Committee Named to Review Cluster Hire Proposals

Announcements cluster hires

With 18 proposals in hand for two open-topic research clusters, a multidisciplinary committee of faculty has been appointed to begin the process of choosing which to pursue.

The committee’s scores and rankings, along with input from the deans, associate deans for research, and department heads, will be shared with the provost, vice chancellor for research, and chancellor. The chancellor will make the final selection. That decision is expected by May 15.

Following are the review committee members:

Haslam College of Business: Charlie Noble, Jerry and Kay Henry Professor and associate dean for faculty and research
College of Social Work: Mary Held, assistant professor (Nashville)
College of Nursing: Lora Beebe, professor
UT Institute of Agriculture: Gary Bates, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and director of the UT Beef and Forage Center
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences: Melinda Gibbons, professor of educational psychology and counseling
College of Architecture and Design: Katherine Ambroziak, associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs and research
Tickle College of Engineering: Lynne Parker, professor and associate dean
UT Libraries: Holly Mercer, professor and associate dean for research, collections, and scholarly communication
College of Law: Teri Baxter, professor and associate dean for faculty development
College of Communication and Information: Beth Avery Foster, associate professor of advertising and public relations
College of Arts and Sciences: Bin Zhao, professor of chemistry

See more information about the 18 proposals being considered.

Cluster Hire Proposals Received

Announcements cluster hires, grand challenge initiatives

I’m pleased to tell you that we have received 18 proposals for our two open topic research clusters.

The proposals came from faculty in six different colleges, but almost every college is represented in some way. The proposals outline ideas for several new campus institutes, as well as new partnerships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, UT Medical Center, and community organizations.

These proposals will be reviewed and ranked by a multidisciplinary committee of faculty; the committee’s scores and rankings, along with the input from the deans, associate deans for research, and department heads, will be shared with the provost, vice chancellor for research, and chancellor, who will make the final selection. The decision is expected by May 15.

The following list includes the title of each proposal, a brief description, and the faculty member who submitted it if you want to offer your expertise.

Download the Proposal List Excel spreadsheet

Quantum Materials for Future Technologies

Cristian Batista
Professor of Physics and Willis Lincoln Chair of Excellence
College of Arts and Sciences
Physics

We propose a cluster hire focused on producing Quantum Materials for Future Technologies (QMFT). The cluster will synergize with the high-performance computing large-scale experimental facilities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A main goal of this cluster hiring will be to bridge the gaps between crucial areas for the future development of quantum technologies including quantum materials engineering, condensed matter physics, computer science and quantum information

Ending Poverty in Our Own Backyard: Central and Southern Appalachia

Jeff Cochran
Department Head for Educational Psychology and Counseling
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Educational Psychology & Counseling

We will research causes, effects and interventions to break the cycle of poverty in our surrounding regions of central and southern Appalachia. From our regional successes, we will evidence solutions to the challenge of poverty faced by all 21st century global societies. Our approach will be to collaborate with community organizations in order to ground our research in our home regions and to ensure co-ownership of the solutions that we generate and outcomes that we evidence.

UTK Institute for Crime, Law and Justice

Wendy Bach
Associate Professor
College of Law
Law

We propose a cluster-hire, bringing together researchers from Law, Business, and Sociology, as well as other departments, to focus on substantially reconfiguring the purpose, scope and size of the criminal justice system. We propose the creation of the UTK Crime, Law and Justice Institute –the purpose of which would be to generate and disseminate research-based interventions in criminal justice and related policy areas.

Harnessing Big Data for Connected Intelligent Transportation Systems to Enhance Economic Competitiveness

Asad Khattak
Beaman Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

The potential to improve transportation system efficiency and safety is enormous. This cluster will address the challenges of providing connectivity and automation in monitoring and controlling the production and delivery of products and services. The team will harness big data coupled with Artificial Intelligence techniques to foster the development of connected and automated transportation systems, to enhance economic competitiveness by conducting fundamental and applied data science research.

Local Solutions to Global Environmental Change

Paul Armsworth
Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

This Cluster examines the Grand Challenge: in a time of global change, how can we improve people’s well-being by improving their environment, while also reducing social inequities and promoting economic growth? As global changes impact the Southeastern U.S., we need integrated solutions that work for people and nature. This exceptionally interdisciplinary Cluster, housed in the Baker Center, focuses on the design and evaluation of locally grounded solutions to global change.

