What's on University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman's mind? 'I want to beat Georgia'

Chancellor Donde Plowman has big aspirations for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville following some big wins.

In her fourth year as chancellor, UT Knoxville reported its largest enrollment ever, with an estimated more than 36,000 students. This includes the nearly 6,700 freshmen, a slightly lower number than last year.

UT Athletics just scored a major naming rights deal for Thompson-Boling Arena. The university is planning more than $1 billion in construction of academic and residence buildings. Neyland Entertainment District will transform the riverfront.

Plowman greeted students and the media Aug. 23 on UT's pedestrian walkway to talk about her goals, this year's class, student housing and more.

Knox News caught up on campus with Plowman at a meet-and-greet tied to the first day of classes Aug. 23.

Answers have been edited lightly for length, grammar and clarity.

What are you most excited for this year? What are you most worried about?

Knox News posed these same two questions to students for a piece published Aug. 23.

I am most excited about all the things that we're doing in the student success effort. I've already in one week seen the results of it on this freshman class. And this year, we're really gearing up for years two, three and four. And I'm excited for that.

What am I most worried about? Well, I want to beat Georgia. I’m not worried about it, but I do want to beat Georgia.

You know, I don’t really think I have any worries. I'm just excited about where we are as a campus. I'm going to say the same thing Josh Heupel says: “We're just getting started with what this campus can become.”

We're a bigger school. The students tell me we're a big school that feels small. We want to preserve that.

What does this freshmen class look like as UT grows?

Our growth has been phenomenal. This year, we took a slightly smaller freshman class, partly to wait until we get more dorms built. But, our enrollments are up quite considerably, because one we've had a lot of new graduate students, which you would expect for a growing research enterprise.

And the big news is our retention efforts. So, retention is the percentage of students their freshman year who come back their sophomore year. That's an important metric because if it's high, it's the best indicator of they're going to graduate. So, we know after one year the percentage of students that will proceed to graduation, and we're enjoying all of this good work with students’ success, and our retention rates are higher than they've ever been. So more students coming back after their freshman year is bigger enrollments. It's all really good news.

Housing and parking have been challenges for students. How are you addressing those?

With housing, we're excited because we have new dorms underway. They won't be available until fall of '25. So two more years with a little bit of a tight crunch. I don't think it'll be tight next year, because there's going to be a lot more in the market for upperclassmen over on Cumberland and around (town).

Now let's talk about parking. That is every chancellor or president's favorite topic.

Early this season, it's always an issue. Right now, we also have some parking lots - like the one I park in - under construction and renovation. We have placed efficiency lots out around the edge of the campus. We're encouraging students to get here early, use those, take the shuttle back in. So, it'll shake out but clearly, with growth comes more students, more faculty, more dorms and eventually more parking.

What can you tell me about the master lease apartments for students?

We did not use the Holiday Inn again this year, although that was really well liked by the students that were in it. We have some leases on some apartments, and we have some transfer students in there. And that apartment complex is brand new, so they’re some really beautiful spaces.

Until we get the next new dorms, we'll be looking for every creative alternative we can because students do better when they're living with other students and working hard to succeed.

What lessons have you learned as chancellor over the past four years? How are you planning to implement lessons moving forward?

One thing I've learned as a leader is that … you can't do big things by yourself. You’ve got to have a great team of people around you, and that's what you see here. They're all so capable. They don't need me telling them what to do. So a leader can't do big things by yourself.

I think another thing I've learned is that this state so loves this university. People from West Tennessee, East Tennessee that didn’t go here, aren’t going to go here, they love UT. That is such a gift. When you're the chancellor of this place, it’s kind of like they give you a little grace, because they love it so much.

What lessons has UT learned over the past four years and how are you applying those to various issues that students are facing?

I think COVID-19 taught us so many things. It taught us that there's a lot that we can do that we would have previously said we can’t as an institution.

The semester the students went home, we were able to change the grading system. So if they didn't like that grade, they can put it down as a pass-fail.

There’s some things we did during COVID that we're still doing. We said at the beginning of COVID, “If you don't know what to do - faculty, staff, who were leaving - be creative, be compassionate, be flexible.” We're still using those. We didn't need that just for COVID. It's just a good way to be.

I'm really proud of how we got through COVID. We got some recognition nationally for being able to handle it well. And I think we learned a lot about ourselves. I wouldn't wish that on anyone as a way of learning stuff, but we did stuff like we bought all these hammock stands. They were so popular!

I think we learned a lot that we can do big things when we have to, and we do it together.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. Twitter @specialk2real.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Chancellor Donde Plowman wants Vols football to beat Georgia