News

Southwest Tennessee Community College has won the prestigious national 2021 Bellwether Award in the category of Planning, Governance and Finance. The highly competitive award recognizes community colleges for their cutting-edge, trendsetting programs that are worthy of replication.

The presidents of two Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology have been re-elected to the governing board of the Council on Occupational Education, and two others are members of key COE committees.

Dr. Carol Puryear, president of TCAT Murfreesboro, and Dr. Jeff Sisk, president of TCAT Jackson, were re-elected to new three-year terms on the 19-member Commission of the Council on Occupational Education (COE) during COE’s recent Annual Business Session.

Austin Peay State University and Nashville State Community College recently signed an agreement to help students complete their degree or pursue additional degrees. The agreement formalizes the ability of a student who completes an associate degree at Nashville State to be granted admission to select undergraduate programs at APSU.  

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold a Strategic Plan Workshop with TBR staff on Jan. 22, 2021, in which board members can discuss the current mid-cycle review of the 2015-25 Strategic Plan for the College System of Tennessee.

The virtual workshop will convene online at 9 a.m. CT, Friday, Jan. 22, and is expected to end by 10:30 a.m. The session is public, and anyone interested in observing may contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at sonja.mason@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 for log-in information.

High school seniors and college students applying for the Tennessee Promise scholarship and Tennessee Student Assistance Award programs, take heart: you have an extra month – to March 1, 2021 – to file your FAFSA application this year.

Due to conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission/Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation extended the Tennessee Promise FAFSA deadline and the priority FAFSA deadline for the Tennessee Student Assistance Award from Feb. 1 to March 1 of this year.

Students, faculty and staff at Tennessee’s community and technical colleges collected nearly 76,000 food items, including almost $28,000 in cash donations, for food pantries on their campuses and food banks and other organizations in their communities during the College System of Tennessee’s 22nd Annual Food Drive Challenge.

The Tennessee Board of Regents approved criteria for the next president of the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology at McKenzie and Paris during its quarterly meeting today.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its next regular quarterly meeting Dec. 10. The agenda includes action on criteria for the next president of the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology at McKenzie and Paris, new programs at Colleges of Applied Technology, and several informational reports.

The Board of Regents governs the College System of Tennessee, comprised of the state's 13 Community Colleges and 27 Colleges of Applied Technology.  

When Raven Ferrell logged onto her first virtual college course at Jackson State Community College last August, she achieved a major goal in her life.

"I've always had dreams and goals in my life," said the 28-year-old mother. "I always wanted to go to college."

It’s no secret that Tennessee, like much of the nation, has experienced a shortage of skilled workers in recent years – with high demands for more nurses, computer technicians, welders and other technical fields. In an effort to encourage more young Tennesseans to consider one of these many careers, TBR – The College System of Tennessee has premiered an original children’s book entitled “Let’s Explore Technical Careers.”

Tennessee’s community and technical colleges are ready to help Tennesseans who want to learn a new career or new skills. With Tennessee Reconnect, it’s tuition-free – and enrolling in classes online or in your community is easy.

The Tennessee Board of Regents’ committee chairs and the Audit Committee will meet Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, to receive updates and review a number of items in advance of the full board’s next quarterly meeting in December.

Military veterans at Tennessee’s community and technical colleges are being honored in Veterans Day activities this week – and one veteran at each college will be awarded the inaugural Chancellor’s Commendation for Military Veterans.

The Tennessee Board of Regents and Chancellor Flora W. Tydings established the new commendation as a system-level award to honor the service, bravery and sacrifices of military veterans in the campus communities. It supplements Veterans Day ceremonies, observances or recognitions that the colleges traditionally conduct.

As part of its continuing work to reduce the costs of college attendance and increase equity in student outcomes, the Tennessee Board of Regents is awarding grants to faculty teams at seven community colleges to create learning materials for their courses that students will use for free, in lieu of commercially published textbooks.

Tennessee Promise provides Tennessee high school graduates the opportunity to attend a community or technical college free of tuition and mandatory fees. Tennessee Promise is both a scholarship and mentoring program.

The application deadline for Summer/Fall 2021 has been extended to December 1, 2020.

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The Audit Committee of the Tennessee Board of Regents will meet at 9:30 a.m. CT, Wednesday, Oct. 14, to review and consider hiring an information systems auditor at the TBR system office. 

The committee will meet by videoconferencing.  Anyone wishing to observe the public meeting may contact Board Secretary Sonja Mason at sonja.mason@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 for call-in information.

The Board of Regents governs Tennessee's public community colleges and colleges of applied technology.

Nearly 500 faculty, students, administrators and staff from colleges and universities across the state participated in the College System of Tennessee’s We All Rise Biennial Conference on Equity and Completion Oct. 5 and 6, with a focus on improving college success and completion for all students.

All 27 Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology have been accepted into the national Achieving the Dream Network, bolstering their commitment to the success of all students.

Tennessee’s Community Colleges awarded a record number of 15,874 degrees and technical certificates during the 2019-20 academic year – a 44 percent increase from a decade ago. The previous high was 15,240 two years ago.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its fall quarterly meeting Sept. 22-23, with an agenda that includes reports on fall semester enrollment and results of the 2019-20 academic year.

The board, which governs Tennessee’s public community and technical colleges, will also consider funding recommendations for new or expanded program initiatives for fiscal year 2021-22.