2023 State of the University Address: Positioning ETSU for the Future

President Brian Noland shares ETSU’s new initiatives, solid financial health in annual ‘State of the University’ address

In his annual ‘State of the University’ address delivered last week, East Tennessee State University President Dr. Brian Noland provided an overview of the university’s financial health, new and in-progress initiatives, and impact on the community. The address served as the culmination of the university’s 2023 Founders Week celebrations, which commemorated ETSU’s founding 112 years ago on October 10, 1911.

• State of the University Transcript

  What does it mean to be a Buccaneer? At East Tennessee State University, being a Buc isn't just about school spirit it's about expressing our true spirit. At ETSU, we believe in celebrating you while pursuing a purpose greater than yourself. In speaking your mind while keeping an open mind and treating everyone with grace and civility. We take pride in our talents, but know that hard work beats raw talent every time. We believe people come first and that our communities are our people. We know that classrooms go beyond walls and that imagination and a little elbow grease can unlock a whole new world. Bucs work harder. Bucs give back. Bucs go beyond. Good morning! My name is Brian Noland and I've had the privilege to serve as the president of East Tennessee State University for the better part of 12 years. And I feel many days that I have the greatest job in the world because in this position I have the honor to tell the stories of the people who define this institution. And today, it's my privilege not only to share some stories with you but to share data and perspectives on the state of the university as we move through the 2023- 24 Academic Year. And I want to frame my comments this morning within the mission and the history of this university. This week, we've celebrated Founders Week.

  Yesterday, we gathered outside Gilbreath Hall to rededicate a building that has served as the academic cornerstone of this institution since we opened in 1911. But on October 10th, 1911 as elected leaders and educational leaders and early faculty and staff at the institution gathered, our founding president Sydney Gilbreath gave both the charge to the university as well as its mission and that mission is to improve the quality of life for the people of the region. And as we move through the presentation today, we're going to demonstrate with example after example how we as a university live that mission. And that mission is wrapped within the strategic planning framework that the Board of Trustees approved in 2016 and that was reaffirmed with the work of the committee for 125 — pillars predicated on access, success, and impact And these are the framing elements for that strategic plan and these elements will frame my comments today.

  So let's jump in and talk about access and success. This is enrollment at East Tennessee State University for this fall almost 14,000 students enrolled at ETSU. The largest class of graduate students in the history of the university. The largest class of students enrolled at Quillen in the history of the university. This is an institution on the move because of people and the power and the quality of our academic programs and you see that reflected in our enrollment growth. And here's our Freshman Class — the largest freshman class in the history of the university with respect to GPA the best prepared academically in the history of the university and you see how that freshman class breaks out with respect to residency but here's residency for the campus as a whole.

  I want to take a moment to thank our board and particularly Melissa Steagall-Jones who's here with us today. She was here today and yesterday. She was here at Remembers. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the university but thank you for giving this institution the ability to reset out-of-state tuition and fees. That forward act by the board is reflected in the enrollment growth that you see here and we're rebounding in many areas, particularly International students. From my perspective, we have rebounded from the COVID decline and now we're positioning to grow and to grow moving forward.

  But that growth isn't just predicated on my opinion. That growth is predicated on the research of Dr Mike Hoff, Dr Joe Chappell and their staff and I want to take a moment to say thank you to Dr Hoff. The bulk of what I'm doing today is channeling Dr. Hoff. The slides, the background, the data are because of his work and dedication. But let's also look at what we as an institution sometimes take for granted. Our enrollment projections were within 94 students this year. So when we began building the budget last fall, that budget was built on scientific research. And you can see how close we are. But now here's my challenge: next year, Dr. Hoff and his staff say we'll be at 14,021 next fall. I'm confident that we'll be north of that number as we move into the fall for some reasons that I'll outline for you as we move through the slides.

  So let's step back and take a look at Tennessee enrollment. As we're well aware, enrollment across the state has declined since 2012. And here you see that broken out by institution. Minus the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, almost every institution in the state of Tennessee has seen vacillation in terms of their enrollment numbers. But I draw your attention to the community colleges at the top of the chart. 20,000 fewer students are enrolled in the community college system now than in 2012. Why does that matter? Because we're an institution that predicated part of our enrollment strategy on transfer and as there are fewer students moving through that system, that makes our direct recruitment efforts all the more important. And that number is also reflected in FTE trends. 

