UT INTERIM PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES ‘TRANSPARENT UT’ INITIATIVE
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – As part of his six priorities unveiled in late November, University of
Tennessee Interim President Randy Boyd announced an initiative geared toward providing
greater and easier access to information for UT’s faculty, staff, students and the communities it
serves.
Dubbed “Transparent UT,” the initiative directly addresses Boyd’s priority of providing greater
transparency and accountability.
“As I have traveled across the state during the past nine weeks, a common theme I’ve heard from
our stakeholders was the need for more information about how our system operates as well as
data on our outcomes,” said Boyd.
UT will launch tennessee.edu/transparency in the coming weeks to provide public access to
information in a centralized location.
“In an effort to determine what information would be available, our team has reviewed
frequently requested information from the general public, media and legislators for the past three
years,” said Boyd. “While most of the information is already available on our websites, we want
to create one central location for our most frequently requested information to make it easier to
find and access.”
The website will feature:
Comprehensive dashboard with information on enrollment, student demographics,
degrees awarded, retention, graduation rates, post-graduation outcomes, student quality
indicators, number of faculty, faculty workload, research activity, economic
development, revenues and expenditures
Information regarding UT’s presence and impact in each county
Searchable employee salary database
Tuition information
Executive staff and coaching contracts for each campus
Information about how the system is funded and how funds are spent
Various annual reports
Endowment investment information
Boyd also seeks to implement:
Webcasting and archiving all board of trustee committee meetings
Online access to materials for upcoming board of trustee meetings at least one week in
advance
Announcing all finalists in executive searches at one time – this includes the search for
UT Knoxville’s next chancellor
Webcasting and archiving faculty senate meetings
Boyd has assembled a Transparency Advisory Group to provide further input and guidance. This
short-term group includes a cross section of representatives from UT campuses, institutes and
constituencies.
Members of the group are:
Tiffany Carpenter, UT System, associate vice president for communications and
marketing (chair)
Sally Badoud, UT Health Science Center, assistant vice chancellor for communications
and marketing
Harry Brooks, retired legislator from East Tennessee
Edie Gibson, UT Martin, chief of staff
Scott Gordy, UT Institute for Public Service, information technology manager
David Manderscheid, UT Knoxville, provost
Rachel Smith, UT Chattanooga, student
Lannett Edwards, UT Institute of Agriculture, professor of animal science
Carey Whitworth, UT System, assistant vice president for government relations
The group will begin meeting in January.
For more information, contact the UT System Office of Marketing and Communications at 865-
974-0741.
