UT Southern Info Session

Well, good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us for this informational session on UT Southern. I'm Lisa Stearns with Dr. Tim Cross.

And we are pleased to have Linda Martin, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success with us today to share the latest information on this new campus in the UT system. But before we get started, we have just a few reminders. Please keep your audio muted so everyone can hear the conversation. Linda invites you to ask questions today, so please choose the chat function on Zoom.

You can publicly post your question in chat, or you can send it privately to me in chat as well. This session is being recorded, and a link will be sent later today for those who are not able to join us this morning. So Tim, if you will, set the stage for today's session. Great, thanks for kicking us off, Lisa.

And I'll set the stage, but I'll be brief, because I really look forward hearing from Dr. Martin. First of all, let me share with this group, Dr. Linda Martin, who is our Vice President for Academic Affairs, is one of us.

And I say that from the standpoint of her background, is in Animal Science. She was a professor of Animal Science, went on to be an academic program leader at Ohio State University before joining the University of Tennessee. So I share that with you just so that you know she knows us, and she understands what we do. She understands our statewide presence.

She understands our research focus and so forth. So I think she's in a great position because of that, to share with us the progress that's been made with regard to this new campus, joining the UT system. And also maybe stimulate some ideas and thoughts as to how we can take advantage of this, and how we can in turn serve the UT Southern campus, and the folks in the lower middle Tennessee region in particular. So I asked Linda if she might, just sharing a few thoughts and ideas.

This is not a done deal yet. It's really not official, if you will, until July 1. So we're getting advanced word on this, to some extent, but I thought you would like to hear a little bit about what the status of this new acquisition is, and maybe again, stimulate some ideas on how we can develop some win-win partnerships with UT Southern in the future. So hopefully I haven't set the expectations too different from what you had in mind, Linda.

But I do encourage everyone to share thoughts or ideas or questions in the chat box as we go. And with that, I'll just turn it over to Dr. Martin. Thank her for the many ways she supports the Institute of Agriculture.

Thanks for joining us this morning, Linda. Well, Tim, I really appreciate the opportunity. And as you said, I feel like I am one of you. And every time I have the opportunity to talk with folks at UTIA, I feel like I'm coming home.

And that's a really good feeling. Yesterday, I was at the unveiling of the contents of the 100-year celebration from Morgan Hall. And so I saw a lot of you in person. But it just always feels like a great fit when I'm at UTIA.

And I really appreciate that welcome. What I thought I'd do today is just talk about a couple of things that about the acquisition. And then open it up for questions. And at that point, you can unmute and ask questions or put them in the chat.

I really want this for you to have the opportunity to get things lingering questions or concerns or ideas out to the group. Because I think that it's really important for us to be able to do that and talk a little bit about some of what's happened up to this point. And I'll go ahead and share my screen. I have just a couple of slides that I want to share.

And then we'll take those away. But I wanted to really highlight the fact that this is an opportunity that really doesn't come very often. Can you see my screen? OK.

So it's an opportunity that presented itself. And not one that we often get. In fact, with the SACC or C.A. accreditation, that was one of the first things that we had to do is really find out what do we need to have in place for that to happen.

And they said, you know, we've not been weeling. I said, I've not done one of these. We've done a number of mergers with publics with other publics. But we've not brought a private into a system.

So we're charting new territory. And I say that because it's an opportunity for UTIA to also chart new territory in terms of the opportunities that might be available. So as we think about, the question always is why? Why are we doing this?

What's the advantages? Why now? Why Martin Memphis? And it's really kind of interesting.

If you look at the position of our campuses, we didn't have anything positioned in that Southern middle Tennessee area in a valuation. And there's a really great analysis of kind of the landscape of higher education across the state of Tennessee on the transparency website. But we really didn't have anything in that Southern middle Tennessee in terms of public institutions. And there's a 13-county region where it's really a higher education desert relative to access to public education.

And why Martin Methodist was there. The tuition at Martin Methodist was $24,000 plus. And it really eliminated a lot of opportunity. And as we talk about access and affordability, having a public option in that part of the state was really valuable.

The students that are interested in an institution the size of Martin Methodist are often rural students. You understand well, pallegible, first-generation students who may not want to go too far from home with that initial step in the higher education. And we'll talk about that a little bit because I think that presents an opportunity for UTIA. I think there was shared mission that they serve all Tennesseeans.

They have shared values. But the thing that was really appealing, you hear about these mergers or acquisitions when institutions are failing or they're in a financial crisis. And it's a desperate measure to perpetuate or to stay in business. And that was not the case with Martin Methodist.

