Flagship Address

2024 Flagship Address

Donde Plowman: Thank you, John.

Five months ago I joined a group of visitors in the Student Union, where they had come from around the world to talk about grass. G-R-A-S-S.  

In that room was the chief operating officer of the FIFA World Cup. There were stadium managers, turf experts, and soccer officials from around the globe, and there was Professor John Sorochan. 

John Sorochan is the lead scientist they have trusted to create the perfect pitch for the world’s most watched sporting event.  

Just five years ago, the idea of leading the research to create turf for FIFA was—as Dr. Sorochan put it—a dream, but he had a vision, a team of talented colleagues, and an entire university standing behind him. And look where that dream took him.  

In 2026 the United States, Mexico, and Canada will host the largest World Cup ever: 16 cities across three countries. The turf in each venue must be exactly the same.  

It’s a massive undertaking that’s never been tried before. When FIFA decided to take it on, they called on the best—Dr. Sorochan and his colleagues in the Department of Plant Sciences.  

Isn’t it remarkable what can change in just five years?  

I want each of you to think for a moment about where you were in 2019. What was your department like, your unit, your college? What was your vision? And could you see yourself where you are today?  

I was a brand-new chancellor recently returned to Rocky Top and preparing to give the very first Flagship Address.  

I had spent a couple of months holding office hours and meeting as many of you as I could. And I’m being honest when I say I didn’t know exactly where we were headed as a university, but I challenged all of us to have courage, and together we started building.  

We crafted a bold strategic vision that set the course for our future and a campus master plan that identifies the physical upgrades we need to get there—and there’s a lot of them.  

We established the Division of Student Success. And now everyone on campus has become invested in making sure our students thrive, and we have seen huge gains in student outcomes because of that.  

We launched three new colleges. I’m standing—we’re standing here—I’m standing here, you’re sitting here—in one of them. Three new colleges that will provide the degrees our graduates want and the skills that our state needs.  

We shifted our research strategy to focus less on individual efforts and instead to go after big collaborative projects. Thank you, Deb. I see you back there. Our ambition has fueled more creative solutions and new technologies that will impact the lives of everyday people.  

We stood up the Institute of American Civics to reinforce the fundamental tenets of engaged citizenship, and our students are hungry for it. The new civics courses are overenrolled.  

We have revived our athletic department with principled leadership and a team-first culture that values excellence. And, in case you didn’t hear, we won a national championship in baseball this summer. Way to go, Athletics.  

Y’all, we have been hard at work.  

I appreciate every time you said yes to trying a new idea or learning a new process—and there’s been a lot of them. Even when things didn’t go as expected, you have trusted that we’re all working towards the best possible solutions.  

So let me share just some of the numbers:  

• In the last five years, we’ve improved our retention rate by five points, hitting a record of nearly 92 percent this fall. That’s amazing.  

• We have awarded more than 38,000 degrees.  

• We’ve grown our applications, reaching for this fall’s class almost 60,000 applications.  

• Since 2018 we’ve grown our enrollment by 34 percent.  

• Our instructional spending has increased by 73 percent, our annual fundraising has grown by 90 percent, and this past year all 20 sports—every single sport we have— made it to postseason competition.  

It’s unheard of.  

Our student-athletes are setting new records for GPA and academic success. At the same time, they’re having so much success on the field, on the courts.  

Our research expenditures have hit a record of more than $380 million.  

So we declared ourselves a university on the rise. And I don’t know anyone who could listen to those numbers and argue otherwise.  

In this moment, we’ve garnered the pride of our fellow Tennesseans, the support of leaders across the state, and the attention of our national peers. We have momentum and we have credibility.  

So what are we going to do next?  

In July, Gallup and the Lumina Foundation released a survey, and their findings show that confidence in the system of higher education that we have in this country—it has hit record lows. Two thirds of Americans said higher education is headed in the wrong direction. They have lost trust.  

Yet as I travel the state and beyond, what I find most interesting is the gap between what the public thinks about all universities and what individuals think about their university.  

I see it when I meet fans at tailgates and farmers at field days, when I talk with prospective students at recruiting events or business leaders at industry events, when I see my neighbors as I run around and do errands on the weekends.  

They tell me how much they love the University of Tennessee and how proud they are to be Volunteers.  

People base their opinions of UT not only on the narratives they hear about us but their own experiences with us.  

Tennesseans encounter our graduates in the workforce; they use our Extension resources all over the state.  

Families drop their students off on move-in day. Thank you, Frank, for how well that works.  

They bring their pets to our animal hospital.  

They watch a show at Clarence Brown.  

They tour the UT Gardens, and they visit our campus on game day.  

They are everyday Tennesseans, and they are Volunteers. Their encounters with us build their trust in us.  

Back in the spring, I visited Ohio State University to give a lecture on the future of the modern land-grant.  

I opened my speech with a story that I’m sure everyone in this room has heard me tell before. In fact, when I share this anecdote with new audiences, it’s labeled in my notes as “tell the Morgan County bridge story.” 

But I love this story.  

It’s about our engineering students and their professor, Dayakar Penumadu, who built a composite bridge in a rural community, and how when it was completed, our faculty member and students thanked the residents for trusting them—for trusting them with a bridge that they and their families will use to cross for years to come. And they’ll cross safely.  

