TBR - the College System of Tennessee

The Tennessee Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Dr. Jothany L. Blackwood as vice chancellor for academic affairs for The College System of Tennessee, the state’s public community and technical colleges.

Blackwood previously served as vice president for academic success at San Antonio College in Texas, winner of The Aspen Institute’s 2021 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, which recognizes high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges.

The College System of Tennessee has announced that its technical colleges will provide an onsite workforce training center to facilitate a career-to-workforce pipeline for Ford Motor Company’s future assembly plant in Blue Oval City – a $5.6 billion campus spanning 3,600 acres at the Memphis Regional Megasite in Stanton, Tennessee.

Cleveland State Community College is celebrating the opening of the first new building on its main campus in more than 40 years – the new Health & Science Center.

Gov. Bill Lee, Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Flora W. Tydings and other state and local leaders joined President Bill Seymour, students and other college representatives for a grand opening ceremony March 5. Classes will start in the new 54,000-square-feet facility March 15.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has entered into a collaborative partnership with the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Knoxville and Knoxville College that reinforces UT’s commitment to connect the university’s knowledge and resources with the community in mutually beneficial ways, UT announced Thursday.

It’s no secret that Tennessee, like much of the nation, has experienced a shortage of skilled workers in recent years – with high demands for more nurses, computer technicians, welders and other technical fields. In an effort to encourage more young Tennesseans to consider one of these many careers, TBR – The College System of Tennessee has premiered an original children’s book entitled “Let’s Explore Technical Careers.”

The College System of Tennessee honored six outstanding students, faculty and staff members and two colleges of the year in its second annual Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition (SOAR) Awards during the Tennessee Board of Regents quarterly meeting Tuesday, April 7.

The Tennessee Board of Regents will conduct its spring quarterly meeting by telephone conference call Tuesday, April 7. The agenda includes announcement of the outstanding students, faculty, staff and colleges of the year in the second annual Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition (SOAR) Awards.

The Board of Regents governs the 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology comprising the College System of Tennessee.

Other agenda items include:

A Tennessee Board of Regents Search Advisory Committee has selected four finalists for the next president of Jackson State Community College. All four will participate in campus visits during the week of March 16, the next step in the selection process.

The finalists are:

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.

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.