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Nov. 20, 2018 | Source: Daily Memphian
Image source from Tennessee.edu
University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro is leaving the system on a high note – amid strong financial reports and growth of facilities – after surviving some bumps and bruises, mainly dealing with student diversity.
“I’m really proud of the track record and what we’ve accomplished,” said DiPietro, who will leave his post Wednesday after nearly eight years on the job. “We have lots of records we have broken that are systemwide, 11 million square feet of building or renovations. That’s why I’ve been at the (State) Building Commission every month but one with items.”
During his tenure, the university system constructed or renovated more than 240 projects totaling 11.5 million square feet, some $300 million of which were done at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. Combined, those projects reflect state investments of more than $727 million and $1.25 billion by the university system.
DiPietro, who is replaced by interim President Randy Boyd after his failed gubernatorial bid, oversaw Memphis-based UTHSC as well as UT-Knoxville, UT-Martin, UT-Chattanooga and the statewide Institute of Agriculture and Institute of Public Service.
Among his accomplishments, since the system sustained a 25 percent budget cut in 2012, DiPietro guided a funding increase of 38 percent to nearly $164 million.
Student enrollment systemwide is up 2.6 percent from fall 2011 to fall 2018, reaching 50,810. Yet after years of tuition increases in the 7 percent range, the system saw four years of record low tuition increases, including no increase this year at UT-Knoxville and UT-Chattanooga.
In the key area of research, the system put together $481 million in sponsored-program expenditures in 2017, and the UT Foundation raised a record $397 million in 2017-18, including the naming of the Herbert College of Agriculture and the Rollins College of Business at UT-Chattanooga.
DiPietro oversaw construction of the Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus with lab and work space for private industry, researchers and scientists connected with UT and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. UT also was chosen to lead the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, a $259 million public-private partnership.
“We should all be thankful for Joe’s leadership. He and the former board of trustees accomplished a great deal together,” UT board of trustees chairman John Compton said. “All stakeholders in the university system have been well-served by his tireless commitment to continual improvement across all of our campuses.”
Regrettable moments
UT took some lumps under DiPietro’s direction, too, mostly from state legislators angered by a decision four years ago to ditch the Lady Vols moniker for women’s sports at the UT-Knoxville.
Lawmakers also were outraged over student-sponsored Sex Week and emails originating from UT-Knoxville’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion urging teachers to use gender-neutral pronouns and to downplay Christmas during holiday parties. The Legislature even defunded the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
“You always have do-overs. It’s human,” DiPietro says.
UT-Knoxville’s football program erupted into an uproar over the hiring of a football coach in late 2017 to replace Butch Jones.
Former UT Athletic Director John Currie was prepared to hire Greg Schiano from Ohio State as head coach until a social media campaign killed it because of Schiano’s connections to Penn State and allegations he saw Jerry Sandusky act inappropriately with a young man and didn’t report it. Schiano denied the accusation.
After several other potential coaches rejected the Volunteers program, the university settled on Jeremy Pruitt, who is wrapping up his first season at the helm. UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport, later fired by DiPietro, replaced Currie with former coach Phillip Fulmer.
But DiPietro says he doesn’t have regrets over the football coaching search.
“Those kinds of issues come up,” he said. “But the do-overs I probably think about are Lady Vols. In my mind it is one.”
The university tried to rebrand the Lady Vols, but ran into a firestorm from women’s athletic program fans and legislators such as state Sen. Beck Duncan Massey, who lobbied for a return to the beloved nickname. The university ultimately brought it back to women’s athletic programs.
DiPietro also says he’s bothered by the atmosphere surrounding LGBT students on the UT-Knoxville campus.
“I think if you look at how we’ve tried to advance diversity and inclusion, we’ve obviously been in conflict from time to time,” he said. “But great universities need to do that. And we have to continue to figure out how to do that in the best way, because it’s a completion (issue).”
If students aren’t welcome on campus, they’re less likely to finish their degree on time, if at all, he points out.
“And everybody has the right to come to one of our campuses and feel welcome,” DiPietro said.
A national review this year found UT-Knoxville was third-worst in the nation for acceptance of LGBT students.
“We have to get better at that, and we have to help our policymakers understand why it’s important and why we need to advance and provide a welcome environment to all of these communities on the campus,” DiPietro says.
In the past year, the Legislature also passed the UT FOCUS Act creating a new University of Tennessee board of trustees, cutting it to 12 from 27 members, all of whom were appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam this year.
DiPietro supported the move, saying the old board had become too unwieldy and hard to gather for meetings.
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