TBR Chancellor Recommends Philip Oldham as TTU’s Next President; Board to Meet Friday

Philip Oldham is expected to be named the next president to lead Tennessee Technological University pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents on Friday.

The Board will meet via telephone at 10:30 a.m. CDT on Friday, May 4, to consider TBR Chancellor John Morgan’s recommendation for Oldham to replace Bob Bell, who will retire from TTU on July 1 after leading the campus for 12 years. Oldham currently serves as provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

“Dr. Oldham will lead TTU with a commitment to academic integrity, student success and public accountability,” said Morgan. “He has outstanding credentials and is well respected among his colleagues and peers nationwide, and I am pleased to recommend him as the next president for Tennessee Tech University.”

Oldham was selected after an extensive nationwide search that began earlier this year.

He has served the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2007 and has had advisory or direct responsibility for almost every area of university operations. His prior experience was at Mississippi State University, where he joined as a faculty member and held various positions, departing as dean of Arts and Sciences before moving to UTC.

At UTC Oldham has served as the chief academic officer with direct responsibility for all academic and research programs at the university as well as the library, admissions, financial aid, records, institutional research and planning, and partnerships and sponsored programs, among other offices. While there he led efforts to improve the university’s first-year retention rates, which jumped 12 percent in two years.

Along with a number of professional awards, publications and presentations, Oldham is the joint owner of two patents for research-related projects. He has also been solely or partially responsible for some $4.2 million in research funding provided by government agencies and private industry.

Oldham holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Freed-Hardeman University and earned the Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Texas A&M University. His full resume is available at http://tinyurl.com/poldham.

TTU, which is governed by the TBR, is located in Cookeville and enrolls almost 12,000 students in more than 60 programs of study, including doctoral degrees in engineering, environmental sciences and exceptional learning. The university is recognized by the state for its unique mission as the state’s only technological university and for outstanding programs in engineering, the sciences, and related areas. TTU also provides strong programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, agriculture and human ecology, nursing, music, art and interdisciplinary studies. Tennessee Tech serves students from throughout the state, nation, and many other countries, but it retains a special commitment to enrich the lives of people and communities in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.

The May 4 meeting is open to the public and the press as listeners. Those wishing dial-in information for the call should contact Monica Greppin-Watts at monica.greppin-watts@tbr.edu or 615-366-4417 before 4:30 p.m. May 3. Anyone with a disability who wishes to participate should use the same contact to request services needed to facilitate attendance. Contact may be made in person, by writing, by e-mail, by telephone or otherwise and should be received no later than 4:30 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, May 2.

The TBR is the nation’s sixth largest higher education system, governing 46 post-secondary educational institutions, including TTU. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 27 technology centers, providing programs in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties to more than 200,000 students.