Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga mourn the passing of Dr. Grady Bogue Wednesday morning. Bogue served as interim chancellor of the UTC campus from September 2012 until July 2013.
“Grady Bogue was an outstanding higher education leader, and this campus and community greatly appreciates his service as Chancellor,” said Dr. Steven Angle, chancellor. “He came to see his time in Chattanooga as the capstone of his long and distinguished career, and we continue to benefit from his wisdom and achievements. We are all saddened by this loss.”
In his short tenure, the University progressed in a number of ways. In fall 2012, UTC was the only public university in Tennessee to record an increase in enrollment.
Bogue persuasively argued in favor of differential tuition for several departments. The new funding increased support for academic advising, student support services, and the acquisition of new faculty in engineering, business, and nursing.
The UTC Achieve Degree program created an online program that allows adults with some college credit, a career, and a busy lifestyle to attain an undergraduate degree online. He also oversaw the approval of a new doctoral program in occupational therapy.
Bogue was a retired University of Tennessee, Knoxville, professor and higher education administrator when he was asked to serve as interim chancellor at UTC.
Bogue retired in July 2012 after serving as professor of educational leadership and policy studies at UT Knoxville since 1991. When Chancellor Roger Brown stepped down as chancellor at UTC in September 2012, UT System President Joe DiPietro appointed Bogue to serve as interim chancellor until a permanent successor was hired. Dr. Steve Angle became chancellor at UTC on July 1, 2013.
“Grady Bogue was a treasured member of the University of Tennessee family,” DiPietro said. “We are deeply indebted for his leadership and service to both the UT Chattanooga and UT Knoxville campuses. He was an excellent teacher; a skilled, compassionate administrator; and a wonderful friend. I will miss him greatly.”
Bogue was a highly-regarded mentor to higher education administrators, and a book he co-authored on higher education leadership, Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It, was published in September 2013 and received national attention.
On October 25, Bogue was presented at his home with a resolution signed by DiPietro and UT Board of Trustees Vice-Chair Brian Ferguson recognizing his service as interim chancellor at UTC and his overall contributions to the University and to higher education.
During his stint as interim chancellor at UTC, Bogue authored a guest column for the Chattanooga Times Free Press in April 2013 following a concert in honor of the retirement of a UTC professor of music. In it, he wrote, “Our public universities are investments in the power of ideas and the intellectual promise of our students, investments in the search for truth and the cultivation of mind. They are instruments of scientific, technical and economic development. Never tell me, however, that public universities are not guardians of human dignity/civility, guarantors of democracy and do not touch heart, soul, and spirit of their students and our communities. This musical evening was full testimony to the public university also as a curator of our artistic and noble impulses.”
Bogue served as chancellor of Louisiana State University in Shreveport from 1980 to 1991. He was interim chancellor for one year at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and he was named chancellor emeritus of LSU Shreveport by the LSU Board of Trustees in 1991.
Prior to his time in Louisiana, Bogue was associate director for academic affairs at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission from 1975 to 1980.
Bogue also held positions at then-Memphis State University, was a civilian instructor and division chairman for the Department of the Navy and served in the U.S. Air Force. He authored or co-authored more than 10 books and numerous journal articles, book chapters and papers on higher education and leadership.
Bogue earned the first doctoral degree granted by the University of Memphis (then Memphis State University), from which he also earned a master’s degree, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He graduated from Millington Central High School in Millington, Tennessee.
He was named a distinguished alumnus of the University of Memphis in 1986 and won the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers in 1980 and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in 1990.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, and five children: Karin, Michele, Barrett, Sara Love and Michael.
