Dr. Roger G. Brown, Chancellor of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2005, has announced his retirement. He serves as the fifteenth head of UTC.
Brown has agreed to remain in place until a new chancellor can be sworn in or until March 31, 2013.
Under Brown’s leadership, UTC enrollment has increased 19.6 percent in six years, surpassing more than 10,000 students in fall 2009. In fall 2011, enrollment increased to 11,438 students.
Brown has also encouraged the growth of UTC as a metropolitan university. In October 2012, UTC will host the Coalition of Urban and Metro Universities 18th national conference in Chattanooga, “Working Together Works: Partnering for Progress.” In 2008, UTC earned the Community Engagement Classification designation from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and in 2009, the campus was named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
In 2011, UTC received the reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
More than $100 million in construction and capital improvements have occurred on the UTC campus since Brown became Chancellor. A magnificent new library is the centerpiece. The $48 million academic hub of the campus is being built at the corner of Vine and Douglas Streets and is scheduled for completion in 2013.
During Brown’s tenure, the University’s external grant funding has increased, climbing to $12.2 million in fiscal year 2011.
UTC has completed a strategic planning initiative to focus campus efforts on the power of partnerships, especially relationships within the learning laboratory of Chattanooga.
“There is still much to be done this year. All indications point to another record enrollment this fall. New academic programs have launched and others are in the works. I pledge to do everything in my power to keep the Chattanooga spirit of achievement strong as I prepare to relinquish the reins to a new leader in the spring,” Brown said.
Brown came to Chattanooga from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he served as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs since 2000. Previously, he had served since 1991 in various academic and administrative capacities with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Brown left UNC Charlotte in 2000 as Senior Associate Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
A political scientist with particular academic emphasis in American government, Brown earned the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Political Science from the University of Tennessee and the Ph.D. in Political Science from The Johns Hopkins University. He began his teaching career at Iowa State University in 1983 before joining the UNC Charlotte faculty in 1985.
Brown has served as a member of Rotary International. He was named to the United Way of Greater Chattanooga Board of Directors, the RiverCity Company Board, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is a commissioner of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and has been appointed to the Southeast Tennessee PreK-16 Education Council.
Brown’s wife and partner, Dr. Carolyn Thompson, died earlier this year following a long battle with myelofibrosis, a cancer of the bone marrow.
