November 26, 2002

Dear Faculty and Staff:

At its late October meeting, the University's Board of Trustees authorized
the creation of a UT Research Foundation after appropriate consultation
with key stakeholders, particularly members of the faculty. This process
had been underway prior to the Board meeting and has continued since then.
Today, we want to take the consultation effort to a new level by soliciting
your input on three DRAFT documents that reflect our current thinking.

I encourage you to visit a special web page  http://utrf.tennessee.edu/
where you will find some background information about the proposed UT
Research Foundation as well as a plan of actions and milestones and the
DRAFT charter and by-laws. If you have comments or suggestions, please
e-mail them to [log in to unmask]

I am fully committed to the creation of the UT Research Foundation, but we
will not move too quickly. It is most important that we craft the best
structure to serve the University and the State of Tennessee. My hope is to
have the Foundation in place by March.

Cordially,

John W. Shumaker
President