Integrated Systems for Healthy Communities

Chris Cox
Professor and Head
College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

This cluster seeks to address the grand challenge of achieving better performance outcomes (e.g., economic, social, health, sustainability, resilience) in communities in a holistic manner through systems thinking. Our systems approach will leverage emerging capabilities in sensors, data analytics and system dynamic modeling. The systems approach facilitates integration of disciplinary perspectives and convergent collaboration, thereby enhancing communities in the state and across the globe.

Cluster Hire in Biomembranes: Structure, Dynamics and Biogenesis

Todd Reynolds
Associate Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Microbiology

Biological membranes impact everything from energy production to drug delivery, and are fundamental to understanding biological complexity. At UTK > 20 faculty are working in this field, but we can make great progress if we bring them together to strategically address how biomembranes are assembled, maintained, and function. A Cluster Hire in Biomembranes will catalyze this by increasing our capabilities and funding, organizing our efforts, and will make us international leaders in this area.

Meeting Public Policy Grand Challenges through an Intercollegiate School of Public Policy Analytics

Matthew Murray
Director, Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy
College of Business Administration
Economics

We propose a cluster of computational social scientists who will leverage big data to support evidenced-based policymaking in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Since facilitating transdisciplinary research is difficult, we propose an intercollegiate school of public policy analytics as opposed to a loose affiliation of faculty sprinkled across the University. The school will be built around two successful research centers, the Baker Center and Boyd Center and four departments.

Data Powered Health Innovation

Tami Wyatt
Professor, Associate Dean of Research
College of Nursing
Administration – College of Nursing

The “Data Powered Health Innovation”proposal addresses the 21st century Cures Act challenges. It builds on current research collaborations in the Colleges of Nursing, Engineering and Arts & Sciences by adding the Colleges of Communication and Information, Law, and Haslam College of Business to form a robust foundation for health innovation, discovery, and technology transfer. This approach to entrepreneurship toward prototype funding is necessary to receive competitive extramural funding.

Empower Tennessee to Learn

Barbara Murphy
Associate Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
School of Music

The focus of our Cluster Hire, Empower Tennessee to Learn, is increasing the accessibility and affordability of higher education for Tennessee citizens by creating high quality Open Educational Resources (OER) to be used in any form of course delivery. We want to create the Empower Institute, a group that will assist faculty in creating OER, conduct empirical research on the effect OER has on the cost and accessibility of education, and provide experiential learning opportunities for students.

Healthy Brain::Healthy Life

Rebecca Prosser
Professor and NeuroNET Research Center Director
College of Arts and Sciences
Biochemistry, Cellular & Molecular Biology

Our grand challenge is to: “Promote life-long brain, cognitive, and emotional health across society”, or “Healthy Brain::Healthy Life”. The first step to address this challenge is to expand multidisciplinary research focused on degenerative brain disorders. It includes new faculty within multiple colleges collaborating across cell/molecular, bioengineering, cognitive, clinical, social and data analytic approaches, and is coordinated with the clinical-research efforts on brain disorders at UTMC.

Addressing the Grand Challenge of Educational Inequities: Strengthening the Educational Pipeline

Sherry Bell
Department Head, Acting Dean
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Theory & Practice in Teacher Education

This proposal will create a transdisciplinary team to address the massive adaptive and integrative challenges that face education from preschool through postsecondary. The cluster faculty will conduct research, provide technical assistance, engage stakeholders, and instruct university students in ways that enhance and advance both theory and practice throughout the educational pipeline, toward the ultimate goal of increasing equity, opportunity, and academic success in all phases of schooling.

Smart Manufacturing Institute

Mingzhou Jin
Professor and Associate Department Head
College of Engineering
Academic & Student Affairs

Smart manufacturing is the new paradigm for integration of advanced information and manufacturing technologies leading to agile and flexible ecosystems to address dynamic local and global markets and societal drivers. Progress made in the science and technology of materials and manufacturing at UTK has led to the necessity of integrating all efforts into one umbrella through data science and systems engineering to address grand challenges of economic development and environmental sustainability.

Soft Materials Research in Tennessee

Mark Dadmun
Paul and Wilma Ziegler Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Chemistry

Soft materials are crucial for current and emerging technologies, where there exists significant expertise in the study of soft matter at UTK, offering a strong foundation from which to build a nationally and internationally recognized program. We therefore propose a cluster hire in the area of soft materials to build this community and expand the synergy that presently exists among this group and among their international collaborators.

Interactions of Food, Water, and Energy Systems

Thanos Papanicolaou
Professor and Henry Goodrich Chair of Excellence
College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

A UT FEWS cluster can lead the region and the nation in evaluating how the proliferation of mixed urban-agro-ecosystems can transform the nexus of crop production, energy costs, and water availability. The primary goal of this cluster will be to advance understanding and technology of FEWS in the region by transforming the individual components into an integrated natural-human system for examining inherent interactions, feedbacks, and processes to elucidate factors influencing resilience.

Solutions to Substance Abuse through Primary Prevention and Early Intervention in Adolescents

Paul Erwin
Professor and Head
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Public Health

This Cluster Hire will form the UT Center for Adolescent Health (CAH), within the Dept. of Public Health (CEHHS), with involvement from the Dept. of Nutrition (CEHHS), Colleges of Social Work and Nursing, an evaluation unit in NIMBioS, and UT Extension. The initial focus of the CAH will be on the Grand Challenge of substance abuse prevention, specifically in the prevention of opioid addiction, along with establishing a new undergraduate major in public health.

Center of Food and Activity for Healthy Communities

Hollie Raynor
Professor, Interim Assistant Dean of Research
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
Nutrition

Establish the Center of Food and Activity for Healthy Communities, housed within CEHHS, engaging 3 departments in CEHHS, Nutrition; Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sports Studies; and Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management; College of Arts & Sciences (Geography); Haslam College of Business (Economics); and National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research (NISER). The Grand Challenge addressed is modifying lifestyle culture around diet and physical activity to reduce health disparities.

The Computational Living Cell

Jeremy Smith
Governor’s Chair
College of Arts and Sciences
Biochemistry, Cellular & Molecular Biology

The hires will bring to bear the massively-parallel supercomputing, simulation, modeling and data analytics capabilities at UTK and ORNL to create the world’s most powerful computational system for modeling the living cell, in exquisite detail and with unprecedented predictive power. Specific applications will provide new therapies for pancreatic cancer and antibiotics.

Mark Your Calendar!

Newsletter priorities, Priorities Spring 2018, upcoming events

Here’s a list of spring semester opportunities to celebrate, network, and learn.

Faculty Appreciation Week Is February 12–16

Our annual celebration of faculty is scheduled for February 12–16.

Watch Tennessee Today for special events, discounts, and stories about faculty from each college. At least two events require an RSVP.

Forum on the Rock and Free Speech Set for February 26

The Student Government Association is planning a panel discussion about the Rock, tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, February 26.

The panel, which is still being assembled, will discuss issues surrounding the Rock, including free speech and hate speech.

Faculty Pubs

Faculty are invited to network with colleagues at three remaining Faculty Pub events scheduled this semester.

Pubs will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Lauricella Center of Neyland Stadium on Thursday, February 15; Thursday, March 29; and Wednesday, April 25.

Each pub will feature free appetizers and a cash-only bar.

For easiest access, enter the stadium at Gate 21A. Limited parking will be available for vehicles with a UT parking tag in Lot 9 on Phillip Fulmer Way beginning at 5 p.m.

All faculty, including tenure-track, non-tenure-track, and retired, are invited to attend the pubs.

Coffee and Conversation

All faculty are invited to join Interim Provost John Zomchick and the vice provosts for coffee and conversation about timely matters and issues of concern.

The get-togethers will be held in the Mary Greer Room, Room 258 of Hodges Library (located across from the circulation desk near Starbucks). They will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. on Tuesday, February 6, and Friday, March 2, and from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 9.

Coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

Mic/Nite

UT faculty members will share their knowledge on a wide range of subjects at this spring’s Mic/Nite on Thursday, March 8, at the Relix Variety Theatre, 1208 North Central Avenue. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. with free pizza and a cash bar, and presentations begin at 6:30 p.m.

