Flagship Address

2025 Flagship Address

Imagine a university where everyone wants to be, located in a city where everyone wants to live.

A university so committed to service that a third of its students volunteer every year. A community where 95 percent of students feel like they belong and 91 percent say they feel comfortable speaking their minds.

Where 92 percent of law students pass the bar, 96 percent of vet students pass their boards, and 97 percent of nursing students pass their licensing exam. A university in the top 10 for humanities fellowships and top five for citations in leading engineering journals.

A university where 100,000 people pour in from all corners of the state throughout the fall to cheer on their team.

OK, I think that one gave it away—Danny, that was for you.

We are that university.

It’s hard to believe that an institution like that could exist in a time like this. Every day we hear from colleagues, we read news stories about universities suffering from dwindling enrollments, from budget cuts and hiring freezes.

But here at Tennessee, we find ourselves in a different place.

Our student body is larger than ever. Our finances are sturdy. Our partnerships are strong, and they’re growing. Our research and academic strengths align with the needs of our country and the priorities of our state.

In just the last month:

• We dedicated the UT Medical Nursing Building and celebrated the gift that gave the building a name.
• We broke ground on the new Charles and Julie Wharton Chemistry Building. Charles, thank you, thank you, thank you.
• We celebrated the naming of the Winston College of Law.
• And we opened the Center for Precision Health.

We set record retention and graduation rates for five straight years.

We have the No. 1 polymer science program, the No. 3 nuclear engineering program, and the No. 3 supply chain program.

We’re a top producer of Fulbright scholars—again—and a destination for students all over the country who want an unrivaled college experience.

We have the kind of upward trajectory that other universities dream about.

But we’re not done. As they say, we didn’t come this far to just come this far. We are making bold moves and we’re taking big swings—we are investing in new hires, new buildings, and new initiatives.

We are taking the University of Tennessee to the next level.

Higher ed is, no doubt, facing significant headwinds. There are pressures and uncertainty everywhere. But we will not let fear get in our way. 

We are uniquely positioned to seize this moment—to use it to push ourselves forward and to forge a new path.

Decades from now, when others write the story of how universities regained their prominence in our society—educating even more students, creating even more jobs, solving even more problems—they will point to the University of Tennessee. They will say it was institutions like ours that were bold and creative, that pursued excellence in the face of obstacles and never lost sight of who we served.

We’ve been here before, doing hard things in chaotic times.

We stood up the Division of Student Success in January 2020. Think about that date. Ten weeks later, the world shut down.

The launch of our Vol Success Teams —which is now our signature student success initiative—it hung in the balance. It seemed impossible to accomplish such a massive task under such unprecedented circumstances. But the team dug in.

Our students, especially those students starting college for the first time in the fall of 2020, needed their support more than ever. And what did we do?

Staff members across the university called every single student that summer. Thirty thousand students—that was our enrollment back then. Think about that: Every single student got a phone call to check in, offer support, and encourage them to stay on track.

Today Volunteers thrive because of that kind of personalized support and unrivaled opportunities. We offer an unparalleled student experience that sets us apart every year, and we get better and better and better.

Last year, 22,000 unique students took in a game at Neyland Stadium. More than 10,000 played club sports or intramurals. Eleven thousand participated in service opportunities, and 13,000 took part in student life programming.

Our Greek life community is larger than it ever has been. The attendance at marquee events like Torch Night and Tennessee Saturday Night—it’s a crazy night over in the union with thousands of students—it grows year over year, every one of those.

We all know this, but I want to say it again: Students are more likely to persist in their education if they feel like they belong. We want every Volunteer to feel like they belong here.

All these efforts to grow engagement and connection are why our retention rates have hit another record: 92.4 percent. I’m really proud of that number, 92.4 percent.

It’s why our graduation rates also keep climbing. It’s why we’re known across the country as an innovator in student success and across the state as a producer of Tennessee’s future leaders. Parents send their students here because they trust us to care for their entire well-being.

Of all the resources and assets that we have built over the years, none is more valuable than the trust of those we serve.

Say “University of Tennessee” anywhere in this state, and people line up—Tennesseans will line up to tell you about the difference this university has made in their lives.

Our alumni teach children in 93 counties across the state. They engineer the infrastructure that we use every day. They care for our sick loved ones. They run the businesses we rely on, and they grow the food we eat.

Tennesseans use technology created in our laboratories and they benefit from solutions developed by our faculty. And yes, they wear their orange to Neyland Stadium and everywhere else that we’re competing in other places beyond that.

The trust Tennesseans have in us is born of our commitment to live out our mission as the state’s flagship land-grant university. Here are just a few examples:

• The Institute of American Civics, created through bipartisan legislation and guided by a bipartisan Board of Fellows, brings credibility to the work of restoring civility at a time when our country needs it the most.
• The College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies, working alongside 350 industry partners and faculty from across the university, is quickly creating academic programs that prepare students for the careers they want and the jobs our economy needs.
• The Tennessee Reading Research Center partners with the state to evaluate literacy initiatives in classrooms.

Every day we do work that meets the needs of our state and builds the confidence Tennesseans have in us.

We have set our sights on taking the University of Tennessee to the next level—building an even stronger reputation, a larger research footprint, and a bigger economic impact. We want to produce more graduates and provide greater value for our state.

