Flagship Address

2026 Flagship Address

Andie-Marie Jones grew up in Maryville with two dreams: compete as a Lady Vol and become a nuclear engineer.

Luckily, the nation’s best athletics department and its best nuclear engineering department happen to be in the same place, right in her backyard.

Last year, Andie-Marie was captain of the cross-country team.

She interned at Y-12 and TVA, and she earned her degree in May.

Now, she’s finishing her Lady Vol career and pursuing a master’s in business.

When she graduates, she plans to work in nuclear energy — a $60 billion global industry with an epicenter right here in East Tennessee.

Nuclear touches everything from national defense and medical breakthroughs to powering the future of computing.

And nobody is leading in this space like the University of Tennessee.

We are creating opportunities for students.

We are finding solutions for industry.

We are providing value for our state.

Because that is what a great university does.

Over the past 12 months, we have talked a lot — and talked candidly — about what it would take to propel the University of Tennessee to the next level.

And in that time, we have continued to raise the bar as we strive for excellence.

I have seen the ambitions we share reflected in each member of our community, and I’ve seen the impact of our drive to serve others.

Today we launch our historic It Takes a Volunteer fundraising campaign.

This is a campaign inspired by you — Volunteers who have given your talent, your effort, and your compassion to make life better for others.

It is a campaign that values generosity of the purse and generosity of the spirit.

It is an invitation to share your time and your wisdom.

To share your stories. To share how the university has prepared you, shaped you, inspired you. And to help us as we grow our impact on others.

In 2019, I stood in this very spot and told you that we would be an institution of courage.

We would have the courage to care, the courage to think big, and the courage to lead.

We laid the foundation and since then, we have been a university on the rise.

We keep reaching for more — each step more ambitious than the last.

Every success clarifying just how far we can go.

Today, I want to reflect on where that rise has led us.

Just look at what we’ve accomplished in this year alone:

We welcomed our largest student body ever. Again.

70,000 young people across the country applied to be Tennessee Vols, a reflection of our reputation for offering the best student experience, bar none.

When I arrived here, just 54 percent of students graduated in four years. Today, that number is above 71 percent.

This matters because when students graduate faster their degrees cost less and their careers start sooner.

This fall, we nearly doubled our incoming class of honors scholars, recruiting more of Tennessee’s top students to stay in state.

We are proud to be named one of the country’s best undergraduate honors programs.

Since 2020, we have completed more than $1.4 billion in campus construction—with nearly 2 billion more in the pipeline.

Over the next few years, we will open Randy Boyd Hall, the Charles and Julie Wharton Chemistry Building, the new Student Success Center, and 8-6-5 Neyland.

We’ve received three competitive research grants in the last two months from the National Science Foundation.

And we have expanded our research footprint with a record $413 million in expenditures.

Our turfgrass research was on the global stage at FIFA World Cup 26.

The work of our plant sciences faculty appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, the front page of the New York Times, and in media around the world.

This summer, we marked a third straight year of record giving.

More than 70,000 alumni and donors have committed more than $580 million. This includes the largest investment in university history from our campaign co-chairs, Dee and Jimmy Haslam.

Investments like this make it possible for us to support our students and faculty, build our infrastructure, and increase our impact.

This year has been full of milestones and successes.

People see me wearing a Power T in airports and restaurants across the country, and stop to tell me they want their children to go to UT.

Presidents at other universities call to ask, “how are you raising retention rates so quickly?”

Industry leaders want to know how we can work together.

Just last week, the president of Coca-Cola Consolidated met some of our honors students while on campus. He was blown away.

I am filled with pride when others recognize the brilliance of our faculty, the talent of our students, the ingenuity of our staff and administrators.

They recognize the opportunities we are creating.

And they see the difference we are making.

So, what comes next? What does a great university do to realize its full potential?

We continue to turn our momentum into opportunities for others.

Let me give you three recent examples:

We guaranteed admission for eligible Tennessee students and created new pathways for even more in-state applicants.

Most universities don’t make that promise. But for us, it’s worth it to give 95 percent of Tennessee applicants a path to a UT degree.

We invested in online learning, even when some questioned whether it was the right use of our resources or our reputation.

