Former governor Bill Haslam appointed to University of Tennessee Board of Trustees
The board serves as the governing body of the University of Tennessee system, overseeing operations across the system's five campuses.
University of Tennessee loses $37M in grant funding amid federal funding cuts
Sexton's announcement came on the day that a new state law took effect increasing the board membership from 12 to 14. The governor previously appointed 10 of the 12 board members. The new law requires the speaker of each chamber of the general assembly to appoint two board members each.
Haslam was elected Mayor of Knoxville in 2003, winning re-election in 2007 and serving until 2011. He went on to succeed Phil Bredesen as the 49th Governor of Tennessee. The former governors now host the 'You Might Be Right' podcast together from Howard Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Lawmakers earmark $165M for new University of Tennessee chemistry building
Haslam began his career working at Pilot Corporation, founded by his father Jim Haslam, and served as the company's president from 1995 to 1999. He is set to become the majority owner of the NHL's Nashville Predators and is spearheading an investment group aimed at bringing a WNBA franchise to the city. Forbes has estimated his current net worth at $5.1 billion.
The Haslam family has been a major donor to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The business school was renamed the Haslam College of Business in 2014 and the music college became the the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music last year.
▶ See more top stories on WATE.com
'Governor Bill Haslam's appointment to the University of Tennessee Board is a significant win for higher education in our state. Few leaders understand the importance of education and workforce development the way he does. From launching Tennessee Promise and Drive to 55 during his time as governor to working closely with both K–12 and higher education systems, Governor Haslam has always been committed to opening doors of opportunity for Tennesseans. His appointment comes at a time of strong growth and innovation across the UT System. His deep understanding of state government, his passion for education, and his results-driven approach will complement the outstanding work President Boyd and the board have already accomplished. Together, I believe they will continue to elevate the UT System as a national leader in higher education.'
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton statement on Haslam's appointment
Randy Boyd, who has served at the UT System President since 2018, served as a Special Advisor on Higher Education to then-Governor Haslam in 2013 before being appointed commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development in 2015.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's executive order on homelessness follows Tennessee's moves to criminalize the unhoused
David "DC" Carey, with his dog, Honey Dew, prepare to move from a Nashville homless encampment after law enforcement cleared the area in May 2025. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Tennessee is at the forefront of making homelessness invisible, and I fear that the Trump administration's recent executive order on street homelessness will bolster the state's approach to moving unhoused Tennesseans out of sight whenever possible. Homelessness is the consequence and visible failure of housing and healthcare policies that have pushed more and more households to the brink of existence in every county – including urban, suburban and rural areas. While Tennessee's total homelessness numbers have not stood out at the national level so far, it nonetheless has become a testing ground for conservative think tanks like the Cicero Institute that lobbied state politicians to lock people away rather than house them. Consequently, Tennessee became the first state in 2022 to make camping on public property a felony. But Tennessee's legislature has not stopped there. The most recent laws targeting unhoused Tennesseans passed this year. Most notably, one law requires the Department of Transportation to develop agreements with counties for the removal of camps along highways, under bridges and overpasses. The legislature removed a $64-million fiscal note and shifted the cost for the cleanups as well as finding housing and services to local jurisdictions. Bill would let local governments set up homeless camps, order mental health treatment The Trump administration's executive order is called 'Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets.' It outlines a move in addressing homelessness away from housing-oriented solutions to forced civil confinements, predicated on the argument that confinement will give people the recovery services they need. The problem is that without housing, we won't end homelessness. And without funding for both housing and support services, authorities in rural Tennessee will be left with the only option of sending their unhoused constituents to the larger cities in the hope they find services there. With city shelters already full to the brink, we'll see an increase in street homelessness. Even hyped up encampment closures, like those in Nashville, won't be able to stem that tide. Studies show that putting people into institutional settings and forcing them into treatments is not effective. Simply put, if locking people up to end homelessness would work, Tennessee would already have solved street homelessness. We certainly have all the laws on the book for it. Another aspect of the complex issue is cost. While the new executive order aims to shift funding from housing programs to temporary programs including mental health facilities, a quick cost comparison seems to support my belief that we will serve fewer people with these forced confinements and treatments. I recently looked at the per diem cost of jail versus an inpatient psychiatric bed and compared it to a permanent supportive housing program for people with severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance use disorders. A jail stay in Davidson County costs about $115 per night. An in-patient psychiatric bed at East Tennessee Behavioral Health has a per diem cost ranging from $675 to $2,500. A supportive housing bed with intensive case management for people with mental illness and/or substance use issues, run by nonprofits specialized in housing people experiencing homelessness in Tennessee, costs about $80 per day. On the surface, all of these policies, laws and executive orders may sound reasonable to anyone who is comfortably housed and actually cares about their unhoused neighbors. But to advocates like me, these policies are putting bigger targets on people who already have fallen through our safety nets. Knoxville, Memphis, and Chattanooga actually showed a double-digit reduction in homelessness between 2022 and 2024 through their housing-focused approach. Nashville's encampment closure strategy did not show the same results. Bill to hold charities liable for providing housing to certain immigrants heads to governor's desk But rural counties are left to fend for themselves as homelessness becomes more visible. Grundy County officials struggle