And so it was really kind of a unique opportunity that allowed them to leverage the brand of UT to that part of the state. And the reason I say that is the number of students who are losing thousands of students every year across the border to Alabama. And they don't want to go too far from home, but can go to a public institution and are offered in-state tuition across the line. And so we're losing a lot of students, a lot of whom are rural students.

And so we wanted to find a way to kind of reinforce that firewall along the southern border. So unique opportunities. It served a part of Tennessee that was not served by public education. It does have associate degrees.

And I want to come back to that because that's a really interesting twist on what we've had in our portfolio before. It right now is about 700 students at Martin Methodist. And it has the potential to grow to 1500 without additional resources in terms of infrastructure. And so we're not looking to grow it to the size of a UTC or a UTM.

It's a campus that will offer that small campus feel in the portfolio of campuses that are offered across the system. I think it also prevents us from losing students out of state. And it expands access and pathways to degree programs that are other campuses. And that's the exciting part that I think is that we'll talk about just briefly.

The institutional overview, it was established in 1870 as a two-year institution and as a women's two-year institution. And so that has changed over the years. The academic programs now, they have two master's degrees, 23 baccalaureate degrees, two associate associate of science and associate of arts and an undergraduate certificate. And so if you listen to the board comments, they said there's some things that have to happen at UT Southern that's growing enrollment, serving the region, promoting access and affordability.

And then all of the other in terms of integration with other UT campuses. And I will say that it's not to compete with other campuses. So anything that's done at UT Southern is not to compete with UTIA. It's to partner and to collaborate and to take advantage of opportunities that exist within the system.

And then I have one more slide just to talk about some of what might be of interest to folks in UTIA. And that is ways to collaborate with the MMC counterparts. There's a number of faculty at MMC that would collaborate on opportunities for student success or other kinds of things. They have a client health students that are largely rural versus gen students.

But this might really provide an opportunity for UTIA to create a pipeline of students. And I'm going to just reflect for a moment. And I always hate when people do this and talk about other places that they've been. I'm not going to mention names, but I was at an institution where they had a two-year degree program in AG that served as a pipeline for students at the R1 campus.

And so some of the students that would start there didn't really want to go very, as they were giving their toes into higher education, they really didn't want to start out at a very large institution. And so this was a way for them to test the waters relative to two degree programs. They would start out in a two-year degree and then transition to the R1 campus and find opportunities there. It allowed the larger campus to do some joint kinds of things with students.

We also reached out relative to academic advising and student organizations. But it turned out that that was our largest program into AG. Particularly animal science. Food science was also one interestingly enough.

But we were able to really infuse a whole new pipeline of students that we hadn't previously had access to by creating those strong partnerships. So that's just a potential to think about two plus two opportunities. So if the student, I think would be important if the student that we always communicate, that they transition at the right time. And so it might be after one year and coming to one of the academic units at UTIA, it might be a two plus two.

And I'll just mention here that the wheels have already started turning with regard to both the UTIA and we've got some people thinking about two plus twos and animal science, particularly in concentrations with farm and ranch management or bioscience and pre-vete. And other certificate kinds of programs that might be of interest. And I'll tell you that there's a strong interest in stackable credentials. And so if there was an opportunity to create a certificate program through UT Southern, that could transition into a four-year degree within UTIA.

So if they did these two certificates or they successfully completed a certificate and could bring that with them to a degree at UTIA, that could have a real appeal. And I will say that we've not the reason why I haven't reached out and we haven't talked a lot about this previously, is because there's some nervousness around the state relative to two-year degrees. And so we have to be thoughtful about how we do that. I think there's some also some ways that we can explore grant opportunities across our campus, course sharing, perhaps down the road, you can join appointments.

And we did this at a previous institution with our two-year partner. And again, with UT Online, Dr. Beale has been very aggressive about highlighting the courses that UTIA could offer through UT Online. And I think this might provide a nice pipeline to get students engaged with faculty at UTIA and then make that transition very seamless.

And then future collaborations with one UT collaboration grants and other kinds of things. So I'm going to quit sharing my screen and then just open it up for questions that you might have or comments or ideas or other items that you might wish to have clarified. Well, thanks, Lynne. We actually do have some questions for you.

So we'll just start here at the top. One is, is there anything unique to the culture at UT Southern that you think will be beneficial for us to know? It's really very interesting because over the years I've been engaged with, as a Sac COC, a re-affirmation of a accreditation person, I've seen campuses that have merged or have the acquisitions public to public. And it's always been a very hostile takeover.

And that's not the case here. And I would say they're very eager to learn. They're very eager to try new things. They have faculty.

