The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Advisory Board met on Friday morning, Nov. 3 to discuss UT’s successes and growth plans.
Chancellor Donde Plowman opened the meeting with a reminder of her recent address, where she outlined a theme for UT: “We choose great.” Plowman used her time to highlight how UT is a university “on the rise.”
The growth in admissions was a focus of the meeting as applications are flooding in for fall 2024. UT’s early action closed Nov. 1, and over 40,000 applications have already been sent in.
In September, UT’s board of trustees approved automatic enrollment for Tennessee students who graduate high school either in the top 10% of their class or with a 4.0 GPA. Over 4,000 students who qualify have already submitted applications. With a goal of enrolling less than 7,000 first-year students, Tom Smith, chairman of Smith/Hallemann Partners, raised concerns about the program not allowing “the full student” to be seen when giving admission based on numbers.
“That we, in our striving to be on the top of the list, that we are careful that we serve all of Tennessee and admit the full student, particularly as it relates to Nashville and middle Tennessee,” Smith said.
Students who do not meet the requirements for guaranteed admission are still able to be admitted based on the holistic admissions process.
Admission accessibility was highlighted as 95.2% of all Tennessee applicants were offered a pathway to attend UT. Some of these pathways were Verto Vols, Rocky Top Transfer and UT Access Collaborative. The maximum household income for UT Promise was raised to $75,000. There was a focus on persistence and retention gains for UT students.
“We share a lot of numbers and stats on what we do, but there’s a student behind each of these numbers,” Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Kari Alldredge said.
UT hit a record number for its positive career outcomes rate. Ninety percent of students were either employed or enrolled in graduate school six months after graduation. While that rate is high, students’ confidence is low, Amber Williams, Vice Provost for Student Success, said.
Vol Edge is a career readiness program that will help students think about their careers and lives post-graduation. The goal is to elevate student confidence and deepen campus engagement.
UT’s research success was also highlighted, as $428 million was awarded to UT in research awards — a historic number for UT. Plowman emphasized the importance of going after big grants that require more teams and more people.
With a high number of students on campus and record retention rates, the physical growth and space issues were brought up. In the last year, two new dorms were approved, and perimeter parking was added to UT. Three new colleges were added to the university.
Plowman shared congratulations on several awards UT earned over the last years, including top producer of Fulbright Scholars and being designated a 2023 Best Place for Working Parents. Plowman acknowledged the relatively new family leave policy.
UT looks forward to national college growth issues, with a decline in male applications and an overall national trend of fewer people attending college. This is one reason UT is targeting students graduating high school. Only 54.3% of Tennessee high school students in the class of 2022 are going straight to college.
The Advisory Board makes recommendations to the Tennessee System president on strategic plans and budgets, and a recording of their full discussion can be found on the chancellor’s website.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated that the minimum household income for UT Promise was raised to $75,000. It was the maximum household income that was raised to $75,000.
