Students, staff, and faculty gathered at the Memphis campus on Friday, March 14, for the first meeting in the 2025 Executive Leadership Town Hall series, a continuation of a series of similar meetings launched in 2024.
After a brief reflection on the unprecedented challenging time of the global crisis of COVID-19, now five years ago, the focus of this meeting was the current tumultuous time of rapid change and uncertainty, both nationally and in higher education.
Executive Vice Chancellor Raaj Kurapati led an appraisal of the disruption that has accompanied the initial systemwide implementation of DASH. He discussed more recent institutional corrective responses now being guided by a UT Health Science Center task force, which will work on both system-level issues and those unique to our circumstances.
He also encouraged continued feedback about any additional ongoing issues during this early transition phase and highlighted a dedicated website that has been created to enable continued feedback, as well as to provide technical guidance and supportive information.
The remainder of the town hall largely focused on the context and institutional responses to the Federal Executive Orders and related federal agency communications that have propelled both rapid change and widespread uncertainty. Read our previous communication about this here.
Updated information was shared on the status of the new proposed NIH Indirect Research Rate of 15% and on the management of grants with any focus on diversity- related topics. It was shared that an institutional-level task force has been established to assure responsible contingency planning around potential operational and financial impacts of the various executive orders and agency-specific actions on the UT Health Science Center. This task force will work closely with the Planning and Budget Council and other governing bodies to strategically position the institution to manage financial and operational risks the institution may face.
Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Jessica Snowden offered guidance and emphasized the commitment of the Office of Research to provide regular communication to all our research community, while also offering one-on-one guidance for individual investigators, who have more specific questions. Contingency planning in the face of potential long-term fiscal realities/concerns of dwindling federal research support was also briefly discussed.
The impact nationally in higher education of the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights' recent “Dear Colleague Letter” with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion was also discussed. UT Health Science Center, in lockstep with each component University of Tennessee System institution, is carefully reviewing potential risks with a view to being aligned with all appropriate legal expectations, as well as protecting our mission and commitments to our faculty, staff, and students.
The fluid and uncertain nature of current issues and events calls for us to remain diligent in our planning, true to our noble mission, and supportive of each other. These principles served us well during the unprecedented experience of the COVID-19 crisis five years ago, and similar diligence and resilience will enable us to meet our mission as we navigate the current challenges together.
The meeting concluded with a commitment to further in-person sessions, including those also being planned for UT Health Science Center’s Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville campuses.
Respectfully,
