News

In 1984, Phil Graves had no idea that his college experience at Jackson State Community College would eventually lead him to teach international law at Tallinn University in Estonia. Graves has been at the university in Estonia for more than 10 years now.

Although he finished his associate degree at JSCC 34 years ago, he recalls his beginning at the college and knows that it set the foundation upon which the rest of his life and career would be built. “Jackson State provided me with an opportunity that I would never have pursued at a 4-year institution,” Graves said.

“We now have over 30 degree programs completely available online,” announced Chattanooga State President Dr. Rebecca Ashford. Chattanooga State’s new initiative, ChattState Online, is designed to provide busy adults with the opportunity to fit a high-quality college education into their lives. “Flexibility” was the key word used by administrators and current online students when ChattState Online was announced.

More than 2,000 Fall Semester graduates were awarded their degrees and certificates at commencement ceremonies at several of our community and technical colleges in December.

About half of the 40 College System of Tennessee institutions hold Fall commencements. Fall Semester graduates of colleges without December ceremonies can participate in their college's Spring Semester graduation ceremonies, which are held at all the colleges.

A sampling of December commencements across the System:

The Tennessee Board of Regents today approved 12 new training programs at nine Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology across the state, and expanded learning-support programs for students of the TCATs.

In other action during the board’s quarterly meeting, Regents received a report on various measures of student success, including dual enrollment of high school students taking college courses and earning college credits.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its next regular quarterly meeting Dec. 12, with an agenda that includes consideration of budget revisions, 12 new student training programs at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology and the annual satisfaction survey of graduates of the technical colleges and their employers.

The Tennessee Board of Regents is launching a periodic review of its 2015-25 Strategic Plan, starting Dec. 11 when a new TBR Strategic Plan Steering Committee will convene to begin planning the review.

Two committees of the Tennessee Board of Regents and the chairs of the board’s six standing committees will meet Tuesday, Nov. 19, to consider and review a number of items in advance of the board’s next quarterly meeting in December.

The Audit Committee will meet at 10 a.m., followed consecutively by meetings of the Personnel and Compensation Committee and the committee chairs. The meetings will be held in the board room at the TBR system office, 1 Bridgestone Park, Nashville, TN 37214.

Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Flora W. Tydings has designated Dr. Robert Denn, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, to serve as Veterans Coordinator for the College System of Tennessee, the state’s 40 community and technical colleges.

The Search Advisory Committee that will lead the search for a new president of Jackson State Community College has been selected and will meet Nov. 15 at the college, following a public forum to gather campus and community input.

The public forum is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 15 in Room 111 of the Jim Moss Center for Nursing building on the college’s main campus at 2046 North Parkway, Jackson. Members of the public and the college community can express their views about the characteristics, qualities and skills the next president should have. 

A team of four business students from Pellissippi State Community College took home first place in a national entrepreneurship competition last month for a new app that would make tutoring accessible to struggling high school students regardless of their ability to pay.

Catherine Taylor, Joe Bedford, Jameisha Robinson and Vanya Malmstead from Pellissippi State were awarded $1,000 by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship for their business idea, the East Tennessee Tutor Network.

Gov. Bill Lee toured the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology at Hartsville and Livingston Wednesday to review career and technical education with students, faculty and staff.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will meet by telephone conference call Thursday, Oct. 31, to consider approving the criteria and job description for the next president of Jackson State Community College, the first step in the presidential search process.

Why not register for a course where every class takes a field trip?

A new Northeast State science course takes students out of the classroom and into the wild to learn more about the natural world of our region and how it can be conserved.

The Environmental Science (BIOL 1510) biology course is ideal for those students who love spending time outdoors. Offered for the first time in the upcoming Spring 2020 semester, the four-credit hour class is scheduled to meet every Thursday from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.

A 20-person delegation of Germans and Americans working in education and economic and workforce development visited Pellissippi State Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Knoxville as part of the American Council on Germany’s initiative, "Transatlantic Cities of Tomorrow: Digitalization and the Future of Work."

The Tennessee Board of Regents has established the Foundation for the College System of Tennessee to support its 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology through advocacy, marketing and fundraising.

The foundation’s board will guide the foundation in its mission, vision and growth. The board’s inaugural members are leaders in business, education and nonprofits who have a keen interest in the public colleges and their students as key to Tennessee’s future. The board convened for the first time last week and will meet again in February and June of 2020.

Gov. Bill Lee and other state and local officials broke ground today for construction of the McMinn Higher Education Center in Athens, a collaborative facility that will house programs offered by Cleveland State Community College, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Athens, and UT Extension.

The $18 million, 52,000-square-foot center is expected to open for classes and training in 2021. It will also provide space for local industry training to upgrade the skills of the area’s workforce.

Students at Tennessee’s community colleges earned 14,963 Associate degrees and technical certificates during the 2018-19 academic year – a 79 percent increase over the past 10 years despite a slight decrease in student enrollment over the same period.

The Tennessee Board of Regents today approved the appointment of Dr. Allana R. Hamilton as the board’s new vice chancellor for academic affairs. She has been president of Jackson State Community College for nearly three years and has a total of 28 years of experience as a faculty member and academic officer.

The Tennessee Math Alignment Group, composed of 25 math educators and advocates from across the state, has launched an effort to identify learning gaps for students between high school and college mathematics and make policy recommendations to bridge them.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development has awarded the Tennessee Board of Regents a $250,000 Rural Community Development Initiative grant to improve educational and workforce readiness in four rural counties.