Memorandum

TO: Deans, Directors and Department Heads

FROM: Robert C. Holub

DATE: 9/21/06

In surveying the landscape of research universities in the country, I noted that our peers and the institutions we would like to emulate all have a formal entity entrusted with graduate education. The Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee, by contrast, has only an Office of Graduate Studies and Graduate Student Services.

In order to move us forward in our endeavor to reach the top ranks of research universities, I have therefore decided to reinstitute the Graduate School. The Graduate School will perform many of the same functions that Graduate Studies and Graduate Services currently perform.
But I hope it will also take a more active role in graduate education, in particular in its connection with the research missions of the Knoxville campus.

The campus will be searching for a Dean of the Graduate School this fall. The Dean of the Graduate School will have primary responsibility for maintaining, enhancing, and fostering graduate education on the campus. The incumbent will also work closely with the Vice Chancellor for Research to promote an enhanced research environment on campus. A job description for this position will appear shortly.

I am grateful that Linda Painter has consented to serve as interim Dean of the Graduate School until we find a permanent incumbent for that position.