  Now, here's data for this fall. This is a positive story for all institutions across the state because for almost every institution in the state of Tennessee, we are seeing a rebound from the COVID decline and at Northeast State, Northeast State, if my memory is correct, had a 7% increase. So this is a sign that Tennessee is rebounding from the COVID pandemic. But it's also a sign that students are returning to higher education because they realize the value of degrees beyond high school. So let's shift and talk a little bit about success. Our retention numbers have rebounded. There was the 2-year decline because of COVID. Our retention numbers are back at 74%. Still, we have marked progress to make to hit our strategic planning goal of 80%. And then here's that information from another glimpse. So this is start at East Tennessee State University, return. This is data for this fall, the class of 22 fall freshman who came this fall 23. This is last year's data for the state. We have about a 4% bump from students who start at ETSU and transfer to other universities. But it gives you a sense of how our data compares to in-state peers. And now here's the graduation rate. Once again, the impact of COVID moving through. It's going to take a couple of years for that to ripple through from a student success perspective, unless we make purposeful actions to change the arc of this curve. These students are enrolled at East Tennessee State University. Our opportunity to become engaged and involved with them gives us the chance to move students towards the realization of degrees. And as we move through the presentation today, I'm going to talk about some of the work that's underway to help us meet our student success metrics. And then once again, here's that compared to the state, start at our institution, graduate anywhere. That number is then 62%. So, let's talk some about engagement. I shared this data with the Board of Trustees at our September meeting, but in a different format. This is student engagement in major activities, up 60% since 2018. Our students are yearning to be active on our campus, to be engaged with us both inside the classrooms, outside the classrooms and beyond. And you see that with a rapid growth in participation across a wide variety of elements.

  But this face shows the spirit of engagement. This is the face of one of our students when they learned that our majorette and flag corps would have the opportunity to open the Radio City Music Hall performance next fall. I want to take a moment to thank Dr. Joe Moore and all the faculty in the department of music for what they do not only to build a culture of engagement but they are some of the best recruiters at this institution. In fact, last Saturday, when many of you were home asleep, where were they? They were in Bristol at the Stone Castle putting on a demonstration for marching bands from across the region. Demonstrating not only engagement but a commitment to student success. And I can show all the numbers in the world, but that face defines what we're trying to capture here at the university.

  But this is more than what happens outside of the classroom. Engagement is what happens in the classroom and beyond. I want to thank Dr. Kimberly McCorkle for her leadership. For decades, we've wanted to have a unified campus read and we have one this year because of her vision and her direction. The work we're doing with the QEP to take our learning that occurs in the classroom to move it in the communities and to enhance internship placement rates and opportunities for community engagement. That's what we're moving towards. But it's also high impact practices. That number, 414 students studying abroad, is a record number in the history of the institution. Those high impact practices drive students towards engagement, drive them towards success, and drive them towards degrees. I'm not going to go into all of these elements, um the over under on slides is under a hundred for those who are counting, but these are elements that we're actively engaged in this year. Housing transformation: we're going to renovate buildings, and we're going to build new residence halls. We're developing new academic programs. We're building out wraparound advising support. And we're undertaking a holistic review of scholarships to ensure that the investments we make in students are maximizing their return, both on the yield side as well as the success side. All of this work is underway, and we'll share details about this work as we go through the fall.

  But one of the elements that I want to spotlight is the work that Jessica Vodden and her staff have done to help market this institution, and these are some of the elements that are key differentiators for ETSU. But here's what those elements mean when they come together. It's not just defining us, it's defining the region. We were ranked the top adventure college in the United States. And this is a destination community because of the way that all of these factors come together to tell a story. But when you look at those factors, those factors also come together to tell a story of excellence. because Encoura has ranked us as one of the top four institutions in the nation in terms of our communication outreach and enrollment-related marketing campaigns. And this just isn't media buys. It's service. It's support. This ranking is reflected not only in the product but in the care that we provide to our students. And you see here one of the quotes that came from a student that participated in this research. "Not only were they kind, they made me feel like they cared about my college career. I want to thank Dr Sherlin and Dr Levesque for their work to assess from top to bottom our outreach efforts, our recruitment efforts as well as our onground experiential work, our tours our guides, our outreach, our marketing and our engagement has been completely transformed over the past three years. Last week, I had the chance to be in South Carolina with Dr Sherlin and his team meeting with high school counselors and then visiting high schools across the state telling the ETSU story. That's boots on the ground and that's one of the reasons why we're ranked as one of the top four institutions in the nation in this space.

