On June 21, 2019, the UT Board of Trustees approved the re-unification of the UT Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) with UT Knoxville (UTK). The only change to date is Dr. Tim Cross’s title change to Senior Vice President and Senior Vice Chancellor. The UTIA Chancellor title was introduced in 2010 and led to a drop in national rankings because it split our reported NSF research.  In addition to national ranking improvement, the re-unification should strengthen our university; should leverage our statewide presence; should foster a culture of greater collaboration; and should help us better deliver on our joint land-grant mission of education, research and outreach to the state of Tennessee.

The UTIA-UTK Land-grant Unification Team has been charged with engaging stakeholders across the state and here on our campuses. While the team will not determine policies or initiatives, they will synthesize and summarize the feedback, identify common themes, organize recommendations, and present the findings to interim President Randy Boyd, Senior Vice President/Senior Vice Chancellor of Agriculture Tim Cross, and UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman to present the details of the findings to the Board of Trustees at the November Board meeting.  

Over the next few weeks, we will be engaging stakeholders both inside and outside of the University through listening sessions, interviews, and surveys. We have scheduled three listening sessions for faculty members on the following days and we ask you to participate in one:
 
Tuesday, August 20, 3:00-4:30, Hollingsworth Auditorium
Thursday, September 5, 2:00-3:30, PBB 156-157
Wednesday, September 11, 3:00-4:30, Mossman 101  
 
We believe that our faculty members will identify many opportunities for better collaboration.  We look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.