KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Record enrollment and donations near all-time-highs for the University of Tennessee system according to system President Randy Boyd during the 2022 State of the University Address.
“Without a doubt, this is a strong second year to the greatest decade in the history of the University of Tennessee,” Boyd said.
UT leaders covered a wide variety of topics during the university’s yearly progress report ranging from record graduation and enrollment rates to a change in the qualifications for the Tennessee Promise Scholarship.
“Led by a strong increase at UT Knoxville we exceeded our goal of a 2% increase achieving 2.7%,” said Mark La Branche, chancellor of UT Southern. “The result was yet another new record 53,983 students.”
“Graduate student enrollment in UT (Oak Ridge Innovation Institute’s) Ph.D. programs at UT Knoxville is at one hundred fifty-eight, and we are well on our way towards five hundred,” said Donde Plowman, chancellor of UT Knoxville.
As university leaders expect enrollment to keep growing, a $50,000 median household income will no longer be a qualification for the Tennessee Promise scholarship.
“Now because of costs much lower than expected and a strong start on the endowment, the household income threshold has been increased to $60,000 for qualifying students in fall 2022,” La Branche said.
UT Martin Chancellor Keith Carver says the UT Foundation received more than $312 million from donors last year, the second-highest fundraising year in school history.
“The year ended with 66, 672 new donors also the second-largest total in history,” Carver said.
Currently, research is a high priority at UT. School leaders want to make waves in the clean-tech industry.
“Looking ahead, a recent Department of Energy award to the tune of $900,000 will enable the launch of a new clean-tech accelerator program to serve Tennessee companies across the entire state,” Plowman said. “An early-stage business accelerator that will support services to promising clean-tech technology companies hoping to tap Knoxville’s cleantech innovation system.”
University leaders are also hoping to paint “Everywhere you look UT” murals in every Tennessee county by 2030. In 2021, 12 murals were painted and 15 are on the docket this year. UT describes the murals as a way to tell the story of UT’s statewide impact and how its partners are shaping their communities.
