp Building.  It is a great opportunity to meet some of the outstanding CPE staff.

March is Women’s History Month, and many events are taking place across campus to celebrate the contributions of women to history, culture and society—including panel discussions, workshops and an interactive “March Through History” poster exhibit at Lupton Hall.  Special thanks to the Center for Women and Gender Equity and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program for collaborating with campus partners to create events and programming.

The UTC Theatre Company’s latest production, “Into the Woods,” takes place through Saturday (March 4) in the Fine Arts Center’s Dorothy Hackett Ward Theatre.  The cast includes 18 UTC theatre majors or minors, a music major, one communication major and one theatre faculty member.  Come out and support our students and faculty by attending this award-winning musical.  My family and I were lucky enough to attend opening night and it was incredible!  Congratulations to all the students, faculty and staff who brought this production to life.

A big round of applause goes to Honors College students Jannat Saeed and Emma Sprayberry for earning Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute Fellowships.  Jannat (junior/Brock Scholar/software systems; international studies; political science/Cleveland, TN) will spend her summer at Princeton University. Emma (junior/Innovations in Honors/humanities: international studies; Spanish/Rossville, GA) will be heading to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

For the seventh straight year, the SMILE Fund’s Chartered Financial Analyst Institute team won the Greater Tennessee Research Challenge.  Congratulations to Rollins College of Business students Claire Hoeke (junior/finance/Greeneville, TN), Jacob Barber (senior/finance/Chattanooga), Nick Morris (junior/accounting/Alpharetta, GA) and Grant Fetters (junior/finance and accounting/Mt. Juliet, TN), faculty advisor Hunter Holzhauer and industry mentor Ray Ryan for another outstanding CFA Institute performance!

A big “GO MOCS” to our basketball and wrestling teams as they participate in their respective Southern Conference championships this weekend.  The women’s basketball team enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed and begins play at 3:30 p.m. today (March 2) vs. Furman.  The men’s team opens tournament play Friday night (March 3) vs. VMI.  The wrestling team heads to Boone, N.C., for the SoCon Championships on Saturday (March 4).

The national search for a new Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science has begun.  Information about the process can be found here.  I want to thank the search committee chair, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Pam Riggs-Gelasco, and the dedicated faculty and staff on the search committee.

It is hard to believe that spring break is coming up at the end of next week.  When classes resume Monday, March 20, there will be only five more weeks until Reading Day and final exams.  Don’t forget, just as spring break starts, daylight saving time takes effect at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 12.  Have a wonderful spring break!