Tech Tomorrow

Current Initiatives

General Education Vision Committee

Creating “a Tech-unique general education curriculum to provide the foundation for technologically adept, analytically capable, and career-ready graduates” is identified as a priority action in the strategic plan. As such, Tennessee Tech is beginning a long-term (multiple committees over multiple years) review of its General Education curriculum. 

The goals for the Vision committee are to: (1) develop a vision/philosophy for general education on our campus, and (2) identify two or three potential pathways for operationalizing that vision. This work will engage numerous stakeholders (students, faculty, administration, community/industry, and alumni) through focus groups (and perhaps surveys) in the coming 12 to 15 months. The Vision committee will also be charged with looking at peers across the nation to see what might be possible as we “dream big.”

The committee's membership and the complete schedule of town hall meetings is on the committee's webpage.

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Tech-infused Course/Program Committee

This committee will examine the degree of technological infusion, and the quality of that infusion, in Tech’s current course offerings and programs. 

This group will look at the ways in which courses/programs incorporate technologies and technology experiences for students (beyond instructional technologies) and is important for identifying potential programmatic changes for technological innovation. The committee will develop proposals for how to strategically increase the number and quality of technology-infused programs/courses at Tennessee Tech, as well as identify opportunities and investigate the feasibility of (1) every undergraduate program of study offering at least one course completely online/hybrid, and (2) every college/school offering at least one degree program (preferably undergraduate) completely online. 

Committee

• Holly Anthony (chair)
• Samantha Allen, Instructor of Environmental Sciences
• Stacey Browning, Assistant Professor of Nursing
• Jerry Gannod, Chair of Computer Science
• Will Hoffert, Director of Academic & Client Technologies, ITS
• Hunter Kaller, Manager, Academic & Client Technologies, ITS
• Elizabeth Propes, Associate Professor of History
• Bedelia Russell, Associate Provost of Online Education and Faculty Development
• Robby Sanders, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
• Jeremy Schoen, Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences & Management
• Dennis Tennant, Director of School of Professional Studies
• Kit Wheeler, Assistant Professor of Biology
• Robert Wilbanks, Associate Professor of Accounting

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One-to-One Technology Committee

This committee will examine the feasibility of a one-to-one technology initiative at Tennessee Tech.

One idea to be explored by this university-wide committee is the feasibility of providing iPads/Laptops/etc. for students, particularly non-traditional adult learners and/or those enrolled in programs fully offered as online/hybrid. First-generation college students are another subgroup that might benefit most. Compared to their peers, these students often have a weaker sense of digital literacy and may come from rural communities that lack the resources to prepare them for college.

Committee

• Holly Anthony (chair)
• Michael Allen, Professor of Mathematics
• Jason Beach, Director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning
• Scott Christen, Associate Professor of Communication
• Ismail Fidan, Professor of Manufacturing Engineering Technology
• Steven Frye, Director of School of Interdisciplinary Studies
• Will Hoffert, Director of Academic & Client Technologies, ITS
• Barbara Jared, Director of Nursing
• Lloyd Jones, Coordinator, ITS
• Krystal Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction
• Brian Seiler, Associate Vice President of Information Technology Services
• Jennifer Shank, Dean, College of Fine Arts
• Susmit Shannigrahi, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
• Kyle Turner, Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences & Management