with homeless encampments hidden in the woods. Since COVID, Maury County has seen a tremendous increase in street homelessness. And this past January, volunteers in Cheatham County conducted the first outdoor homelessness count, which was eye-opening for government and faith leaders who believed there was no street homelessness in their county. Rural homelessness used to be less visible as people stayed in cars, campers and dilapidated housing without electricity or plumbing. In recent years, however, outdoor homelessness has increased and become more visible. The people seen in our rural counties are from the community they still live in and are connected to the people who work there, which makes it hard for local authorities tasked to arrest them and force them into criminal or civil confinements. So what can local governments do? In my opinion, local leaders should take a regional approach to homelessness and ask state legislators to stop what essentially boils down to Band-id approaches by criminalizing homelessness and forced treatment. Instead, a regional approach that is led by rural county and rural city officials could convince the legislature to invest in funding for: Street outreach teams that consist of health and mental health professionals as well as social workers to assist people where they are while helping them access housing and then continue to offer recovery services once they are in housing; and The creation of a state-funded rental assistance demonstration program that is co-designed by cities and counties to help prevent and end homelessness in rural areas. State departments, specifically the Tennessee Housing Development Agency and the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, already have experience in similar federally funded programs and easily could help rural communities develop these approaches. Tennessee could become a national model for making homelessness invisible permanently – by investing in people rather than in facilities that will only offer a stopgap measure to move the poorest Tennesseans out of sight in the short-term. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Former college football coach Derek Dooley enters Georgia Senate race
Former college football coach Derek Dooley launched his bid for the Senate seat in Georgia on Monday, setting up a crowded GOP primary for the chance to topple incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in next year's midterm elections. Dooley formerly coached at the University of Tennessee and Louisiana Tech. He's leaning into being the son of legendary University of Georgia Coach Vince Dooley, who won a national championship for the Georgia Bulldogs in 1980. In his announcement video, Dooley opens by speaking of one of 'the great milestones' for him as a kid was when he gained his father's trust to be on the sidelines of games. He also praised President Donald Trump, who hasn't yet endorsed in the primary. 'Trump campaigned on things, and he's turned them into results. I haven't known a president in my lifetime who's been able to achieve these kinds of results,' Dooley said, and blasted Ossoff for ushering in 'woke stuff' that Georgians do not agree with. Trump's endorsement could be pivotal in the race, which has already attracted Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter. Both congressmen are close allies of the president. A person familiar with Dooly's campaign, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Dooley would 'work hard for every endorsement, and that certainly includes President Trump.' Several Georgia Republicans told POLITICO Dooley is not well known in GOP circles in the state and was recruited to run by Gov. Brian Kemp, a longtime family friend, who has been working for months behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for Dooley's Senate launch. 'Dooley is expected to have the governor's support,' the person familiar with Dooley's campaign did not provide a timeline on when the endorsement would be rolled out. Dooley's critics said he has few connections to party officials in the state, and leaning into his role as a football coach is a risk. 'This chaotic, crowded Republican primary just got messier with the entrance of failed and fired former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who has failed to live up to his family name throughout his career,' Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey said in a statement. The Washington Examiner recently reported that Dooley did not vote in several recent elections, and when he was registered in New York in 2020 did not register as a Republican. He also has not donated to Trump's previous campaigns.
The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
Ex-football coach Derek Dooley challenges Jon Ossoff in Georgia
Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley launched a bid on Monday for the Republican nod to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) next year, adding a high-profile name to one of the midterms' most consequential contests. Dooley is the son of former University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, an icon in Georgia athletics whose teams nabbed a national championship and six SEC titles. Derek Dooley, like his father, played college football and later coached. The younger Dooley coached both at the NFL and college level. A political newcomer, Derek Dooley leaned into his family background, his time coaching football and his political outsider status in a two-minute ad announcing his campaign. 'I spent three decades in coaching, probably doing the exact opposite of what a lot of DC politicians were doing,' Derek Dooley says in the ad. 'I sat in kitchens and living rooms with people from all walks of life. The only thing that mattered was trying to create hope and opportunity for them and that family.' The ad hinted at some of the issues the former football coach might campaign on, including keeping transgender women out of women's sports leagues, reining in government spending, and border security. Derek Dooley also lauded Donald Trump in his ad, saying the president 'campaigned on things, and he's turning them into results,' while knocking Ossoff's voting record. The former football coach's entry adds to a growing field of GOP candidates, which include Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who was heavily courted to run for Senate against Ossoff and ultimately declined, is backing Dooley, giving the candidate a major boost out of the gate. But Collins has also racked up some early endorsements, including from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), state Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, state House Majority Whip James Burchett and state Rep. Matthew Gambill, one of Kemp's House floor leaders. Trump so far has not weighed in. Collins does enjoy some ties to Trump's orbit, including his chief of staff Brandon Phillips, who's a Trump campaign alum. Georgia is seen as a critical pickup opportunity for Republicans, and the party is looking to avoid a repeat of 2022, when the GOP nominated a weak candidate in former football star Herschel Walker who later narrowly lost to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
