Below are President DiPietro's responses to trending comments submitted via UTALK.
“I am humbled by the response to my first day in office. Thank you for the many warm words of encouragement and congratulations. I look forward to meeting more of the UT family across the state and the nation as we go forward in working together. All the best, Joe.”
--UT President Joe DiPietro
“The University of Tennessee provides education, research and outreach to the people of Tennessee. The University’s faculty and staff are tasked with carrying out this important charge as the state’s land-grant institution. As is the case for every employer, adequate compensation is an important and ongoing concern for the University, particularly considering the length of time since our employees have had pay raises. I intend to address this issue and to do so as strategically and thoughtfully as possible in this time of obviously scarce resources.”
--UT President Joe DiPietro
“I am confident in the efforts of UT Knoxville Chancellor Cheek and UT Knoxville men’s athletics director Mike Hamilton to address concerns involving Coach Pearl and to oversee the athletics program on the Knoxville campus.”
--UT President Joe DiPietro
“I share the concerns about the impact of rising tuition costs on students and their families. We are committed to keeping tuition at all of our campuses as reasonable as possible. No decision to increase tuition ever is undertaken without deliberate, careful consideration, and always is weighed against the realities of University expenses that continue to rise and decreasing state appropriations. The latter is the primary reason for pursuing a change to our private fundraising model. Private giving must be increased to continue to enabling the ‘educational extras’ that ensure the increased and competitive quality of the UT education, and to continue providing more for our students through scholarships, better facilities and increased opportunities.
“The good news is an overwhelming majority of our in-state students qualify for the HOPE scholarship, which pays $4,000 toward our average undergraduate tuition of $5,500. Further, all our campuses have programs in place to help students succeed in the classroom so that they can sustain the required minimum grade point average to maintain a HOPE scholarship.”
--UT President Joe DiPietro
