Dear Colleague,

Thanks for a great start to 2002-2003.

It is wonderful to see the rhythm of the campus return.  Increases in first
time student enrollments whether as first year or transfer students seem to
be up by 10%.  Graduate student enrollment also increased this year.  Those
increases more  than offset the great graduation rates of last year.  We
seem to increased enrollments by about  40 students and "full time
equivalent" enrollments  by about 1.4%

It is great to see faculty and staff returning.  You are joined by a large
group of new faculty who are particularly talented, well prepared and
diverse.  Solid programs and support services find a couple of new allies
this year.

Some 66 specific "transformations" have been funded this year by the Lupton
Renaissance Fund.  Additionally, a Computational Engineering faculty and
research staff is taking shape among us.  Connections with the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory put UTC this year on a par in capability with
technology access among any collection of elite universities.  Internet II
is now available to UTC faculty, staff and students.  The new access to
wetlands laboratory on the Tennessee River, turtle research with the
Tennessee Aquarium, and an additional half million dollars for journals in
the Library are a few of the more exciting new extensions of the university
this Fall.

As we see the Engineering, Math, and Computer Science Building take shape
daily, it is time to ask our colleagues in those disciplines to check their
program planning once again.  I have asked Provost Friedl and Vice
Chancellor Brown
to make sure faculty who will do the teaching and research in that building
have a chance to double-check drawings and plans for classrooms and
labs.  We need to be sure that the tables face the right way, that research
or teaching equipment is the latest update, that it faces the right way for
optimum use, that technology does what we best expect it to do, etc.

We must not move into a building already out of date, needing something
moved or "fixed".  We waited too long for it.

I look forward to being with you during the year.  Faculty meetings, SGA,
ERC, and the new Exempt Staff Council provide good opportunities, but we
need to make sure we use informal and scheduled conferences as well.

Thanks for being here.

Bill