MARTIN, Tenn. –Art Sparks of Union City was elected chairman of the University of Tennessee at Martin Advisory Board at its inaugural meeting Wednesday, at which Governor Bill Haslam was a guest and addressed the members.
The board, created by the UT FOCUS Act passed by the state legislature in 2018, is the first of its kind and will provide localized oversight for the UT Martin campus.
Sparks was selected by unanimous vote. Sparks is a partner with Alexander Thompson Arnold and is a 1976 UT Martin graduate. He will serve as chair until June 30, 2019. Future chairs will serve two-year terms beginning July 1, 2019.
Haslam said to the panel, “As you know, when we passed the UT FOCUS Act last legislative session, one of the key pieces of that was to shrink the board for the UT System from 26 members down to 11. … But I didn’t want to lose the fact that we are a system, and that system has very different pieces and parts to it, all of which play a very different and important role to making the system whole. I want to make certain that each campus has the attention that I feel like it deserves.”
Haslam discussed the responsibilities of the new advisory board and charged board members to use insight from their areas of personal and professional experience to help UT Martin continue to grow and serve its student population in the best ways possible.
Board members also passed bylaws to govern the board and elected a board secretary and student representative. Edie Gibson, executive assistant to the UT Martin chancellor, will serve as advisory board secretary until such time as the board should elect a new secretary. Devin Majors, a junior political science major from Nashville, will serve as student representative. Majors is UT Martin’s current Student Government Association president and will serve as a voting member of the board until June 30, 2019. Future student representatives will serve a full year beginning July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020.
UT Martin Chancellor Keith Carver recommended an election procedure that would allow the UT Martin student body to have a formal voice in the selection of their representative in future
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Currently serving on the UT Martin Advisory Board are:
- Hal Bynum, of Sharon, Nutrien Ag Solutions Inc.
- Monice Hagler, of Memphis; The Hagler Law Group, PLLC, and Archway Title and Escrow, LLC; UT Martin ’75, UT Knoxville ‘78
- Art Sparks, of Union City, Alexander Thompson Arnold PLLC, UT Martin ’76, board chair
- Julia Wells, of Bells, The Pictsweet Company, UT Knoxville ‘61
- Chris Caldwell, professor of mathematics, Faculty Senate representative
- Devin Majors, junior, student representative
Top photo: Governor Bill Haslam speaks to members as UTM Chancellor Keith Carver looks on; Haslam congratulates Art Sparks. (UTM photos).