Board of Trustees hears plans for new academic programs as new semester begins

LAUREN WARD Contributor

On Friday, the Board of Trustees Executive Committee held a virtual meeting to discuss updates from UT System President Randy Boyd, letters of notification approval for new academic programs across the system and the future for students applying to UT in fall 2023.

Boyd opened the meeting with a recap of last year’s fundraising and enrollment numbers and records that UT accomplished. He covered events such as expanded access to dental care in rural communities through Healthy Smiles Initiative with over $50 million in state funding, record student enrollment and the second-highest fundraising year in UT history at $248.8 million.

Chancellor Donde Plowman described the over 48,000 first-year applicants for the fall 2023 semester at UT Knoxville as a “great problem to have” and discussed the university’s plan for new student enrollment for the fall of 2023, when the freshman class will be smaller and more competitive than the class before it.

“We took a playbook from the University of Georgia, to be completely honest, and we put up a very detailed web page,” Plowman said.

“And students know how many applications, how many we’re taking, they know what being ‘deferred’ means and what other options there are for them. So honestly, we have had a very smooth roll out of that set of decisions.”

Plowman said she wanted to make sure students were aware of the application process and what every part of it entails.

The university admitted the first round of students in December and the second round of admissions decisions will be released Feb. 15. Plowman said after the next round of admissions, the university will be able to share at the board’s winter meeting on Feb. 23 and 24 in Chattanooga about a developing program that will connect UT’s campuses, including UT Martin, UT Southern and UT Chattanooga.

Students with certain scores and GPAs who are deferred or not accepted to UT Knoxville will have the chance to follow online guidelines that will help them receive an admissions letter from another UT campus.

“It’s kind of a pilot, and we’ll see how that works,” Plowman said.

The program gives students better access to future opportunities, and supporters say it will potentially open up options being offered at other UT campuses.

“If a student wants to start with [UTC] and transfer to figure out where they want to be, we can do that too,” Steve Angle, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said.

Angle mentioned that UTC has been putting more effort into their marketing this year, and that “things look very good for enrollment this fall.”

“It is a very student-centered approach, in terms of what’s going to make the experience have the best use of what their post-secondary experience will be,” Jamie Woodsen, former Tennessee State Senator and Board of Trustees member, said.

Linda C. Martin, vice president of academic affairs and interim chancellor of UT Southern, presented on several letters of notification (LONs) — proposals to create a new academic program or major — and the update in the system’s process of approval.

The three LONs currently awaiting approval are for a masters of management at UTC, a bachelor’s of science and environmental engineering at UTK and a doctorate in agricultural leadership for the UT Institute of Agriculture.

Martin said the process can take anywhere from 12 to 34 months, and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) makes the final approval.

“A lot goes into these approvals before the board ever gets them for final approval to go to THEC,” Martin said.