Now is the time to take the goodwill and the trust we have earned, couple it with our expertise and creativity, and do something special.

We will reach the next level by building on three core strengths: an unparalleled student experience, research that makes life and lives better, and the nation’s top athletics department.

Last year, two of the most high-profile people at this university—our head football coach and our legendary basketball coach—traveled more than 900 miles to Omaha during their own off-season. They were there to support their fellow coach when our baseball team won the program’s first national title.

When Coach Weekly and her Lady Vols team returned home from the Women’s College World Series, who was there to cheer them? Coach Vitello.

Student-athletes, coaches, and staff across all 20 teams—they show up for one another.

It’s the culture we’re building over there. Our integrity and team-first culture have paid off in the classroom and on the field.

Every decision that Danny and his team are making in the athletics department puts student-athletes at the center—puts them first. Our athletics department is one of the most imaginative, principled, and competitive departments in the country, and that will help us reach the next level.

In the middle of the 20th century, more than a decade after World War II, the University of Tennessee created the first nuclear engineering department in the country. Today there are nearly three dozen nuclear engineering departments at American universities, but none are advancing the nuclear renaissance like ours.

Our faculty are at the very forefront of a field that touches almost every aspect of our lives. The nation critically needs more energy to power rapidly advancing quantum computing and AI technology. We need advances in nuclear medicine to fight diseases like cancer, which kills Tennesseans at a rate higher than almost any other state in the country. 

We have spent decades building our expertise and demonstrating our capabilities, developing trust and relationships with Oak Ridge National Lab, Y-12, TVA, and dozens of private companies in this industry. Governor Bill Lee has made leading the nation’s nuclear energy sector a priority, and we are heeding that call.

The same faculty who are leading national conversations on the future of nuclear energy have also created curriculum in nuclear energy for K–2 students. Think about that: kindergarten through second grade.

This is what it means to be a land-grant university.

We have the same opportunities in other fields: precision agriculture, precision health, cybersecurity, social work, data science, design, and others.

At a time when other institutions are cutting back, we plan to recruit high-profile faculty whose scholarship complements the preeminent scholars already on our campus. We are doubling down on place-based innovation, growing our existing research hubs in the Oak Ridge Corridor and Peninsula District, which includes Cherokee Farm.

And we are planning a new district. The Maplehurst Innovation District, with its focus on AI and technology, will create an even stronger connection between our university and the city of Knoxville. And Mayor, thank you for working with us on this initiative.

Investments in expert faculty, collaborative partnerships, and cutting-edge facilities will springboard us to the next level.

We will continue to invest in the student experience, prioritizing the support and opportunities that come with being a Volunteer.

We are building a $100 million student success building, which will be a central hub for all the academic resources Vols need. In the spring, we launched Vol Edge, a career-readiness initiative that ensures undergraduate students in every major are workforce-ready.

We plan to increase the number of graduate students, and we have ambitious goals to enroll thousands more online students in the next five years.

Students want to be a part of this university because they trust that this is a community where they can be themselves and pursue their dreams. Ninety-one percent of UT students said they feel comfortable expressing their opinions freely on this campus. This is well above the national average, which is 73 percent. We should be proud of that.

We should all be proud of this vibrant community that we have fostered, where we look out for one another and celebrate our successes together. A community where we treat one another with the dignity and civility that have always been essential to being a Volunteer.

Every pride point I have listed in this speech, every anecdote I share with our alumni and friends, every recognition we receive is all because of the people in this room and across our university.

It is you, our faculty and staff, who have built thriving academic departments. It’s you who have honed your expertise and delivered groundbreaking research. It is you who have created resources and opportunities for our students.

And it is you, and the trust we have built together, that will propel our university to the next level.

Late last month, on the third floor of the Student Union, academic deans and members of the cabinet spent six hours pitching ideas on how to reach the next level. Every idea was exciting, and each became the foundation for even greater opportunities.

But getting to the next level will take more than deans and vice chancellors dreaming big. It will take every single person in every single unit.

I’m asking you to pursue excellence in everything you do. I’m asking you to pursue big, ambitious goals at a time when others are taking a more defensive posture. Let’s not shrink ourselves and hope that we can move through the next few years undetected and unchanged by the rapidly evolving world around us.

The window for us to seize this opportunity is narrow, and we don’t have the luxury of taking years to plan our next steps. We must move now. We either forge ahead or we will fall behind.

Every time I walk through Neyland Stadium, or visit a community group, or even just go to the grocery store, someone inevitably stops me to say thank you—thank you for making the University of Tennessee a place I can be proud of.

I shake their hands and tell them how much I appreciate their support. But the truth is, their appreciation isn’t for me. It’s for all of you. It’s for the work you have done. The momentum you have built. The wins you have earned.

And our alumni and friends—they are behind us. The leaders of our state back us. The people of Tennessee believe in us.

We will not squander this trust or the momentum we’ve built.

Now is the time to lean into this new era of ambition. To think creatively and act boldly. To pursue excellence in everything. Because we know excellence creates opportunity—for our students, our state, and everyone we serve.

This is our time, and we are ready. Together we will show the world why it needs more Volunteers.

Thank you.