  So now let's move on to the next pillar: excellence and teaching. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the three distinguished faculty awardees from this year. Dr Dawn Rowe, the distinguished faculty awardee in research, Dr. Jessica Burchette will deliver the commencement address in December for teaching, and Dr. Greene for the distinguished service award. They're reflective of the more than 2,600 faculty and staff at this institution and the work that they do in teaching, research and service is second to none. But as we look at the work that's occurring across the campus, this is a moment in which we as an institution are taking purposeful time to prepare ourselves for the future. We have a group, under leadership of a shared governance structure that's examining our academic structure, that's examining the way in which we as an institution are organized to meet our mission and to meet the emerging and changing needs of our students. We've got a group that's assessing policies across the university. And then all of this comes together from a programmatic perspective with accreditation. And we've had successful accreditation visits in music, physical therapy, nursing, public health and others. But there's more. There's new academic programs being developed. There are academic partnerships being developed to grow our online enrollment and then we are fundamentally assessing what it means to be part of an undergraduate experience at this institution, and what are the learning outcomes that we expect for students. We're redesigning the Gen Ed core. Most universities would take this one at a time. We're tackling all of this work at once, and we're doing it from a position of strength. You'll see in a little bit, we are in solid financial position.

  So this work to re-examine the academic heart and core of the university is positioning us to continue that success for decades to come. Now, this is one that for those of you who are looking at the chart you're wondering what's quality assurance funding and why is a 97 important? A number of years ago, when I worked at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, I had the great opportunity to lead the state's performance funding program. A program that assesses academic quality across the broad range of the institutions. We assess learning outcomes in the gen ed core. We're above the national average on the California Critical Thinking and Skills test here at ETSU. Learning outcomes in all the major fields are assessed. Not only do we define academic program quality through accreditation, we do it through program reviews. And there are a variety of other measures that move into this metric. But what this is, is quality improvement and continuous quality improvement at work today at the University. And that 97 is the highest score that we've received in almost two decades. So, not only are accrediting bodies realizing the work that's underway at this university, the state is realizing the depth and breadth and scope of the work at East Tennessee State University. Once again, I want to take a moment to thank Dr. Cheri Clavier and her staff. We've got one more hurdle to cross. We'll go before the full SACS COC board in December. But as a reminder, no findings, no recommendations, and at that exit conference, the exit team said this was the best site visit that they had had in their careers. This is a milestone moment in the history of this institution and it's made possible by our employees.

  This is a picture of Dr. Michelle Byrd from the hero celebration the other day. Dr Byrd was recognized for her work to go above and beyond to serve the students of this institution. She's reflective of the dedication and commitment of the 2,600 faculty and staff at this institution to making a difference not only in the lives of the university but in the lives of the community as a whole. Each year I present the Great Colleges to Work For survey to you. This is the newest survey data. You can see that we remain above the Carnegie Benchmark, but we still have some work to do.

  We have work to do in the space of performance management. All of us are familiar with elements from job audits to reviews that are bogged down in blue tape and as we move through the Voyager process I think you'll see these numbers move because we're going to make the university more efficient. So we're above the Carnegie Benchmark, but we still have work to do in order to hit the goals that we've set for ourselves. We also have work to do with respect to salaries. When I started in the position of president in 2012, we were below peers with respect to salary compensation for faculty. We also were below peers with respect to salary compensation for staff. And almost every single year minus one we've provided salary enhancements. But we've never provided salary enhancements like we will this fall.