In under two years, we have launched 20 fully-online bachelor’s programs and enrolled over 800 students this fall. That’s 800 adult learners —mostly in Tennessee —who otherwise would not have had the chance to study at the state’s flagship university.

We put a stake in the ground, with the help of state lawmakers, for civil discourse and civics education. We placed the Institute of American Civics in the heart of our academic mission.

We’ve created a campus culture where 91 percent of students say they feel comfortable expressing their views. The national average is 73 percent.

In each of these examples, we led— as Volunteers do —with a bold urgency to make an impact on others.

Dolly Parton—we call her Doctor Dolly Parton—once said: “You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.”

We must be brave enough to try.

Because there’s a whole lot we have yet to do. And there’s a whole lot of people relying on us.

We will deliver our best for Tennessee by leveraging our strengths and staying laser focused on our next level priorities.

• Research that changes lives
• The best athletics department in the country.
• An unparalleled student experience.

Research

In Doctor Niki Labbé’s laboratory, her team of UT researchers are turning perennial grasses into manufacturing materials.

For us and our partners, this 10-year project means up to 160 million dollars in funding from the National Science Foundation.

For farmers in Tennessee and Alabama, growing these grasses on unused land could generate millions in new revenue.

And for industry, it means low-cost materials for more affordable products.

Our goal isn’t just to grow our research funding—it’s to grow our impact.

Our relentless push for excellence is what will help Tennessee become the country’s next thriving hub for innovation and economic development.

This is what a great university does.

Athletics

Seven of our teams finished in the top 10 last year, either in polls or in post-season play.

Three teams finished in the top three.

But I’m most proud of our student athletes’ highest-ever GPA—a record 3.49 last fall.

A few weeks ago, Coach Heupel spent his Sunday evening on a stage in front of more than 9,000 new students.

He was as excited to be there as they were.

He took the mic and told them: “Tomorrow is the first day of classes. This is the start of the most transformative time in your life. Make the most of it.”

Our head football coach, just weeks before the season started, spent his time giving new students a pep-talk.

Our athletics department is winning on the field and leading off the field.

This is what a great university does.

Student Experience

More than 93 percent of last year’s freshmen returned this fall for their sophomore year.

Five years ago, that number was 88 percent.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past six years, it’s that student success is a team sport.

In the week before classes started, hundreds of volunteers showed up to help thousands of students move into their residence halls. They offered golf cart rides, ran elevators, and helped load and unload. Staff from across the university showed up to welcome our students and make them feel at home.

Students who feel like they belong are students who thrive in college.

Students who thrive in college are graduates who succeed in the workforce.

This is what a great university does.

I look around this room and I see people who have poured so much of themselves into this university.

President Randy Boyd, whose leadership is matched only by his generosity.

Mayor Indya Kincannon, who is always open to our ideas and willing to find solutions to our shared challenges.

Donors whose generosity has changed the lives of countless Volunteers. I think of Jim Haslam, whose legacy touches every part of this campus, and who I look forward to seeing later today.

I see:

Partners, who understand what we’re building and want to be part of it.

Alumni leaders, who give back to the university with their time and their talents.

Vice chancellors, deans and department heads who lead every day.

Faculty who push the frontiers of knowledge and deliver instruction that changes lives.

Staff who strive to meet every need.

And our students—who never fail to impress me with their talent and their drive to make a difference.

Last month, a family had just finished moving their son into the residence hall and they were a little emotional.

There are many of us in this room who can remember that exact moment.

Let me read you what the father wrote to us: “While at the Student Union, my wife was upset leaving our first-born and first child in college. While walking away, we met three individuals who work for the University of Tennessee. All three consoled her and reaffirmed that the University of Tennessee will take care of him.”

They left him in the best possible hands . . . because Volunteers take care of one another.

It takes a Volunteer.

That is both the name and the spirit of our campaign.

Our greatness as a university isn’t defined by our own accomplishments. Our greatness is defined by the difference we make for others.

The problems we solve.

The opportunities we create.

The impact we have.

This campaign is our chance to harness that spirit and multiply it.

To be part of something greater than ourselves.

Together we will light the way for our students and everyone whose lives we touch.

It truly does take a Volunteer.