Mic/Nite is a Powered by PechaKucha social gathering designed to enhance the intellectual, interdisciplinary, and cultural life of UT faculty and staff. PechaKucha is a fast-paced lecture format that originated in Tokyo. Since 2003, it has spread to more than 400 cities around the world.

The event is free and open to faculty and staff and their spouses or partners. RSVP here.

Spring 2018 News Roundup

Newsletter humanities center, open educational resources, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018, teaching and learning innovation, writeNOW

Teaching and Learning Innovation Merges Offices

Starting this semester, Teaching and Learning Innovation, a unit within the Division of Academic Affairs, officially merges four offices—Experience Learning, the Teaching and Learning Center, the Office of Service-Learning, and the Office of Online Programs.

The merger brings all these efforts under one umbrella to provide more services, programs, and partnerships to better support UT faculty in enriching student learning experiences.

“It allows us to break down some of the silos; it’s more about what we do and less about organizational charts,” said Matthew Theriot, interim vice provost for faculty affairs and associate provost for teaching and learning innovation, who will oversee the unit. “The goal is to serve the campus more effectively and to position the university to build e-learning capacity.

Teaching and Learning Innovation’s priority areas will include Experience Learning; service-learning; online programs; the UT Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL); tools for assessment, and inclusive teaching practices.

Chris Lavan heads up Experience Learning, which encompasses service-learning as well as related teaching innovation efforts. Jennifer Gramling directs e-learning efforts.

See the TLI website for more information for more information about the unit’s services, priorities, and future opportunities for UT instructors.

Open Educational Resources

The Student Government Association, led by President Morgan Hartgrove, has embarked on a campaign to save students $1 million this year by encouraging instructors to use open educational resources that can be accessed free online.

UT Libraries has teamed up with SGA to measure savings and gather student feedback on using open educational resources.

Some of the results have been posted, including a running list of instructors who report using open education resources and a cost comparison of the various types of classroom textbook resources.

“So far we have saved students about $700,000 of our $1 million goal. We honored four professors for choosing open education resources and we are looking forward to a larger recognition ceremony in the spring,” Hartgrove said. “When professors choose open education resources over textbooks, it shows that they have gone out of the way to ensure their classes are affordable and accessible to more students. We can’t wait to reach our $1 million goal, and we can only do that if more professors are willing to make a switch.”

More information is available on the UT Libraries website.

Quiet Space for Writing

The UT Humanities Center writeNOW program is open to all UT faculty looking for a quiet space to work on writing projects.

Each Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon, faculty members who wish to devote time to their writing in an atmosphere of scholarly silence will have the opportunity to compose or read in the second-floor seminar room of the UT Humanities Center. No advance reservation is required. Learn more at the Humanities Center website.

Monetary Awards Support Graduate Education

Newsletter graduate school, investments in graduate education, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018

As we seek to increase the number of supported graduate students and improve graduate education, the Graduate School has forged an exciting partnership with the Office of Research and Engagement to provide 20 four-year graduate research assistant positions.

This partnership will fund the FY 2019 iteration of our Tennessee Fellowship for Graduate Excellence (TFGE), the signature graduate fellowship program launched last year to help us recruit some of the nation’s best and brightest students.

Through this program, ORE will supply a graduate tuition waiver and the Graduate School will provide a fellowship of $10,000 a year to each awardee. The award is given in addition to the graduate stipend covered by the departments or colleges, creating a total package that is highly competitive. Read details of the program on the Graduate School website.

Applications were due January 17 and are now being evaluated. Departments were notified of the success of their applications on January 29 and offers made to graduate students on February 1. Nominees have until April 15 to accept their award offers.

Applicants not chosen for the TFGE will automatically be considered for one of the endowed graduate school fellowships. Those decisions are made in early March—still early enough to attract most students.

Building a strong graduate program requires money, and in recent years we’ve made significant strides in creating funding programs that help us recruit and support graduate students. Investments in graduate education include the following:

The Graduate School offers about $4.5 million in graduate fellowships each year, benefiting nearly 800 students.
Each year more than 1,600 graduate students collectively receive about $16 million in tuition waivers and $23 million in stipends.
Starting last year, the Graduate School began earmarking approximately $100,000 to help fund research projects in which a faculty member and a graduate student serve as co-principal investigators. Applications are reviewed each spring and fall semesters.
The provost’s office provides $200,000 annually for graduate students to travel to conduct or present research. This funding has benefited almost 400 students in 2017–18.

