UT System president cites enrollment growth, $477 million fundraising record and outlines 2030 strategic plan

Randy Boyd, president of the University of Tennessee System, told trustees in Chattanooga that systemwide enrollment is tracking above 65,000 and that the system set a new fundraising record of $476,935,994 for the year.

Boyd told the board the system forecasts an enrollment increase “of upwards of 4.8%” in the coming weeks and said the administration will continue work on a systemwide student information roadmap, retention and graduation initiatives and a strategic plan through 2030.

Those items, Boyd said, are part of four strategic priorities under development: access and engagement; student outcomes; research-driven economic and societal impact (with a specific emphasis on workforce); and advancing the state through community engagement. He said four “priority enablers” — people, data/technology, government relations/communications and infrastructure — will support those priorities.

"This is our moment to seize an opportunity," Boyd said, urging the system to invest while other campuses retrench. "Where other campuses are cutting back, cutting budgets, we're gonna be the ones that are gonna be investing." (Randy Boyd, President)

Boyd reported other specific developments: a previously held contract for a teacher apprenticeship program known as Grow Your Own was not renewed by the Department of Education; a five-year extension to a long-standing research contract (described in the meeting as extending a 25-year relationship to 30 years) was secured; a public–private partnership to build graduate housing in Oak Ridge for roughly 120 students is in early phases; and the governor allocated approximately $45 million for a 4‑H STEM academy across the state.

On research and partnerships, Boyd emphasized continuing and expanding ties with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and noted new and ongoing capital projects, saying trustees saw roughly $400 million in construction underway during a campus visit.

Boyd also said system leaders are using Deloitte to help shape the 2030 plan, with discovery and analysis completed and visioning and plan development under way; he described a timeline that would lead to a plan the board could review next year.

Nut graf: The president framed the plan and recent results — enrollment gains, a record fundraising year and new capital and research efforts — as the basis for pursuing an ambitious systemwide strategy through 2030 focused on workforce, research impact and sustained growth.

Background and context: Boyd credited campus leaders and state partnerships for progress on enrollment, retention and fundraising. He said certain programs (for example, the Grow Your Own teacher apprenticeship contract) were not renewed by outside funders, so the system will not continue that contract as previously structured. He also said the system intends to develop a formal reserves policy and pursue authorization to finance its own academic capital projects.

Ending: Boyd asked trustees to review details that will be distributed in a memo and said the strategic plan will be socialized with stakeholders through fall, with a formal board presentation anticipated in the next year.