Sue Culpepper speaks at the opening of the Joseph F. Decosimo Success Center.
After more than eight years of service at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business, Sue Culpepper, Director of the Joseph F. Decosimo Success Center, will retire in mid-October. The college will celebrate Sue’s accomplishments and mark her retirement in some form later in the semester.
Following a successful 30-year career as a financial executive, Sue joined the staff of the Rollins College of Business in 2012 as the Program Director of the Galtere Institute’s Finance for the Future Initiative where she helped students successfully launch careers in finance. As the first director of the Decosimo Success Center, she helped launch and grow the center which provides academic advising, career development and hands-on professional experiences for students in the Rollins College of Business.
“We are so grateful and appreciative of everything Sue has done,” said Robert Dooley, Dean of the Rollins College of Business. “As the founding Director of the Decosimo Student Success Center, she has built and led an excellent team of dedicated professional advisors and professional staff. Their work over the past several years in support of student success has forever transformed the college. Sue leaves a tremendous legacy in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, and she will be greatly missed.”
Sue played a key role in the creation and growth of the Decosimo Success Center, using her professional knowledge and business connections to engage students with the Chattanooga business community, and providing them with the skills and networking opportunities needed for successful careers in business.
“Making the transition from the corporate world to the environment of higher education has been the most amazing journey I could ever imagine,” she said. “Having the privilege of building Robert Dooley’s vision of the Decosimo Success Center was truly such a positive experience and one I will never forget.
“Working with faculty, staff and business partners, our extraordinary team has had tremendous impact on the lives of our students,” she added. “The momentum is set, and I look forward to the further development of student success and the continued growth of the Rollins College of Business.”
Prior to her work at the university, Sue served as the Chattanooga City President and Managing Director of the Wealth Management Group for SunTrust in Chattanooga where she spent 23 of her 30 years in banking.
Kimberly Cooper Thomas, who most recently served as Dean of Students at the University of Nevada, Reno, will be the new Director of the Decosimo Success Center with a limited duration appointment beginning Aug. 14, with Sue supporting the transition process through mid-October.
