KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman will serve five more years as chancellor at the university. It was announced before she gave her sixth flagship address on Thursday.
UT leaders and staff gathered at Natalie L. Haslam Music Center to hear about the future of the college.
Plowman offered her vision and goals for the 2024-25 academic school year, while also reflecting on the university's success in the past year.
"We have been hard at work," Plowman said. "I appreciate every time that 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 we are all working towards the best possible solutions."
Plowman said UT is a "university on the rise" as they have improved their retention rate by 5 points in the last five years, hitting a record of almost 92% this fall. Not only that, but the college has seen a rise in their applications and enrollment, instructional spending and annual fundraising, as well as all 20 sports made it a post-season competition.
She continued by saying the university has also awarded more than 38,000 degrees.
"In this moment, we have garnered the pride of our fellow Tennesseans, the support of leaders from across the state and the attention of our national peers," she said. "We have momentum and we have credibility."
So what is next for UT?
Plowman talked about UT as a land grant university and how they have a "covenant" with Tennesseans, how Tennesseans have trust in UT that they are there for them.
"The bond we have with the place we love and the people we serve, it runs deep and it runs wide," Plowman said.
She emphasized the importance of higher education and how the university can be the place where students can get their respected degrees. She said UT is expanding its programs and adding new degrees to allow them to graduate more engineers, nurses, teachers, social workers and more.
Plowman then talked about the Flagship Scholarship program, which gives first-year students who graduate from specific schools scholarships that cover their tuition and mandatory fees for up to eight semesters. It is automatically given to students who meet the criteria for the program.
She also mentioned partnerships with other universities and organizations, like Arizona State and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in sharing courses and building out online degree programs so that UT can meet learners where they are.
"When people have faith in this university, they have faith in our teaching, in our research, in our community building," Plowman said. "When others trust our intentions, they become open to partnership. We thrive, Tennessee thrives. We are just getting started."
When asked about parking improvements, Plowman said the university is prioritizing commuters. She mentioned they would need another garage but started a new system until then.