After serving as the vice provost for academic affairs for five years, Sally McMillan will be stepping down from her administrative position and returning to the College of Communication and Information faculty in the fall.
“Sally has served in her position with extraordinary effectiveness for the past five years,” Provost Susan Martin said in announcing the change. “We will miss her enthusiasm and commitment to our Top 25/Vol Vision goals. I know you will join me in wishing her the very best as she resumes faculty life.”
During her time in the provost’s office, McMillan has helped the university improve its retention and graduation rates—which led to the university winning the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Trailblazer award. She has overseen implementation of the uTrack system to keep students moving toward a timely graduation and assisted with the creation of the One Stop Student Services Center.
McMillan has managed the Strategic Instruction Fund, designed to reduce “bottlenecks” in undergraduate instruction, and was instrumental in creating offices that oversee service-learning, online programs, and summer school. She has chaired the Global Actions Committee, which reviews proposals and distributes Ready for the World funding, and also the committee that allocates physical space to campus units.
In October, McMillan organized a conference on managing change in undergraduate education that brought academic affairs administrators from twenty top universities to UT.
McMillan said she looks forward to engaging more directly with students and pursuing research and service activities.
“It has been both a privilege and an adventure to serve the provost’s office for the past five-plus years as UT launched Vol Vision: Journey to the Top 25,” she said. “I thank Provost Martin and Chancellor Cheek for their outstanding leadership and support.”
McMillan is a professor in the School of Advertising and Public Relations. She will spend the fall semester doing research and return to campus in the spring.
Martin said an internal search will begin immediately to recruit a new vice provost.
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CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)