GPSAW Coming in April

Our fourth annual Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week will be celebrated April 2–6. The Three-Minute Thesis competition will take place Friday, April 6, and semifinals will be held in late February and early March.

Experience Learning Marks Its Progress

Newsletter experience learning, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018

Course designations. Grants for faculty, staff, and students. Resources to help faculty incorporate experiential learning into their courses. These are just a few of the ways Experience Learning is transforming the way we teach and the way our students learn.

Experience Learning was developed as our Quality Enhancement Program—part of our 2015 reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges—and it has already started reshaping instructional practices on our campus.

The Experience Learning team has released an annual report for 2016–17 outlining specific aspects of that progress, including these highlights:

The Experience Learning course designation system was piloted during the 2016–17 academic year. Ten courses received the service-learning (S) designation and six received the research (R) designation. Additional courses are being reviewed now for both designations.
The internship (N) designation was approved in fall 2017. Applications were submitted and are being vetted now.
Thirty-six grants were awarded to faculty and staff to support experiential learning endeavors, including a four-week summer institute for faculty members to provide holistic support for redesigning courses to include experiential learning activities for students.
Several resources have been created, including the Experience Learning Resource Guide, the Experience Learning Risk Management Handbook, faculty assessment guides, tools for assessment, and the Service-Learning Course Design Guide.

Videos Show Experience Learning at Work

You can see how Experience Learning brings classroom lessons to life in three new short videos.

One chronicles College of Communication and Information students involved in a Programs Abroad experience in Sydney, Australia; a second follows a student during an internship at Scripps Networks Interactive; and the third takes you to the Great Smoky Mountains with students during an alternative break trip.

Look for additional videos coming this semester.

Faculty Mentoring Program Launches

Newsletter faculty mentoring program, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018, professional development, promotion

Starting this spring, small groups of faculty will begin meeting as part of our new Faculty Mentoring Program.

Created in collaboration with the Commission for Blacks, Commission for LGBT People, and Commission for Women, the Faculty Mentoring Program is intended to foster a sense of community and support for tenure-line faculty, especially those from historically underrepresented groups—those who self-identify as people of color, women, or LGBTQ individuals.

“Faculty of different backgrounds often have different needs and face different challenges in their life and work. This is especially true of new or young faculty members,” said Matthew Theriot, interim vice provost for faculty affairs and associate provost for teaching and learning innovation. “We do a pretty good job of orienting new faculty to campus, but not such a good job of helping them get to know the community or build networks with colleagues.”

About 40 faculty members have signed up so far.

Yamagata-Lynch

Lisa Yamagata-Lynch, professor of educational psychology and counseling, is one of them.

“This first semester is likely to be a learning experience for all of us,” she said. “And it will help identify a core group of faculty interested in university-wide mentoring so we can work together to further develop the program.”

Participants will be divided into small groups composed of different ranks and disciplines but with similar backgrounds and interests. The provost’s office will provide nominal funding so groups can meet periodically over a meal.

Yamagata-Lynch said she’s eager to share some of what she learned about juggling the demands of service and research as she went through the promotion process.

She also wants to make herself visible in hopes that it will inspire other faculty from historically underrepresented groups.

“At many universities in the United States, there is a shortage of women faculty who are full professors, especially when it comes to women of color,” she said.

If this spring’s programs go well, we’ll expand them in the fall.

Professional Development for Associate Professors

We are also planning a series of professional development events for associate professors to help them earn promotion to professor. Topics may include self-advocacy, work-life balance, the organization of UT, and available resources for faculty at UT.

For more information about these efforts, contact Theriot at 865-974-6152 or mtheriot@utk.edu.

Update: Cluster Hires and Grand Challenges

Newsletter cluster hires, grand challenge initiatives, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018

Last semester we began establishing transdisciplinary research clusters that will enhance the university’s reputation for research excellence and address challenges facing the state of Tennessee and society at large.

This effort—championed by Chancellor Beverly Davenport and coordinated by Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Robert Nobles and me—echoes a nationwide movement through which universities are using their intellectual capital and research infrastructure to address 21st-century grand challenges.