I kind of think when I'm on that campus, I feel like I'm at UTIA because they have faculty and staff who put students first, who care deeply about student success and understand the importance of having mentors in their lives to help students be successful. They understand that the challenges of first-generation students, they understand that rural students are unique in terms of their perspectives and their needs as a student. And I think you would feel as though the faculty there to almost to a person would fit really well into the culture that has been a long time tradition at UTIA. Right.

Actually, Dr. Beale has asked a question, and that is, when designing two plus two programs, can we assume that students who have earned the associate degree have satisfied all the general education requirements for a bachelor's degree? Well, we can talk about that. My hope is yes, because it's not different than any student comes from another year to your institution.

Those things will all have to be clarified, but that is our intent, which is an advantage when students come. If they have completed their genetics, as you know, Dr. Beale, that's an advantage because those students can be immersed in disciplinary coursework at a higher degree than having to check all the boxes relative to Gen N. Thank you for the good news.

And then a question on the research side, are there faculty with research programs that we could potentially align our interests with? Yes, they are. Really interesting research kinds of opportunities. One of the things that we'll do is put together kind of an overview of research interest.

And a lot of faculty there have a strong interest and have done a good job with the limited resources that they have. I think partnering, there's a lot of really good thinkers and researchers there that would be advantaged by partnering with folks across the system. But we will put together kind of an interest and kind of a background in each of the faculty members, but there's opportunity. So here's a question about health care.

Quality health care and health across the state is a huge challenge. Are there any health care or health opportunities UT Southern will offer to help address that? So are we talking about educational programs or? I am assuming this may include educational programs and maybe, yes, that and other ways in which we could partner and help in that regard.

So they have, so if this is hung way in the one health kinds of questions, but I think there's research opportunities. I think also they've got a strong nursing program really in the pediatric area and talking about partners with partnerships with other campuses. But I think there's opportunity to, and I didn't mention in the slide before, is they have a lot of opportunities to play students in internship, kinds of experiences, particularly around animal agriculture in that part of the state. And they're very eager to partner with UTIA and placing students in internships there.

And I know I kind of took a little bit of a pathway from that question. One of the things that we will do is really come back and say and have a chance to have a discussion around health care and what that means and how we can deliver through probably extension in terms of healthy communities and so forth and how we can deliver health care kinds of opportunities for folks in that 13 tier county. So do you ever ask that question, Lisa? If they would reach out to me directly because then I know a little bit more what they're thinking and we can develop that a little bit more.

Absolutely, we'll do. So sort of along those lines, are there plans for outreach at the campus? And so this person is particularly interested in what extensions role might be in that regard. So I would say anything is on the table.

There's not an expectation and there's not there's not boundaries right now. I think that's one of the beauties of bringing in a campus like Martin Methodist is there's no preconceived idea. And so it's your opportunity to create what it should be and imagine something that hasn't been done. I would really like to create some things partnership wise with MMC that nobody in the country has done up to this point.

And Extension is a perfect opportunity for that to happen. Credentialing through extension programs that have already that already exists could be credentialed through through UT Southern pretty quickly and pretty easily. And so then how does that lead to a degree program at UTIA? I think also thinking about are there opportunities for joint faculty appointments between extension in that part of the state and the campus or adjunct opportunity?

I just think if you can imagine it, we can do it. And I think that there's an appetite for pilots. Let's give it a try and see if it works. And I think that's a very comfortable space because if we try something for a year or two and it's just not working, then we get rid of it and we try something new.

The other thing is think about are there opportunities for students to do, let's say a combined bachelor's, masters, between the two campuses that couldn't happen otherwise, or two plus two that can only be completed if they go to Martin Methodist the first two years and the second two years to a degree program in UTIA. So I would say think big anytime that you've thought about why couldn't we do something like this? Now's the time to have the opportunity. I know folks in Outlook have thought about a two plus two too, and how do we be creative about creating those synergies?

But if you say this is crazy and I don't think it's been done or I'm not sure if we can do it, that's when I say game on. And I think those are really good opportunities for folks. Well, just so you know, Dr. Stokes has jumped in to say the wheels are already turning about ideas and ways to collaborate with the new campus.

So that's definitely happening. So Dr. Kashi wanted to call on someone who's asked the question here. Yeah, I'm going to take just a point of privilege here and jump in and ask, I believe he's with us today, Justin Reinhart has shared some thoughts and ideas with me in the past.

Justin, you want to share just verbally some of the ideas running through your mind? And I think they probably parallel or even duplicate some of the things that Linda has mentioned. But just wanted to give you a chance since I know you've thought about this. I'm sure he is.

