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Table of Contents

  • 4: Alumni Award Winners
  • 7: Unique Alumni
  • 11: Campus Notes & Briefs
  • 15: Advancement
  • 18: Campaign for ETSU Tomorrow
  • 20: Bristol Motor Speedway
  • 24: Sports Spectrum
  • 27: Class Notes
  • 36: Homecoming Preview
  • 38: Calendar

ETSU President

Paul E. Stanton, Jr.

Managing Editors

Richard A. Manahan; Robert M. Plummer

Contributing Writers

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

Photography/Art

Robert Plummer; James Price; Edie Shealy; Jim Sledge; Larry Smith; Lee Ann Willis

Publication Date

Fall 2002

President's Message

Over the past year, all of us have come to a deeper appreciation of human relationships. When I wrote this column one year ago, none of us, of course, could have imagined what would transpire just days later. September 11 brought warlike conditions to our own country. Our campus reacted with shock, grief, courage, and resolve. Students, faculty, and staff joined hands in prayer for the victims, their families, and the future of the world. They wrote expressions of sorrow and love on banners. They built replicas of the World Trade Center’s twin towers using canned food, which was lovingly donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. They decorated rooms and offices in red, white, and blue out of respect for America. Returning to our studies, our routines, was difficult. For a few days, we could focus on little else besides the horrible story that was unfolding. The ETSU family was directly affected. Former Student Government Association President Jason Berry barely escaped the burning Pentagon building. Green Beret Jefferson Donald Davis, a former ETSU nursing student, was one of the very earliest casualties in the Afghan War. Love of country has never been in short supply on this campus. Thirteen ETSU alumni have attained the rank of general or admiral in the United States armed forces, and this year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Army ROTC at ETSU, a program begun here by our third president,World War I veteran Burgin E. Dossett. At ETSU, quality matters, and quality begins with people. ETSU faculty and staff set another all-time record in funding for research and sponsored programs during fiscal year 2001- 2002: $32.9 million, up 5 percent from the previous year. Consistent with ETSU’s designation as a research-intensive university by the Carnegie Foundation, we continue to add new graduate programs, despite budget constraints. Our first class of doctoral students in nursing began their coursework this past May. In August, we announced the addition of another doctoral program in our Health Sciences Division, the doctorate in audiology, and we have also received approval from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to offer a master’s degree in social work, with concentrations in health, mental health, and children and family. Frontier Health and Johnson City Medical Center committed $400,000 to get this program started. In May, we completed the university’s firstever capital campaign. For donors, quality matters, and that’s why this campaign has topped $106 million. Building on the momentum of the campaign and upon one of our strengths, I announced, at the annual meeting of the ETSU Foundation this year, a new “ETSU Leadership Initiative.” We are quickly earning a reputation for excellence in leadership, and this new initiative will allow us to provide even stronger incentives for our best students to remain in the region and for students outside the Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia to choose ETSU. I was deeply honored to announce, during the “State of the University Address” marking the opening of fall semester, the establishment of the Eastman Chemical Company Distinguished Chair of Business Leadership Endowment. Through a $1 million gift from Eastman to the ETSU Foundation, our College of Business will bring some of the world’s most successful corporate executives to ETSU, where they will join our students and faculty in addressing major corporate issues of our time, including principled leadership and business ethics. The College of Business and the College of Applied Science and Technology have transformed ETSU into a center for entrepreneurial studies, and we have, in turn, transformed the old Marine Corps building here in town into the ETSU Innovation Laboratory. Located along the Med-Tech Corridor, this lab will house smart classrooms and a business incubator that will focus on biotechnology. This past spring, the much-anticipated Center for Physical Activity opened, funded in partnership with our students. On the first day, over 1,200 people visited, and we have been averaging 417 people a day from mid- May through mid-August—a usage level that has exceeded our expectations. The College of Medicine’s basic sciences building was dedicated in January and is now in full use by medical students and faculty, who bring us glowing reports about the facility. This year marked the 75th anniversary of ETSU’s relationship with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which chose us as one of only eight schools to test new accreditation criteria. Out of that effort grew a very ambitious Quality Enhancement Plan, which we are confident will lead to the reaffirmation of our accreditation in December. Every program at ETSU that is eligible for accreditation has achieved it. That is one of the main reasons for our perfect score of 100 in the annual Tennessee Higher Education Commission Performance Funding program. Our 100 points topped all of the state’s public colleges and universities. No other university has earned the maximum 100 points in the last 16 years. The commission praised ETSU for having “the most outstanding plan submitted by any institution in either the TBR or UT systems.” ETSU continues to be a national leader in service-learning and volunteerism. Over 20,000 volunteer service hours are performed each year by student organizations, and over 1,000 ETSU students are placed in servicelearning experiences annually, including the nationally recognized Cherokee Immersion and Rocky Mountain Experience courses. As we continue on our quest to become the best regional university in the nation, I continue to be amazed at how much this university community has been able to achieve during a time when the formula for higher education in Tennessee is funded at only 88 percent. Respect for ETSU grows daily, and along with it, so does the value of your degree. Remember, quality matters. - Paul E. Stanton, Jr., ETSU President

ETSU Today - Fall 2002

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