Sent on behalf of Provost Jerold Hale:
Greetings faculty and staff colleagues,
I am pleased to inform the campus community that Dr. Ethan Carver has officially been appointed interim dean of the Graduate School.
Dr. Carver was the logical choice—and the best choice—to transition into the interim role of the Graduate School after Dr. Joanne Romagni rotated back into a faculty role. We need to
continue to move graduate education forward and build on Dr. Romagni’s successes, and there is nobody on campus better suited to move into that role than Dr. Carver, who has worked closely with graduate programs and the Graduate School since 2016—first as
assistant dean and then as associate dean.
While he has an interim title, I have empowered Ethan to engage the Graduate School as though he has the regular appointment. We are at an essential time in the University’s trajectory
where we need to move graduate education forward. There are specific targets and goals that we’re trying to meet related to graduation, year-to-year retention, and enrollment, and Dr. Carver will be playing a pivotal role in reaching those objectives. He has
been given the power to do what needs to be done and is well-suited to do it.
Ethan has nearly 20 years of faculty and administrative experience at UTC, and his research background includes stints at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
and the Jackson Laboratory.
He first came to UTC as an undergraduate, receiving a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1991. He later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical
Sciences.
In 2005, he returned to UTC as an assistant professor of biology—and was promoted to associate professor in 2011 and professor in 2017. He has been Lewis and Robert Collins Professorship
for Distinguished Teaching in Biological and Environmental Sciences since 2013.
Highlights of his time at UTC have included serving on six master’s student committees, 28 undergraduate Honors student committees, as chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee,
and in an oversite role for all graduate programs—leading graduate recruitment and marketing efforts.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Carver as he assumes this essential position. Considering his proven leadership qualities and unwavering commitment to academic success, I am confident
he will provide the Graduate School with crucial guidance and leadership.
Thank you,
Jerold L. Hale
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs