Building upon UTC’s success as an engaged metropolitan university, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga aspires to become one of the top five public master’s universities in the South. UTC is currently ranked in the top 20 graduate schools by U.S. News and World Report.
“We’re setting very high, aspirational goals, but we’re committed to doing the hard work to meet them,” Dr. Roger Brown, UTC Chancellor, said.
Changes to campus will include plans for increasing the number of students enrolled in the honors program, faculty compensation, and graduate programs.
“These changes will improve the educational experience of our students and better prepare them for the workforce after graduation,” Dr. Phil Oldham, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, said.
Additionally, Chancellor Brown charged a task force with developing an action plan to assist the university as it aims for a spot in the top five. This plan includes accelerating the university’s strategic progress and building upon the university’s unique identity.
In a timeline presented to the UT Board of Trustees, Brown described benchmarks for progress in a comparison of UTC’s rankings to those ranked in the top 10 and top 5 by U.S. News and World Report.
Among the categories are: instructional expenditures per student; six-year graduation rate; student-to-faculty ratios; alumni giving rate.
Brown said the goal is for UTC reach a top 10 ranking in five years and a top 5 ranking by 2021.
