TBR Meets in Quarterly Session, Names Vice Chancellor for Community College System

The Tennessee Board of Regents met today at Roane State Community College, where it confirmed the hiring of a new vice chancellor for Community Colleges.

The board approved Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation to appoint Warren Nichols, president of Volunteer State Community College, as the TBR vice chancellor for Community Colleges effective Oct 1.

In his new role, Nichols will oversee a unified system created for the 13 community colleges across the state. As mandated by the Complete College Tennessee Act, the consolidated system will allow for more effective and efficient operations among the colleges and within the TBR, which oversees 46 public higher education institutions, including six universities, the state’s 13 community colleges, and all 27 Tennessee Technology Centers.

The board also approved minutes of the Tennessee Technology Centers Committee, which included the selection of Carolyn Beverly as the new director of the TTC at Whiteville, where she had previously served as interim director, assistant director and an instructor.

Among items approved for the Academic Policies and Programs Committee was a new bachelor’s degree program at TTU in Environmental and Sustainability Studies.

Finance and Business Operations Committee actions approved included the reallocation of existing fees for the University of Memphis at Lambuth, which shifted the revenues generated at the campus to meet the unique facilities and student service needs there.

Personnel and Compensation Committee minutes approved included institutional requests for new or amended compensation plans and salary plan proposals that addressed the board’s actions in June.

In other new action, the board voted to approve the criteria for advertising upcoming president searches at Vol State, Tennessee State University and Tennessee Technological University. TTU President Bob Bell announced his retirement effective July 2012, TSU is currently under interim leadership, and Vol State will have an interim president beginning next month.

The board also selected dates and locations for its 2012 quarterly meetings and approved the naming of the new baseball stadium at East Tennessee State University in honor of Gerald and Sandy Thomas and Thomas Construction.

The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.