And Dr. Martin and I've communicated some about these ideas. And Dr. Shriek and I have worked on flushing out what something like a two plus two would look like in animal science and getting close to getting something really solid on paper to be able to flish out from there and just to the kind of an aside to say that I love the approach of what Dr.

Martin was mentioning about. If it sounds crazy, this might be the place to try because that's where some really new and innovative things get done. So that coupled with the opportunities for internship and hands on real life learning in the southern middle Tennessee area, I think it's just tremendous. So yeah, we've looked at there's so many different ideas that run through your mind whenever a set of opportunities like this come together.

It's hard to focus in on one, but that's really where we've been focusing so far is something that would be like a two plus two program feeding into animal science. And also leveraging a lot of that curriculum for certification that wouldn't necessarily be a full associate's degree if they stopped at that point. But even those different tiers and I think stackable credentials that Martin is the firm that you use. And I like that idea of a range management, farm management, certification, expand that out or you can look at it going both ways, but associate degree in farm management with kind of heavy and ag business, ag economics, and then expand that out to the two plus two component of finishing up the degree program with any TI so really excited about it and appreciate the opportunity to put some ideas in and discuss them.

So thanks. And I think one of the nice things about having everything in the family is students are really advised to move when it's in their best interests. So if a student starts in an associates program and really is ready to make that transition to UTIA before the two years is completed, we have a mechanism for that reverse transfer, but we also let students move when it's best for them and not because it's some prescribed amount of years that they're completing one place and then moving to the other. And I think that's, and we also have the opportunity to work collaboratively on curriculum in a way that we wouldn't with other two years.

We do have a viewer that's asked for clarification that there is a difference between a certificate degree and associate bachelor degree. If you get a certificate degree, can it be used towards an associate degree or a higher degree? So a certificate technically is not a degree. So a certificate is there is a smaller number of hours than either associate or a four year degree.

And oftentimes what what students will do is earn a certificate in a particular area. So Justin's example could be farm and ranch management and then it can be applied toward an associate's degree or it can be applied toward a four year degree and they stack those. They talk about you might have heard about micro credentials or stackable credentials. That's really what they're talking about is these mini certificate programs that can be stacked to form a different.

And so what it does is it allows folks that certificates are there's this sense of completion, there's this certification that they can they can reflect on their resume, but it allows them to consider going beyond that certificate and then earning either an associate or a four year degree. So you'll see some places where they have a general studies like a general ag degree that lets them stack credentials, stack certificates from certain areas together to do a general studies kind of degree in agriculture. Right. One of our viewers said they have seen that graduation rates are very low there.

And do you have an explanation for that and how might we be helping that regard? So that's a really good point. And for those of you who work in the area of graduation retention, you know that first and foremost, the key to retention and the first step in retention and graduation rate is in the enrollment process and in the recruitment process, making sure that it's the right fit for students before they even set foot on campus. And so thinking about recruiting students to have the ability to be successful, I think that's the first step.

And then the second part of that is really helping them be successful once they're there. And so we're working with the campus right now in enrollment, recruitment and retention plan to help identify those areas, the low hanging group, which I think that there's a lot. Students were recruited there largely, I'd say a large portion of their students were recruited for athletics. And so students, their first interest was not always earning the degree.

The first interest was being able to participate in a sport. And so as we expand, I really think that we can recruit the whole person and make sure that the students that are recruited are students that have the opportunity to be successful at UT Southern. And then thinking about how do we purposefully engage those students along the way to ensure that they remain successful and that they graduate? I think for, let's see, I was just looking right here.

See, first time full time retention there is 57%. And so that's first to second year of first time full time students. And so I think that there is an opportunity to really boost that, which will ultimately increase graduation rate. But we're laser focused on that.

We're hired a consultant to come in and really look at what they're doing and identify areas of opportunity. We're also looking at artificial intelligence kinds of measures to identify students who may be at risk at each stage along the way. And then we will have a person here. I've been without somebody for now a year, an AVP for student success who will be laser focused on MMC those first couple of years to ensure high level student success.

Someone has asked if there's a minimum GPA for admission there or do they take? So they are not an open enrollment institution. So they have GPA and ACT requirements, but that will all have to be revisited now that they're a UT institution. So that's approved by the board.

So they will come to the board with a recommendation on admission requirements. And so that will be a discussion that will happen. Obviously, the students that will start this fall were admitted under the old standards, but that is something that UT Southern will be working on should this acquisition go forward. So Linda, there are a couple of questions on competition in that area.

So I'll just put these together. But apparently the University of North Alabama gives a tuition, state tuition to these students. You also have Columbia State Community College, which is surrounding UT Southern. So are there any plans to have some sort of tuition rate for students to drive them to continue to do to Southern?