  We will take to the board in November the largest salary increase in almost three decades — a 4.5% across the board salary enhancement and we're going to increase starting pay for employees who are benefits eligible to $13.65 which is a 19% increase. This is made possible because of the financial stewardship of the individuals in the room. It's also made possible because of the investments that the state has made in our university. But this is the largest salary investment in almost three decades in the people who are the heart of our university. So now let's talk a little bit about how we can make the operations of this institution more efficient and effective for those people. In the institution's strategic plan that was approved by the board in 2016, we outlined for the board and for the campus that we were going to look at structure both academically as well as operationally. So the work that's now underway in 23 we hinted in that direction in 16 we said we were going to look at structure both on the college side as well as the administrative side. And we took purposeful steps to move in that direction. But we also brought in outside help in 21 to assess the operations of the university.

  Many of you will remember the Huron engagement. Huron was on campus and for the better part of a year and a half they looked at elements related to class comp and job families. They also looked at elements related to market salary conditions, turnover rates, and HR processes. Huron helped us to assess and define a future for an institution that's on the move. And as we move through the work of the Oracle transition, what we're essentially looking at is becoming more efficient, more effective, cutting blue tape and improving processes. We have an operational framework for the institution that was created in the 1980s. It runs on hard code. Pull out your old computer from the 80s if you can still find it. That's what we're running. From a framework perspective, we're moving to a modern system. Will there be bumps in the road? Yes, but when it's done, this institution will be more efficient and effective as a result.

  And what does it mean? It means we are going to look at the manner in which we structure class and comp at ETSU. Our system is antiquated and we're going to move towards a best practice system that provides broad market ranges, provides flexibility, and gives us the ability to work in an environment that is 21st century rather than 19th century. We're also working in an environment that's quickly on the move in the area of research. And I want to thank Dr Nick Hagemeier and his staff for the goals that they set for us. We will become a premier R2 institution in the nation, and you see that reflected in the next couple of charts. Look at the increase in Sponsored Awards in a short period of time — a $30 million increase between 2016-17 and this fall. And look at what we're spending on Research, from $6.9 million in 2015 to $23 Million last fall. This is an institution that is investing in research, research that makes a difference but we're also investing in initiatives and elements that bring people together to share their stories so that research isn't existing in a silo. I look forward to attending one of the new faculty three minute mixers which gets at inter professionalism collaboration and people working together to raise the sites for this institution. But what happens when we raise those sites? We make a difference in the lives of our community.

  Dr Jerry Leger has worked at ETSU for more than four decades and in his work at the institution he's brought in millions of dollars that make a difference in the lives of others. 48,000 people across this region have been touched by his work. That is research and service focused on a mission, making a difference. But Dawn Rowe, our outstanding faculty in research, is also focused on making a difference. A year ago, the Provost and I had the great honor to provide an honorary degree to Kenny Chesney and this gentleman that's pictured here has a rich story. Many of you have heard me tell that story, but as I told his story to Mr Chesney tears rolled down Kenny's face and he said that young man right there? And I said that young man right there. His life has been transformed by our faculty and the purposeful research that they do. And we had the opportunity to share that with the world last fall, when our most famous alum stood on the stage and was reminded of the importance of the mission and the role that faculty play in changing the lives of this region. But we've got lives to change across the region and the next strategic planning goal is in Equity and Inclusion.

  We've talked at length about Moon Shot. It's one of the top priorities for the institution and the board as we go through the Academic Year. And these are the elements that Moon Shot is focused on and here's the work that we've done over the course of the past year and a half. Work related to enhancing the use of Navigate across the institution. Work related to wraparound advising. Work that will launch an African-American male success initiative at the institution. Why does it matter? Because when you look at the university, this is the most diverse class in the history of the institution that's enrolled this fall. Look at the significant growth in Hispanic and Latino students and I want to take a moment to thank Dr Felipe Fuiza for his work. He brings students to campus every single year for Hispanic Student Day, not to talk about ETSU but to talk about the transformative power of higher education and the importance of getting a degree, any degree beyond high school - two-year, four-year, public, private, a certificate, anything drives economic development. That's what Moon Shot is about. Raising opportunities for all students.

