Tennessee Board of Regents

The Search Advisory Committee leading the Tennessee Board of Regents' search for the next president of Walters State Community College has been appointed, and a public forum on the search will be held April 22.

Board of Regents Member Miles Burdine is chair of the 16-member committee. Board Members Cayden Keltgen, Ross Roberts and Danni Varlan also are serving as committee members, along with representatives of the college’s faculty, staff, students and alumni, and business and civic leaders from the community. The full membership is listed below.

The College System of Tennessee today announced the 10 members of the inaugural Chancellor’s Fellowship Class of 2025-26, representing faculty and staff from community and technical colleges across the state.

The Chancellor’s Fellowship is a new cornerstone initiative of the Maxine Smith Leadership Series, designed to cultivate leadership talent among senior administrators across the college system. 

Members of the Chancellor’s Fellowship Class of 2025-26 are:

Two Tennessee Board of Regents staff members were honored by the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) during its 2025 annual conference.

In a special called meeting today, the Tennessee Board of Regents approved tuition and fees for Academic Year 2025-26, search criteria for the next president of Walters State Community College, and a new associate degree program at Roane State Community College.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold a special called meeting Thursday, March 27, 2025, to consider tuition and fees for Academic Year 2025-26, search criteria for the next president of Walters State Community College, a new associate degree program at Roane State Community College, and the chancellor’s performance evaluation process.

Fifty high-achieving students at Tennessee’s community and technical colleges were recognized recently at the College System of Tennessee’s annual Student Honors Luncheon.

The students are members of the Phi Theta Kappa All-Tennessee Academic Team, from the community colleges, or inductees into the National Technical Honor Society, representing their Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology campuses.   

Nine Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) community and technical colleges and the TBR system office have been awarded grants to increase healthcare career training opportunities that will expand access to healthcare in rural communities.

The Tennessee Board of Regents honored outstanding students, faculty, staff, philanthropists, volunteers and partners of the year from our community and technical colleges in the Seventh Annual Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition (SOAR) Awards Thursday night (Feb. 27) in Nashville.

In addition to individual SOAR Award winners, Dyersburg State Community College earned Community College of the Year honors and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Nashville took home the Technical College of the Year award.

During its quarterly meeting Wednesday, Feb. 26, the Tennessee Board of Regents heard an informational report on TCAT Murfreesboro’s innovative partnership with Nissan in an Industrial Electrical Maintenance and Mechatronics training program in which students can earn diplomas and industry-ready certificates.

The partnership is in its second trimester with about 100 students currently enrolled. Graduates may work at any industry in need of their new skills.

Dr. Gwendolyn Sutton, president of Tennessee College of Applied Technology Memphis, has been elected chair of the Council on Occupational Education’s governing Board of Commissioners.

The COE membership also elected Laura Travis, president of Tennessee College of Applied Technology Dickson, to a three-year term on the 20-member Board of Commissioners.