CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.– The founding and current president of California State University San Marcos has been named chancellor of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Dr. Bill W. Stacy was named UT-Chattanooga’s chief administrative officer by UT’s board of trustees Tuesday. He will start Aug. 1.
A Bristol native, Stacy succeeds Dr. Fred Obear, who announced last fall his intention to step down as chancellor when his successor is on the job. He will take a leave of absence and then return to UT-Chattanooga.
A search advisory committee of faculty, students, staff and Chattanooga residents considered 97 applicants before recommending four to UT President Joe Johnson.
“We have in Bill Stacy an individual who will continue and advance the superb progress UT-Chattanooga has enjoyed under Fred Obear’s leadership,” Johnson said. “I am grateful the board of trustees accepted my recommendation of Dr. Stacy. We are happy to have him join the UT family.”
UT Senior Vice President Homer Fisher chaired the search committee, and Roger Dickson and Frank Kinser, members of UT’s board of trustees from Chattanooga, were members.
Stacy went to San Marcos in 1989 to preside over the building of the nation’s first state university since the University of Texas-San Antonio was established in the mid-1960s. He was president of Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau from 1979-89.
At California State San Marcos, Stacy was responsible for construction of the school’s physical plant, building a curriculum, assembling a faculty and recruiting a student body. Over the last seven years, the campus’ operating budget has increased nearly 10-fold, despite California’s worst recession since the depression.
Stacy, whose academic training is in speech communications, describes himself as a team builder and friend of students.
“At the core, I am a students’ president. I care deeply about their preparation and their opportunities for starting their careers and professions,” Stacy told the search advisory committee.
He is on the board of directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and is vice chairman of the North American Council of the International Association of University Presidents.
Stacy won the San Diego Press Club’s 1991 Headliner Award for Education and was selected by “San Diego Magazine” as one of “90 People to Watch in the ’90s.”
He earned the bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State, the master’s and Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. All are in speech communication.
Stacy and his wife, Mary Sue, have five grown children.
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Contact: Homer Fisher (423-974-3211) or Marc Cutright, UTC University Relations, (755-4363)