  Because all students deserve the opportunity to realize their dreams. And we've got work to do. Here's gaps by demographic group for retention. Here's gaps by graduation rate across the state. It's not just ETSU that has to raise the bar. The entire state has to raise the bar if we're going to hit our benchmarks and our goals of drive to 55. So how are we getting at it? We're getting at it with data. Once again, the work that Dr Hoff and Dr Chappell are doing are data deep dives, analytically driven interventions to focus on reducing equity gaps. This is fall GPA and lower division courses this is GPA at the end of a freshman year and you see for underrepresented groups the GPA at the close of the freshman year is a 2.6. Why is that important? Because when we look at probability of graduation by GPA at the close of the freshman year anything above a 2.7 is a 50% chance of graduating. Anything below a 2.7 is less than a 50% chance of graduating. And if you have a 3.5 at the end of your freshman year, you've got a 70% chance of graduating and graduating on time. So using data to do deep dives to inform interventions. And why are those interventions needed? Because this chart shows the work that we have to do to reduce equity gaps. And one of the ways we're doing so is by critical intervention with a Navigate platform and work we're doing in advising. I'm not going to read all the bullet points, but I will draw your attention to the first one: students who meet with advisers and actively engage with their advisors were 40% more likely to persist than students who did not. That engagement makes a difference. And the work that we're doing with navigate makes a difference. I want to thank staff for the work that they're doing in that space.

  I want to thank Ethan Hutchinson for his work and I want to thank Dan Bishop for the work that he's doing with veterans. If there are veteran students who have not attended class for a week straight, if there are veteran students who come up in the alert element on Navigate, we're reaching out and calling those students and saying is everything going okay? What can we do to help? As we replicate that across the board, we need more faculty utilizing the Navigate platform, because the biggest day-to-day impact with the student is with faculty. So how can we as an institution utilize the technology platforms that we have to drive student success? One of the areas in which we are driving success is work in community stewardship. That work is funded and supported by the ETSU Foundation. We just wrapped up a comprehensive campaign. We surpassed our goals by more than $40 million. But the community is supporting this institution at unprecedented levels. But our students are supporting the community as well. I shared this slide with the Board of Trustees in September and I want to share it again by design. Look at the increased number of students at Preview who participated in Service Plunge. And I want to thank Joy Fulkerson for her leadership in building the connections that make this possible. But what's made possible through those connections? Our students gave $1 million to community organizations. If you believe the mantra about higher education and what people say about this generation, they're selfish. They're constantly focused on their phone. And they're isolated. That's not the case here. Our students aren't asking for handouts. They're giving handouts to the community, reaching out in partnership and making a difference. Our students gave a million dollars back to this community over the course of the past five years.

  We've talked at length about the work that we're doing in the QEP. This is more than just a QEP. This is an embodiment of the mission of the university. But that mission of the university is also embodied in the work of our faculty. This is Dr Bracken Burns. When Dr Burns joined ETSU Health, he was one of just three trauma surgeons at JCMC. Now, there are eight trauma surgeons at JCMC. Nationally ranked, nationally recognized. Our lives and the community's lives are touched. A level one trauma center is here in Johnson City. Why? Because of the College of Medicine and the work of Dr Bracken Burns and his team, the work that we're doing in ETSU Health is a difference maker for this institution. The ability to move students from point A to point B into the communities is a difference maker for this institution. But it's also a difference maker for the region, because I bet every single person in this room has been touched by the faculty, staff, and graduates of ETSU Health. I've shared with you my story in which, because of the ability of faculty at this institution, I'm able to stand here today and give this presentation. But all of you, if you concentrate and reflect, know a family member, a loved one or your own story that was impacted by our faculty. So sometimes we take things for granted. This is something we should never take for granted. It is distinctive for our region and distinctive for our institution.

  This has been a busy week. And I want to take a moment to thank someone who often works behind the scenes to make things move, who keeps me grounded. We had Founders Week this week because of Dr Adam Green. Dr Green helped to bring elements together, helped to frame a pitch, and brought this in a way that allowed us to purposefully celebrate the history of the university. So Dr Green thank you for establishing what I hope becomes a new tradition at the university and there were moments that happened this week that were pure magic. Other than my car alarm going off yesterday as we were attempting to cut the ribbon on Gilbreath Hall, for me the magic was to watch our students on the main stage here in The Martin Center give pitches for things that they were passionate about. Pitches in which they were partnering with the community to make a difference. And then on Tuesday we were reminded of how important this institution is as we welcomed family back to ETSU who had lost their loved ones over the course of the past year. So as we reflect upon this week, this is a chance for us to look at how we as members of the university community are part of a mission that was established 110 years ago, a mission that remains true and pure to this day.

