Press Releases

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.

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), which governs the state’s public community colleges and colleges of applied technology, will hold its next regular quarterly meeting Feb. 26, 2025. The agenda includes a presentation of staff recommendations for tuition and fees for Academic Year 2025-26, which the board will consider during a special called meeting March 27.

The Audit Committee of the Tennessee Board of Regents will meet Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, to consider audit items and review informational reports in advance of the next regular quarterly meeting of the Board of Regents scheduled for Feb. 26.

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

The Tennessee Board of Regents has launched the process of revisiting and potentially revising its Strategic Plan for the statewide system of public community and technical colleges.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee held its first session Jan. 31, led by Dr. Russ Deaton, executive vice chancellor for policy and strategy. Board Vice Chair Emily J. Reynolds and Chancellor Flora W. Tydings addressed the committee, underscoring the importance of the work and thanking members for their time.

Tennessee’s public community and technical colleges delivered more than 1.4 million hours of direct workforce training in Academic Year 2023-24, the Tennessee Board of Regents Center for Workforce Development announced. TBR colleges trained approximately 44,800 students/employees through their broad range of workforce programs.

A groundbreaking partnership between Pellissippi State Community College and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) exemplifies how the Tennessee’s 13 community colleges are meeting critical workforce needs through innovative industry collaborations.

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) has selected 25 college educators from across the state to serve as HIP Ambassadors for 2025. They will share with their campus colleagues information about High Impact Practices (HIPs) – evidence-based teaching and student-experience activities that help students learn, advance and graduate.

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) along with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) announced today a new partnership with Ithaka S+R to expand educational opportunities for adult learners across the state.

The research project will bring together leaders from Tennessee's community colleges to develop innovative strategies supporting degree completion for Tennesseans who have previously earned college credits but did not finish and cannot return due to account holds.