This past fall, we announced that our first cluster hire would be in the area of data sciences. We’re now calling for proposals for two additional clusters.

Update on Data Sciences Cluster Hire

The Data Science Task Force received eight pre-proposals for the first cluster hire and selected six to be presented to our partners at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After several discussions with ORNL and a meeting with the principal investigators of the six selected pre-proposals, it became apparent that further discussions between the campus and ORNL are necessary before moving forward with the data sciences initiative. We anticipate that those discussions will begin within the next week, and we will keep the campus updated on their progress.

Proposals Sought for Two Additional Clusters

We are now soliciting proposals for two additional research clusters. There are no restrictions with regard to focus areas for these clusters, and all those who submitted to the data sciences cluster are invited to resubmit their proposals to this open call.

Proposals are due by 5 p.m. on March 21.

View the RFP and use the proposal form provided here.

A review committee of faculty recommended by the college deans and the Office of Research and Engagement will review the proposals and make recommendations. We hope to notify the applicants whose proposals have been approved no later than May 1.

If you have questions about the proposal process, email us at AVCRD@utk.edu using the subject line “Question on Open Topic Cluster Hire Pre-Proposal.”

More information about our cluster hire and grand challenge initiatives

Students Help Devise New Retention Strategy

Newsletter haslam college of business, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018, retention

Thanks to the great research of three Haslam College of Business student interns, we’ve found a segment of at-risk first-time freshmen who were previously falling through the cracks—and we’re implementing strategies to intervene more quickly to help them get academic assistance to boost their chances of staying at UT and completing their degrees.

Last year, the Office of the Provost enlisted the help of three business analytics interns—undergraduates Bryce Curtsinger and Tanner Martin, who both graduated in May, and graduate student Brady Gail.

The students reviewed three years’ worth of student success data. They found that student retention odds start to slip earlier than we had thought: a student is at increased risk of dropping out after failing to complete even one course.

Specifically, our interns confirmed something that Assistant Provost and Director of Institutional Research and Assessment Denise Gardner suspected from looking at preliminary numbers: students who fail to earn class credit because they take NCs (no credit) and Ws (course withdrawal) in challenging courses are at a higher risk of leaving the university before completing their degrees.

While it sounds like something that should have been easy to figure out, it wasn’t. Here’s why: Until now, we’ve primarily used GPA to pinpoint at-risk students. That method of filtering for struggling students is flawed because Ws (four of which are allowed during a student’s time at UT) and NCs (unlimited) do not factor into the GPA. Consequently, a student could fail to earn credit for numerous courses and still appear to be doing well.

Compounding this problem, students in some of our gateway foundational courses—including courses in English, math, and foreign languages—automatically get an NC if they don’t achieve an A, B, or C. Lower grades are not given in those courses; students who get an NC and want credit for the course must retake the course until they earn a C or better.

Students who fail to get credit in one of these gateway courses could be destined for failure unless they get some academic assistance.

On a more positive note, the interns found that students who flounder during their first semester tend to persevere if they’re able to rebound academically in their second semester. This finding reinforces the importance of earlier intervention.

Based on what we’ve learned, we’ve already started to take action:

We’re sharing the findings with our student success team and advisors so they can get to these students faster and offer some form of remediation. This effort is already under way.
Starting this spring, we’ve revised our system of warning students who are failing to make satisfactory academic progress. Federal, state, and university regulations require that a student make satisfactory academic progress toward their degree—that is, that they maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 and successfully complete 67 percent of their total attempted hours—to retain their financial aid. In the past, we checked students’ SAP at the end of each year. We’re now checking each semester and alerting students who are in danger.
We’re continuing to study our current system of awarding NCs and Ws to see what we might change to improve student retention.
We’re enlisting the help of two more interns this spring—Derek Shambo, a grad student in business analytics, and Karson Stone, a graduate student in industrial engineering—to help us identify other segments of at-risk students and develop strategies for connecting them with resources to promote student success.

Retention, Recruitment Efforts Key to Enrollment Growth

Newsletter enrollment management, priorities, Priorities Spring 2018, recruitment, retention

Although there is still much work to do before our strategic enrollment plan is complete, we have set some significant goals for growth in our undergraduate population.