  So let's talk a little bit about budgets. We're fortunate to live in a state that is investing in higher education. There's a lot of movement in this chart, and I'm going to move through the next through few slides quickly but when you get back to your office and dig into the data, you'll see that the average appropriation per student in Tennessee is $2,354 above the national average. But now, let's look at that in Tennessee terms. When I started as President, we received $45 million from the state to run the operations of this institution. That number's now $89 million, a $45 million increase from the state to support the operations of ETSU. And now let's put that in comparison to the other universities. Our state investments are outpacing those of other institutions in the state. Why? Because of the work of the people in this room to drive student success. How are we funded? We're funded based on outcomes, the number of students who passed 30 60 90 credit hour thresholds, the number of graduates, research productivity, the scorecard that the state set to determine success is a scorecard that we've excelled at. And you see that reflected in the chart here. A 95.3% growth in state appropriations from 12 to now. We have more resources to invest in our faculty and staff and the distribution of the resources has changed. 10 years ago it was about 70/30 tuition to State. Now it's about 60/40 and you see that reflected here. Here's where our revenue comes from. Here's where those investments go. Investments in our people. And as we referenced earlier, we're investing more in our people this year than we ever have at any point in the history of ETSU. Here are those investments by functional class.

  So let's talk a little about this year's budget. For the Deans who are looking at this and thinking "why haven't we seen this before?" you're going to get it Monday. But it's good news. We are, through the use of the budget structures that are set in place at this institution, going to provide resources through the 50-50 fallout. We will invest in reserves. We'll take to the board in November a recommendation to put $4 million in reserves, to spend $1.5 million on a new chiller for the Brinkley Center, and to move the university forward. So, we as an institution are in solid financial position and these one-time revenues — not recurring, one time, these are Fallout dollars — will be transitioned back to the colleges in that manner. So here's the current state of the university. We're an institution that's governed by a decentralized budget model. We moved to that budget model in response to calls that were raised from faculty staff and leadership to provide incentives to the colleges to be innovative, to be mindful, and to be wise stewards. And all of that has come to fruition. The pass-through dollars, the reserves are all reflections of an institution that's following those values. But if you were to ask people, are they satisfied with the budget model they're just as dissatisfied with the new model as they were with the old model. So it's time to assess the model. Here's current state. This is potential future state. Potentially moving to an all-funds model. Potentially creating incentive pools that foster innovation. And here's the group that will lead that work. They had their kickoff meeting earlier this month and they will meet throughout the year utilizing this charge. We will continue to be open and transparent with respect to budgeting. I do anticipate that we'll continue to have some elements of decentralization but I also anticipate that some things may move back to the central core so that we can be more efficient and effective in the utilization of scarce resources.

  But our resources look very different than resources at peer institutions across the nation. Each day you pick up the Chronicle and read about universities that are declaring financial exigency, that are closing, or closing academic programs. The work that we're doing here is to prepare the university for the rainy day. We are being proactive rather than reactive and I'm proud of the position that we're in. This is going to take work. Some of the discussions around college structure, budget structure, and others are not going to be easy conversations. But the work that unfolds from those conversations will position the institution to continue to be on the sound financial setting that we are now and not in the choppy waters that our peer institutions find themselves in this fall. So let's step back and talk a little bit about higher education as a whole. We've done a deep dive into ETSU, outlining that our enrollment has increased, largest freshman class, graduate class, College of Medicine class in the history of the university. Our retention rates have rebounded.

  Our budgets are balanced. We're giving money back to the colleges through official communication next week. We're making investments in people.  What's happening around us?

  What's the state of higher education? I've shared this with you before. I'm not going to belabor the point. But the press would have you believe that the public is increasingly dissatisfied with higher education. But they're dissatisfied with everything! If you took that survey question from Gallup and broke it out, you would see that they're dissatisfied with everything. What's a poll? It's a moment in time snapshot of a select number of individuals responding to a select question. So here's another poll done by SCORE asking Tennesseans what they thought of higher education. Most Tennesseans viewed higher education in a positive way. And what did they want for their children? They wanted their children to go to college. More than 80% saying they wanted their kids to go to a university. That's what's happening. So set aside the noise and look at how people vote with their feet. I mentioned enrollment's up at our institution and enrollment's up across the state, but nationally applications are up 21%. total application volume is up 30%. Minority applications are up 31%. So people understand the important role that higher education plays and the role that it plays is critical. Why? Because we've got a workforce gap. Job growth and job vacancies, there's a 3.5% gap. Now let's put that in numbers according to SCORE. Between the beginning of the decade and the end of the decade, this state will produce 600,000 new jobs. The predominance of those jobs require college degrees. So we need more students moving through the pipeline. More students graduating from our university to fill this workforce need. Now we know college going rates declined because of COVID. They particularly declined for men. But now let's look at the numbers for a second.

