President's Bio

Dr. Brian Noland became the ninth president of East Tennessee State University in January 2012. Under his leadership, ETSU embarked upon a series of mission-driven transformative initiatives related to teaching, research, and service. With the construction of the Martin Center for the Arts and Greene Stadium and the renovation of the Culp Student Center and the Interprofessional Education and Research Center, ETSU has launched the largest volume of capital projects in its history.

Sustaining ETSU’s focus on regional service, President Noland has partnered with civic and corporate entities to launch Overmountain Recovery, the region’s only fully comprehensive treatment and addiction recovery center. In addition, he has secured $25 million in external funds to create the Center for Rural Health Research, a state center of excellence focused on advancing health and improving the quality of life in rural communities. Recently, he helped forge a partnership with a local health system to establish a first-of-its-kind institute dedicated to promoting the awareness and study of adverse childhood experiences.

Through President Noland’s leadership, operational units on campus were restructured to support student success, a move that has yielded greater efficiencies as well as the highest graduation rate in the history of the university. In 2019, he launched “The Campaign for ETSU,” a $120 million comprehensive campaign to support teaching, research and service.

President Noland has guided the long-term visioning processes for many initiatives at the university as well as the creation of a decentralized budget structure that aligns strategic planning and budgeting. He is a board member for the American Council on Education, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Ballad Health, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.