UT May Get Funds for Weekend, Evening College
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.
University of Tennessee President J. Wade Gilley has proposed establishing a metropolitan college that would cater to part-time and commuter students.
The college, which would be a part of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, would offer weekend and evening classes at off-campus sites. The school would focus mainly on technology and business, including several classes that would integrate the Internet into the coursework.
Gilley said in a letter to UTC Chancellor Bill Stacy that he would recommend to the UT board that it approve a $1 million grant to establish the school.
In the letter, he said the proposal for the new college “advances UTC’s stated mission to be a leading metropolitan university in America.”
Gilley said he would recommend to the board that the money be used over a five-year period to implement the college.
The UTC proposal and other President’s Academic Initiatives are funded by savings resulting from a multimillion-dollar streamlining of the UT administration, he said.
Frank Kinser, a Chattanooga member of the UT Board of Trustees, said the college fits into the master plan for the university.
“We are trying to be involved in the community where we live, work and participate in every day,” he said. “We are trying to educate good students, keep them at home, and do the same thing with faculty.”
Gilley said he would recommend an initial grant of $25,000 to enable UTC to hire consultants and come up with a five-year plan for using the $1 million to develop the college.
Stacy said that during the next year consultants will analyze what would be in the college, where it would sit in the academic divisions of the university and who would run it.
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