  Here's the number of high school graduates since 2013. There is not a demographic cliff in Tennessee. For your colleagues in states where the sun goes away in November and doesn't come back out until April, they have a demographic cliff. But here, we do not. What we have is a college-going problem. That's why we're focused on P20 here at the university. Because if we can move that college-going rate back up to the mid-60s not only will we hit our enrollment targets but we'll be positioned to help the state meet that target of 600,000 additional degree earners. But now let's break that out by high school in our region. And there's a lot here to unpack but look at the bottom point on the slide.

  When we opened our doors in 1911 we were a normal school. In 1929, we opened Alexander Hall. The University School has been part of the fabric of this institution since its founding. It's a best practice entity. How can we innovate, experiment and take the results of that and apply it to schools across the region? That's what we should be doing. Because as you look across the region, there's wide disparity from urban, rural, upper income, lower income. This is why we must focus on P20. This is why we have to evaluate the way we train teachers, prepare teachers, prepare leaders. Not because what we're doing is wrong but because what those individuals are moving into are environments that are increasingly complicated. So I can't imagine what it's like for only a third of the students in a high school to go on to college the following fall, but that's reality in many of the high schools in our region. But it's also reality across the state.

  Now this number's improved a little bit since I shared it with you last, but still only one in four students who graduate from high school in the state of Tennessee receive any type of degree, certificate, two-year, four-year. One in four. If we're going to meet the Drive to 55 objectives or meet the real needs from the economy, we have to continue to focus on these numbers. Now, going back to polls. When you survey students about why they're not going to college, one of the first things they say is that it's too expensive and they don't want to go into debt. Here at East Tennessee State University, our debt burdens have lowered. And mind you, half the students who graduate from this institution graduate with no debt at all. So our ability to move students through the pipeline more efficiently, effectively, to look at scholarships, in the packaging of aid to ensure that we're maximizing those investment both for us as well as the recipients will allow us to continue to make progress in this space.

  Once again, here's our strategic planning pillars: access, success, and impact. What does all that mean to come together? In a way, it means that we as an institution — we're educators. We know the public and private benefits that occur for individuals from investments in higher ed. We can talk about earnings potential. We can talk all kinds of quality of life elements. But the older I get, the more important this slide becomes because those with bachelor's degrees are going to live 8 and a half years longer than those without. this is the region where we live. Here's degree attainment. Here's poverty rates. Unemployment rates. Folks who take the lottery scholarships and ACT scores. There's no other entity in our region that has the ability to change the future of this region like us. We've done it since we opened our doors in 1911. Look at how Healthcare in our region has improved because of the creation of the College of Medicine. Look at how education in this region has improved because of the creation of the Normal School. This is the challenge in front of us with our teaching, research, and service. How do we move these numbers? I have the great honor to work at this university and Donna and I have had the great privilege to play a role in the stories of this institution for the past 12 years. Donna, thank you for the sacrifices that you've made to be a part of this journey because the two of us together believe deeply in the mission of this institution. And I think these couple of paragraphs define not only who we are but who we are collectively. We work hard. We put people first. And we go beyond. I've got lots of cliches that you've heard me say about who we are as a university, blue collar, gold standard. We're not the city on the hill, we're the hardworking people who built the hill. But this is an institution that makes a difference. And you see that difference defined here.

  But now let's talk about what's in front of us. State superintendent of schools JW Brister defined this well. Education is not a process that's static. Schools aren't fixed institutions and curriculum must change if there's to be proper response to changing conditions. We've got to think about the social aspects of education in ways that we never have before and we've got a dream of creating a rural centered, focused community and we've got to stress the idea aide of efficiency in education. This is what we're doing this fall. Voyager. College structure. Gen Ed review. Budget model review. Financial aid review. All of these elements are encapsulated in the charge from the superintendent of schools. The work that we're doing to build buildings. The work that we're doing to modernize our classrooms. All of this is in response to the superintendent of schools. But that charge was given on our founding in 1911. And why do I close with this slide? Because the work we've been doing since then is the work we must continue to do today. It's not easy work, but it's meaningful work. It's purposeful work. And it's part of our mission. I'm honored to serve as the president of this institution, and I've never been more excited about our future. Our enrollment's up, our success metrics are moving in the right direction, our quality is reflected in both national and programmatic accreditation. Our budgets are balanced. We're giving the largest raises in decades. We have more capital construction underway than ever before. So what's our charge and responsibility? To ensure that we position ourselves to continue that momentum.

  If we take advantage of the opportunity in front of us we can transform the university. But I don't want to be in a position where we rest on our laurels, we let grass grow between our toes, and 5 years from now we're in a position like our colleagues at places such as my alma Mater where we're reacting because we weren't proactive. So thank you for being proactive. Thank you for all that you do for this institution. thank you for your commitment. Thank you for your service. God speed and go [Applause] Bucs! There's still food and refreshment in the lobbies. There's diet Pepsi for everyone. You all have a great weekend.

Financial Health

President Noland reported that ETSU began fiscal year 2024 on July 1 with a balanced budget and solid reserves. During his address, he thanked Governor Bill Lee and members of the Tennessee General Assembly for supporting the state’s higher education system through appropriations and for dedicating funds to support ETSU in particular. Over the past two years, state officials have approved historic funding for renovation and new construction projects at ETSU and provided annual state appropriations for the first time in history to help fund ETSU’s Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy.

President Noland also shared a proposal to increase faculty and staff salaries, which includes raising the university’s starting hourly wage for full-time, benefits-eligible employees to $13.65, a 19.3 percent increase over the current starting rate of $11.44. Additionally, he proposed giving all full-time, benefits-eligible employees a 4.5 percent increase, capped at $7,500 per person. The proposal will be reviewed and considered by the university’s Board of Trustees during its quarterly meeting in November.

Major Initiatives

While ETSU is on solid financial footing and experiencing enrollment gains, President Noland pointed out that many higher education institutions across the country are facing major budget shortfalls and decreasing enrollment. He stressed the need for the university to be agile and proactive to ensure it continues to meet the needs of students and the community in a rapidly evolving world. During his address, he pointed to the forward-thinking strategic plan developed and approved by ETSU’s Board of Trustees and provided updates on several major initiatives that students, faculty, and staff are leading to implement the plan. Strategies to position the university for long-term success include:

• A review of the university’s academic structure and general education or “core” curriculum to address shifting workforce and societal needs,
• Updates to the budget model to improve financial management and projections,
• A review of job classification and compensation structures to align with market demands,
• An overhaul of the university’s business processes and software systems,
• A greater focus on supporting the success of low-income, male, underrepresented, and military-affiliated student groups,
• Additional investments in institutional research and the creation of the ETSU Research Corporation to drive innovation and economic growth,
• Implementation of the university’s quality enhancement plan (QEP), which focuses on providing students with hands-on, community-engaged learning experiences,
• Additions and updates to university housing options, and
• Development of new academic programs including Mechatronics, Synthetic Biology, and Bio-Engineering.

Community Impact

Throughout his presentation, President Noland emphasized ETSU’s mission to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. He offered numerous examples of the university’s positive impact. From medical faculty powering trauma care in the region to students donating more than $1 million to local charities over the past five years, ETSU students, faculty, and staff are working hand-in-hand with community members to uplift the Appalachian Highlands.

“You hear a lot of negative things about this generation,” President Noland said. “That they are selfish, uninformed, unengaged, lazy — always on their phones. But that is not true here at ETSU. Our students are eager to connect with the community. They are not looking for handouts. They are rolling up their sleeves, getting involved, and giving others a hand up. Every day, our students, faculty, and staff are making tangible, meaningful contributions to make the world a better place.”  

A video of President Noland’s 'State of the University' address is available online at etsu.edu/president along with a copy of the 2023 President’s Annual Report to the University.

East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.