It’s that sentiment, one of trust, that I still carry with me from that day in Morgan County.  

For the past three years, I’ve shared this story over and over because of what it says about both the value of our work and our approach to it.  

It’s also part of what makes the land-grant university distinct.  

You know, all universities want to do good.  

We all want our students to succeed and our research to matter.  

All public universities want to provide a public good and a return on the investment taxpayers are making.  

But as someone who spent the first half of my career at a public university and the second half at land-grant universities, there is a difference.  

As a land-grant we have a covenant with Tennesseans, a trust they have placed in us that we are here for them.  

The bond we have with the place we love and the people we serve—it runs deep, and it runs wide.  

It’s also why no one is in a better position than land-grant universities to remind people why higher education still matters.  

Last year at UT we graduated 1,084 engineers, more than any other university in the state.  

And that is not enough.  

In fact, all the engineering graduates across Tennessee’s public and private universities are not enough to fill the state’s projected job openings.  

Tennessee faces shortages across professions, and that’s a challenge we can help solve.  

We are expanding programs and adding new degrees to allow us to graduate more engineers, more nurses, more teachers, more social workers and journalists, more designers and lawyers, more entrepreneurs, veterinarians, and supply chain managers, to mention only a few.  

Together we are boosting the state’s workforce while creating more opportunities for more students.  

The intersection between what is best for our students and our research, how that intersects with what is best for the state—that is where the sweet spot is.  

That’s where we fulfill our land-grant promise.  

It’s the partnerships like the one our faculty have with Cherokee Health Systems right now, implementing long-term solutions that improve the health outcomes in this community.  

It’s the coalition we’ve built across education, industry, government, positioning Tennessee as a destination for not only manufacturing vehicles but also creating the technology behind that.  

It’s programs like the Appalachian Justice Research Center investigating urgent issues among that community, alongside communities with them, and finding evidence-based solutions.  

It’s access to a world-class education for Tennesseans, supporting them through programs like the Flagship Scholarship, which provides free tuition and fees for students who meet our requirements and graduate from those schools.  

It’s initiatives like our collaboration with Arizona State University, sharing courses and building out online degree programs together so we can meet learners where they are.  

It’s our joint venture with Oak Ridge National Lab—we’re calling it UT–ORII—bringing together the brainpower of both institutions to solve some of the most really pressing challenges.  

In April I spent a few days in Nashville co-hosting an economic development summit with the chancellor of Vanderbilt University. We welcomed leaders from industry, government, national labs, academia, and more.  

While sitting on a panel, I was asked about the future of innovation in Tennessee and how we can maximize our potential.  

I immediately thought about the parallels between our state and our campus, both with capabilities, support, and opportunity all stacked in our favor.  

The answer for both Tennessee and its flagship land-grant university is the same.  

It will take courage—the courage to care, the courage to think big, and the courage to lead.  

After all, our fates have always been intertwined.  

When our state is thriving, so is the university, and when the University of Tennessee is at its best, so is our state.  

Last month we celebrated the most recent recipients of the Peyton Manning Scholarship. It is one of the most prestigious academic awards given here.  

All four young scholars are Tennesseans, and all four are remarkable young people with big dreams, fierce ambitions.  

Cade Simmons from Van Buren County said he chose UT over Harvard because of our culture and our commitment to student well-being.  

Nicole Gann, a pre-med biology major from Harriman, said, “Where I am from, few people get opportunities like this.” 

When I think about what it means to be a land-grant university, I think about students like Cade and communities like Harriman.  

I am proud of us for the progress we’ve seen in the last five years, and it is an honor to stand in front of you today and recount the gains that we’ve made together. But the real testament to the work we’ve done is not really the records we’ve set or that we’re breaking.  

It is, and will always be, the people whose lives we are improving.  

It’s the thousands of Volunteers who trust us with their education and, really, with their futures.  

It’s the communities that trust us to send them problem-solvers and leaders.  

It’s the everyday people who trust the solutions developed by our faculty and researchers.  

It’s the millions of Tennesseans whose lives are better in ways big and small because of their state’s flagship land-grant university.  

Five years ago, John Sorochan had an idea. Today it’s a reality because of his hard work, his team, and so many people across the campus, and the university is better because of that dream.  

So now I’m asking you: What is your dream?  

What will we build together?  

How will we continue to be the university that we want and at the same time the university that our communities deserve?  

Every one of us has a role in nurturing the trust in those we serve.  

Every one of us has a responsibility to share this covenant.  

All of us also have something to gain.  

Trust doesn’t just make our work easier; it makes our work more meaningful.  

When people have faith in this university, they have faith in our teaching, in our research, in our community-building.  

When others trust our intentions, they become open to partnership.  

We thrive. Tennessee thrives.  

Five years ago I told you, “Whatever we decide is the best path forward, I know this: The University of Tennessee will be an institution of courage.” 

We have acted boldly, and we have acted with courage, and we’ve seen the difference it can make. But we are not done.  

As Coach Heupel often says, “We’re just getting started.”  

It will take everyone on this campus and across the state to build the future we want. It will take all of us to light the way.  

Thank you.