KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees officially began Friday the process of finding the next UT president.
Acting on a recommendation from the Presidential Search Committee, the board named nine students, staff and alumni to the Presidential Search Advisory Council and approved a budget for the search.
Students named to the advisory council Friday were: Daniel Klyce, senior psychology major at Knoxville; Lacy Long, Health Science Center; Tiffany Trice, UT-Martin; and James Armour, UT-Chattanooga.
Representing alumni are: Jim Duke, president of the UT National Alumni Association; Spruell Driver, NAA president-elect; Debby Diddle; and Roger Dickson.
The exempt staff member is Rebecca Peterson, Center for Industrial Services.
Trustees serving on the council are Jim Murphy, Waymon Hickman, John Thornton and Susan Williams.
Dr. Margaret Perry, chancellor emeritus of UT-Martin, was appointed as executive director of the search to handle staffing duties.
Andrea Loughry, chair of the trustees committee, said four faculty and a non-exempt staff member would be named soon.
Trustees also set a maximum budget of $252,000 to cover staffing, travel and communications during the search, Loughry, a trustee from Murfreesboro, said
The committee agreed to use an outside consultant but in a more limited role than in the previous two searches. The search firm will be used primarily for identifying and recruiting candidates.
The trustee search committee and the council plan to meet in joint session in the next two weeks, Loughry said.
Also highlighted at the meeting were the UT Research Centers of Excellence also were highlighted at the meeting, with presentations from Dr. Gary Sayler, head of the Environmental Biotechnology Center of Excellence, and Dr. Jack Britt, vice president for agriculture.
The centers have returned $220 million on an original $7.5 investment from the state in 2000. Gov. Phil Bredesen, chairman of the Board of Trustees, met with the directors of the centers following the presentations.
The board also strengthened its oversight role by approving recommendations to set up an audit committee, establish chief financial and chief internal auditor officers at the university, initiate a Board Process and Governance Committee, and restructure the board-s executive committee.