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Table of Contents

  • 4: Unique Alumni
  • 8: Stanton-Gerber Hall Dedication
  • 10: Measuring Up
  • 12: Campus Notes & Briefs
  • 16: Advancement
  • 18: Volunteer Leaders
  • 20: Campaign for ETSU Tomorrow
  • 22: Distinguished President's Trust Dinner
  • 24: Sports Spectrum
  • 27: Class Notes
  • 36: Pride Week
  • 38: Calendar

ETSU President

Paul E. Stanton, Jr.

Managing Editors

Richard A. Manahan; Robert M. Plummer

Contributing Writers

Jeff Anderson; Linda Doran; Carol Fox; Debi Frakes; Kristn Fry; Deena Gonzales; Phil Hess; Jennifer Hill; Patricia Holland; Richard A. Manahan; Robert Plummer; Cindy Proffitt; Rebecca Pyles; Pamela D. Ripley; Fred Sauceman; Karen K. Sells; Edie Shealy; Joe Smith; Matt Snelling; Lee Ann Willis

Photography/Art

Carol Plummer; Robert Plummer; James Price; Edie Shealy; Jim Sledge; Larry Smith; Mike Stephens; Doug Taylor; Lee Ann Willis

Publication Date

Spring 2002

President's Message

By the time this magazine arrives in your mailbox, the East Tennessee State University campus will have experienced yet another unforgettable mountain springtime. The pink and white dogwoods blooming all around the campus remind us of the constant renewal of life. As I walk around these grounds so alive with color, I think about the enormous promise that life holds for our students and recent graduates. Honors banquets and initiations take place almost nightly each April. Classes often meet outside under our old oak trees. Summer plans are set in place for jobs back home, study abroad, or an early start on graduate school. All of this activity culminates on commencement day when about 5,000 people come to witness loved ones crossing the stage and to hear each individual graduate’s name being read—a practice we will always follow no matter how large the class. Spring is a time when those of us who have chosen higher education for our life’s work are renewed in the knowledge that a university campus is where we are supposed to be. And being at ETSU, at this fascinating juncture in its history, is a great blessing for my family and me. Having marked five years as president back in January, just after the university celebrated its 90th year of existence, I have reflected often on what a special place this is. I am sure you have read and heard about Tennessee’s budget limitations. We have been fighting the battle for better funding for over a decade, and we continue to drop in national rankings measuring funding per student from kindergarten through college. Despite that sad and sometimes embarrassing saga, ETSU is an energetic, progressive institution. Five years ago, I began talking about the ETSU Express, a metaphorical train that symbolizes cooperation and progress. I am proud to report to you this spring that the ETSU Express has not been derailed by bad news out of Nashville. Rather, it is gathering steam as we make ETSU the best regional university in the country. We are completing a capital campaign in excess of $100 million, although consultants thought we would be lucky to raise $40 million. We were the only state university in Tennessee to achieve a perfect score of 100 in the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s Performance Funding program, which measures several things, the most important being how much our students are learning. We just celebrated a decade of support, amounting to over $9.3 million, from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We experienced a highly successful site visit in February as one of eight institutions to pilot new accreditation criteria through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. We have earned an international reputation in Bluegrass and Country Music, Storytelling, Digital Imaging, Rural Health, Public Radio, and other fields of study. We graduate more nurses than any college or university in Tennessee. And, we enjoy regional partnerships and a reputation in our service area that is unprecedented among regional universities. So the next time you are in contact with a former professor or a staff member you got to know when you were a student, extend a thank you to that person, for it is the energy, the resourcefulness, and the ingenuity of our people that make us an institution worthy of pride and trust, even in the most difficult of times. - Paul E. Stanton, Jr., ETSU President

ETSU Today - Spring 2002

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