Over the next five years, we’d like to see our overall undergraduate enrollment grow by 15 percent. We’ve been growing 1 to 2 percent year over year; to meet our goal we’ll have to grow by 3 percent each year.

While we’re planning for nominal increases in the size of our freshman class, gains in retention will be critical in helping us achieve our growth goals.

Our first-year retention rate in fall 2017 was 85.5 percent. Our goal for fall 2018 is 88 percent. And we want to see our retention rate hit 92 percent by 2022.

Faculty Play a Key Role

To reach our enrollment and retention goals, we must have the help of faculty, whose daily contact with students makes them the front line for identifying those who are struggling.

First-Year Studies, which manages Early Alert, has encouraged faculty to be more diligent about responding to the system’s prompts to identify struggling students. We have been pleased with the response: 89 percent of faculty who received requests responded this past fall. That’s up from the previous high response rate of 50 percent.

“In addition to higher responses for Early Alert courses, we’ve also had an increase in instructors reporting from non-alert courses,” said Stella Bridgeman-Prince, assistant director of First-Year Studies. “This shows us that faculty see the value of the Early Alert program in keeping us more closely attuned to student need.”

Through these Early Alert reports, we reached out to 663 students and offered them various forms of assistance. We’ve also collaborated with Residence Life staff to reach out to students living in residence halls who are flagged by the Early Alert system.

When spring semester began, college deans sent emails to all students, customized to reflect their fall performance. The messages explained that the Student Success Center’s academic coaches can help students at all levels develop time management strategies, engage effectively with course material, and maximize support opportunities at UT.

Since financial issues force some students to drop out, we’ve set aside funding to help. Last fall, staff in student life, academic advising, student success, and enrollment management were encouraged to submit referrals to One Stop if they encountered students experiencing financial difficulty.

In addition, emails were sent to students who had financial holds on their accounts. The emails allowed students to respond and explain their needs.

Responses were reviewed by a cross-divisional committee to determine each student’s eligibility for additional funds. Students who receive funding will work with both an academic advisor and a financial aid counselor to plan for future semesters.

Student Success Summit

In December, about 90 faculty, staff, and students participated in the Student Success Summit, hosted by the Divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Life.

We agreed that every campus process—from new student orientation to financial aid to registration to health services, and everything in between—should be examined from the student perspective to ensure that students who need assistance can quickly find and receive top-level care from our university faculty and staff.

To make sure this happens, we’ll be taking some steps in the next few months:

Assembling working groups of faculty, staff, and students to evaluate how to improve current student services and identify new services we should provide
Improving how we communicate with students and employees about resources available to students who need support or are considering leaving UT
Evaluating a case management system to ensure consistent follow-through for every student who needs assistance

Building Next Year’s Freshman Class

Even as we are striving to retain our current students, we are hard at work recruiting our future Vols. Applications for next year’s freshman class have already exceeded the number received last year.

Assistant Vice Provost for Enrollment and Director of Undergraduate Admissions Fabrizio D’Aloisio said the number of Tennessee high school graduates is relatively flat, so in-state growth will continue to be a challenge. We’re seeing good growth in out-of-state numbers, which he attributes to several years of hard work by our regional recruiters stationed around the country.

In addition, Undergraduate Admissions is leveraging new technology and new data sources to identify and recruit students.

There’s also an impressive uptick in the number of students coming for campus visits. Last year, almost 35,000 students took a formal campus tour, an increase of 12 percent from 2016. This increase demonstrates that more students are considering attending UT and adding us to their college short list.

We’ve also been more aggressive in offering scholarships. In addition to our competitive scholarships, the Volunteer Scholarship guarantees monies for students with ACT scores of 28 or above.

Finally, we continue to grow our Volunteer Bridge program. This year, we brought in a record 206 students. Our goal is to have 250 students next year, and we’ve already sent out about 100 early invitations. Our five-year plan calls for the Volunteer Bridge program to grow well beyond 250 students a year.

Our efforts reflect the realization that the landscape for recruiting students has changed dramatically over the past few years.

“Even though we’re doing great, the competition is fierce,” D’Aloisio said. “The demographics are changing. There are fewer college-bound students out there, and colleges are becoming more sophisticated in how they recruit.”