Dr. Jan Simek became interim president of the University of Tennessee on July 1, 2009. Dr. Simek had served as acting president since March 1, 2009. He is to be interim president for a period of up to two years.
In his current role, Dr. Simek serves as the chief executive officer of a statewide university system that includes the flagship campus in Knoxville, campuses in Chattanooga and Martin, the Health Science Center in Memphis, the Space Institute in Tullahoma, and statewide institutes of agriculture and public service.
As president, Dr. Simek serves as chairman of the UT-Battelle Board of Governors and as a member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees.
Most of Dr. Simek’s academic career has been spent at UT Knoxville, where he has served in various academic and administrative posts with the campus over a 25-year period.
Dr. Simek previously served as interim chancellor of UT Knoxville for one year and before that was chief of staff to former Chancellor Loren Crabtree from 2005 to 2008.
Dr. Simek is an archaeologist who came to UT in 1984 as an assistant professor of anthropology. He is now a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and has served as head of the Anthropology Department, the interim director of the School of Art and interim dean of the College of Architecture and Design.
Dr. Simek earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master's and doctorate from the State University of New York in Binghamton. He has carried out archaeological research in France, Italy, Croatia, California and Tennessee and received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the French Ministry of Culture. He has held visiting faculty appointments at the University of Washington, the University of Bordeaux and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
Dr. Simek and his wife, Mary Ann, live in Seymour, Tenn.
Dr. Jan Simek
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Questions at Issue
Tennessee Alumnus
October 14, 2009
In the Interim
Tennessee Alumnus
September 8, 2009
