Board of Regents to meet Dec. 9. Agenda includes search criteria for next presidents of Cleveland State Community College and TCAT Oneida/Huntsville

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) will hold its next regular quarterly meeting Dec. 9, 2025, at the TBR system office in Nashville. Agenda highlights include but are not limited to consideration of search criteria for the next presidents of Cleveland State Community College and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Oneida/Huntsville, a new degree program in Artificial Intelligence Technology at Southwest Tennessee Community College, and reports on the system foundation’s fundraising, TCAT student access and success trends, and the Tennessee Direct Admissions initiative.

The board governs the College System of Tennessee – the state’s public community colleges and colleges of applied technology.

The board will convene at 9:30 a.m. CT, Tuesday, Dec. 9, in the ground-floor boardroom at the TBR System Office at 1 Bridgestone Park, Nashville, TN 37214. The meeting will be livestreamed and archived on the TBR website at https://www.tbr.edu/board/december-2025-quarterly-board-meeting.

The board agenda, executive summary, and board materials are posted at the same meeting link above.

The board will review and act on criteria for the next presidents of Cleveland State and TCAT Oneida/Huntsville. Dr. Andy White resigned last month as president of Cleveland State, where Dr. Ray Brooks is serving as interim president. At TCAT Oneida/Huntsville, President Dwight Murphy plans to retire next summer. After the criteria are approved, the board will appoint separate search advisory committees comprised of board members; faculty, staff, students and alumni of the colleges, and civic, business and industry leaders from their communities to assist in the searches.

The board will consider a proposed new Associate of Applied Science degree and program in Artificial Intelligence Technology at Southwest Tennessee Community College, the first of its kind in the state. The program is designed to address Tennessee’s rapidly growing demand for AI-skilled employees in healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, business, cybersecurity and other fields.  

Other agenda items include the chancellor’s quarterly report; the annual fundraising report of the Foundation for the College System of Tennessee, and informational reports and presentations on a new publicly accessible TBR Strategic Plan Metrics Dashboard; the Tennessee Direct Admissions initiative to simplify the college admissions process; TCAT student access, enrollment and success trends, and the Regents Award for Excellence in Philanthropy presented earlier this year to Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga.

The board will also consider nominations for faculty emeriti designations for five retired faculty members, from Motlow State, Nashville State and Southwest Tennessee community colleges; revisions to the fiscal year 2025-26 institutional budgets; a resolution of appreciation for former board member Shane Hooper, and minutes of the Nov. 12 public meetings of the board’s Personnel & Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee. The Personnel & Compensation Committee report includes recommended approval of institution compensation proposals from five community colleges and the system office.

The meetings are open to the public. Contact Dr. Mariah Perry, Board Secretary, at mariah.perry@tbr.edu or 615-366-3927 for security access or accommodations by 3 p.m. CT Monday, Dec. 8.

The meeting may include members participating by electronic means.

Persons who want to request to address the Board may follow the process authorized by TBR Policy 1.02.12.00 – Requests to Address the Board, at https://tbr.navexone.com/content/dotNet/documents/?docid=33&app=pt&source=unspecified&public=true