Last month on a stage in Philadelphia, I had the honor of accepting an award recognizing the impact of our work on innovation and economic development. It wasn’t the only category where UT was being recognized. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities also named the university as a finalist in top awards for student success and community-engaged scholarship.
Over the past six years our retention, persistence, and graduation rates have reached record levels. Students from across the country want to learn here because they know they will be part of a community that cares deeply about their success and provides the tools they need to thrive.
Six years ago, when I returned to UT as chancellor one of our top priorities was to improve our student retention and I knew just the person to get us there: Dr. Amber Williams.
We are proud to host Volkswagen’s first university-based innovation hub outside of their own property—a distinction that reflects the depth of trust and shared ambition between our institutions. What started as a bold idea has become a shining example of what’s possible when public institutions and private industry unite around a shared vision.
There are nearly one million Tennesseans with some college credit but no degree. We want to change that.
By leveraging Arizona State’s expertise and success in building digital learning infrastructure, we’re able to quickly scale up our academic programs and provide more options for more students.
UT Knoxville has one of the best nuclear engineering programs in the country and some of the world’s top experts in the field. This confluence of partnership and resources is why no region is better positioned to be a national leader in nuclear innovation than East Tennessee—and why no institution is better prepared to help lead us there than UT.
Great people make great universities—people who think creatively and act boldly, who work across industries and disciplines to find solutions, who listen to the needs of their community and respond with courage and compassion.
The Division of Student Life focuses on cultivating a sense of belonging for every Vol.
Industry leaders and government agencies are turning to UT for our expertise and capability to tackle complicated problems with real-world implications. From advanced materials and manufacturing to artificial intelligence, quantum materials to precision agriculture, the work happening across our research enterprise is making life and lives better in Tennessee and beyond.
Agriculture is, and always has been, a vital industry for our state—it is both our heritage and our future.
