MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin has announced its highest six-year
graduate rate since records on that statistic have been kept (since 1992), with 54.8% of its first-
year students enrolling in Fall 2017 graduating by June 2023.
That was announced by Dr. Philip Acree Cavalier, the UT Martin provost and senior vice
chancellor for academic affairs, at the UTM Advisory Board meeting held Friday in the Boling
University Center. The meeting was the first for Dr. Yancy Freeman as chancellor of UT Martin.
Cavalier said the university’s information was just released earlier Friday. The previous high
came in 2020 at 53.3%. Last year’s six-year graduation rate was 52.6%.
Cavalier credited that success to UTM Director of Undergraduate Admissions Destin Tucker –
this was her first recruiting class at UT Martin – as well as the university’s faculty and staff.
“I think it’s important to note that there has been work done now for six years that has been at
the faculty level, the staff level, Destin’s work bringing those students in and helping to get them
started,” Cavalier said. “It’s obviously a campus effort.
“All those kinds of things that everyone has done – people who aren’t here right now have done
– led to our highest-ever six-year graduation rate.”
The enrollment for UT Martin for the Fall 2023 semester is 6,950 students. That is 1.12% more
than last year’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment of 6,873 and 3.5% more than the Fall
2021 enrollment of 6,715.
Other enrollment numbers showed cause for celebration.
“Our first-time first-year class has rebounded very well from two years ago,” Cavalier said. “We
are at 1,118. Our grad programs continue to be very strong; we’re at 707 students enrolled in
that. That’s four years in a row where we’ve had 700-plus students.”
The first-year enrollment for Fall 2023 is the largest first-year class for UT Martin since Fall
2019 and the second-highest in the last five years.
Cavalier said the university’s Full-Time Equivalent – a number used to more equally compare
colleges’ undergraduate enrollments by dividing the total number of students by 15 credit hours
– has increased over last year, the highest since Fall 2020.
“Of course, that’s the driver for our revenue,” he said. “We are up about 35 FTE, which is
obviously a good sign.
“Our retention has gone up about 2.5 points to 73.4%. We were down to 70% two years ago.”
Cavalier said that the university is recovering from the setback in enrollment brought about by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Overall enrollment has increased each of the last two years since the sharp drop during
COVID,” he said. “This fall, our new first-year student enrollment was the highest since the fall
prior to COVID. Everything that’s happened since then has reinforced the idea that we are
continuing to do really, really well.”
Petra McPhearson, the senior vice chancellor for finance and administration, spoke about the
capital projects that had been completed, those that are still underway and those in the design
stage.
In Fiscal Year 2023, which ended June 30, completed projects include the Latimer-Smith
Engineering and Science Building, a $65 million project; Elam Center arena lighting upgrades at
$760,000; Boling University Center Americans with Disabilities Act restroom updates at
$172,000; and the University Center Sodexo Freshens update at $140,500.
Capital projects still under construction at the start of Fiscal Year 2024 include the Elam Center
glass replacement, a $4.13 million project; the Blaylock outdoor classroom and fountain and
kiosk project at $2.443 million; the indoor batting facility at $620,000; and the ROTC Building
repairs at $500,000.
Projects that have not yet begun include the TEST Hub at $19.16 million; the EPS Building
system upgrades at $9.87 million; the Hall-Moody Administration Building system upgrades at
$7.5 million; the Clement Hall system upgrades (Phase 2) at $4.16 million; the Elam Center
exterior wall repairs at $4 million; the athletics facilities improvements at $3.52 million; other
Americans with Disabilities Act campus upgrades at $2.505 million; the South Chiller Plant
chiller replacement at $1.76 million; and Elam Center improvements at $965,000.