Board of Trustees

With the passage of the Focus on College and University Success (FOCUS) Act by the 109th Tennessee General Assembly, East Tennessee State University (ETSU) began the transition from governance by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) to an institutional board of trustees.  The FOCUS Act granted the state’s six public universities in the TBR system additional autonomy to empower each individual institution to be successful.

Meeting Livestream

The Board consists of twelve members, six of whom are appointed by the governor, by and with consent of the Tennessee General Assembly, and both the Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor (who is Speaker of the Tennessee Senate) appoint two each. The ETSU Faculty elects the faculty trustee who serves a two-year term on the board and the Board selects a student trustee to serve each year via a process developed by ETSU student government association. The state level coordinating body, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), provides training for all public higher education board members.  

The ETSU Board of Trustees has the authority to appoint the campus president, manage the university budget and set tuition, and oversee other operational tasks. The inaugural ETSU Board of Trustees assumed formal responsibility at its first meeting called by Governor Haslam on March 24, 2017.