Strategic Vision: It Takes A Volunteer
Transcript
I want this vision to be transformational because I think we’re in the business of transforming lives. So we need to say how we’re going to do that.
I would like to be transforming how we think about higher education.
It’s an exciting time I think at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as we kind of think about who we’re going to be five years from now. My favorite part of the vision, I think, I think it has to be how bold it is. It’s extremely bold, it’s putting those ideas to action, to support the community, to respond to the needs of our students, to respond to the needs of the state and the global community.
Previous strategic visions really, were, I would say, incremental in their intention. With this vision, we’re really looking at the sort of essence of what we do, and making sure that it’s right for the times that we’re living in.
I think the favorite part of the vision for me is a broader reach. We’re going to engage new learners, we’re gonna impact a different population of learners in the future.
We attract a lot of people from different backgrounds and come to our community, and I interact with them.
And that is the enriching part of it. Because I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not a Superman, I want to learn every day. I want the rest of the world to understand the research and scholarship that our faculty are doing, that really truly makes the world a better place.
So no matter where you live on the planet, I want the University of Tennessee to be known for the kind of outcomes we develop.
As Vols we can take our ideas to new places and and being part of the modern land grant is taking those to our people in our state, and then beyond our state to the world.
It’s very clear that the University of Tennessee aspires as a 21st century land grant to change the lives of people in communities to take the university to the people, rather than sitting back and waiting for others to come to the University.
Every Tennessean regardless of your background, regardless of your identity, regardless of your experiences, you have a place here at the university.
It’s really incredible the expertise, the dedication, the passion that we all bring to this, we can do this.
I each day round the corner, and I see the Torchbearer and I’m reminded of just how unique we are as a campus. And I think we have the talent, we have the infrastructure, we have the resources, and people are looking to us already.
I’ve been here a long time and what has always impressed me is the fact that people here really want to help one another. They really want to make a difference.
It’s a multiplier effect.
You get individual Volunteers, you bring them all together under the umbrella of this Strategic Vision, and together we change the world.