So the tuition will be very competitive with the other institutions in the area. I want to say that we've got to be very careful. We've got to be very careful with our other Tennessee institutions that we're not just stealing students away because we don't want to... It's not just about shifting the students in terms of students that are already interested in higher education or role.

It's about opening doors to students who did not have the opportunity in that part of the state to maybe consider a public education. But the tuition, my understanding is it's going to be comparable with other institutions. And we also have the opportunity for UT Promise for our four-year students and then a combination between Tennessee Promise because we can use that with regard to the two-year degree programs. And again, we're still working that out with THEK and others.

But I think that it can make it very affordable for students who might not otherwise think that there's an opportunity at a UT institution. Great. Those are the questions. Wow.

There were a lot of questions. There were a lot of questions. So really appreciate you answering all those so well. So Lisa, I would encourage you to share my contact information with everybody on the Zoom.

And please reach out. There's no idea that's too outlandish. I like those. I like thinking in that space.

And even if you don't have an idea about how to get there, if you have an idea about something that would be really interesting to try, we can figure out the how. And I know on the academic program side, Cola has been innovative and amazing. We've got Ashley Stokes who's looking at extension in a whole new way in terms of maybe leveraging the opportunities that exist in a way that we haven't and hung way who's been very innovative and collaborative research across the state that we really got as I don't repeat this. But it's recorded, isn't it?

But anyway, you've got a dream team of leadership, a dream team of leadership in UTIA. And so let's take advantage of it. Let's be creative. Let's do things that haven't been done.

Tennessee has always been a leader in higher education. And UTIA has always been a leader among agriculture across the country. So let's really open that door wide and do some things that others only dream about doing in other states. It would be a great story to tell.

Absolutely. Thanks so much, Tim. Do you have some final rumors? Yeah, I'll see if I can wrap this up.

And a couple of other tidbits here along the way. Nobody asked and I thought they would. Well, how are we funding this? And isn't this taking away funds from the other campuses?

And I know maybe you saw in the news that it was funded funding was approved by the state legislature, but it was additional funding on top of what the UT system was already receiving. So wanted to reassure everyone this isn't funding that took away from the rest of the UT system, but rather it's supplemental and adding to what we've already got. Secondly, I want to let you know that all of us within the UT system are really identifying ways we can help and support this new campus. And one of the ways that UTIA has identified that we can help and support is providing some expertise with our office of advancement there at Martin Methodist.

So I see Dr. Evan Beach, almost said Dr. Evan Beach. He's good enough to be a doctor, in my opinion, doctor of advancement.

Evan Beach is going to be really lending some leadership to the staff there at UT Southern in the area of advancement. In typical University of Tennessee fashion, we have said that will be fine. He can do all of his UTIA responsibilities and he can also serve UT Southern. So if you have ideas that might, you know, somehow relate to philanthropy on top of academics and research and attention, you can include Evan in those discussions.

And we're really pleased that he's got an opportunity to share some of his experience with the team there at UT Southern. And likewise then, having grown up in Pulaski and Dao County, Evan knows the country. He knows the people. He'll be in a great position to really help.

So wanted to mention that. And then finally, let me just say I share Linda's thoughts 100% about let's propose some things, try some things, pilot some things. If they don't work, there's nothing that says we can't stop doing them. And I've always tried to approach things that way.

And I know just looking at the faces on this call, we've got some very creative people. We'll come up with some thoughts and ideas. Maybe some will fly, maybe some won't. But if we don't try, we know what the outcome will be.

So I would encourage you to be creative. And then finally, throughout my career, I have been very unsuccessful in telling anyone what to do. But I've always had great success in saying share ideas, share thoughts, share some directions you think might be possible. And that has always been the way we have really advanced, I think, the Institute of Agriculture is from the leadership of our faculty, our agents, our staff, the members of the UTI family.

So both Linda and I want to make sure you understand we're sincere in saying share some ideas, tell us what you think might work. I would encourage you to keep your supervisor informed. We don't need to have any great surprises here. But reach out, let us know what thoughts you might have, what makes them win-win partnerships here with regard to all of our programs and take advantage of this new campus.

So those were some of the thoughts on my mind. And let me just say a special thanks to Linda Martin for being a member of our family for leading this new acquisition process and for being willing to share her time this morning though with this group. So thanks very much, Linda, for joining us. And Lisa, I'll let you conclude our session here.

So we really appreciate it, Linda. It was a great session. And thanks to everybody for joining us today. We will be sending out a link to the recorded session so that others can take a look when they have a chance.

So thanks, have a wonderful day.