President Tim Hall

Every day I walk by the donor recognition display for Austin Peay’s enormously successful “Changing Minds, Changing Lives” Campaign. It hangs on the wall just outside my office, a constant reminder of just how generous Austin Peay’s alumni and friends are.

The display is fairly durable: I expect it to hang here in Browning for as long as Browning itself stands. But the gifts represented by the display will have an impact far longer than even this display. A generation from now, or two, students will still arrive at Austin Peay State University to study, supported financially by one of the many scholarship endowments created during the capital campaign. Many of them would not be able to come otherwise. Their lives will change because they came, because people of a generous spirit looked into the future and saw them waiting to come and made it possible for them to join the ranks of APSU alums.

Every day I walk beside the display and say quietly, on behalf of Austin Peay and its students, “thanks.”

On Friday, January 23, the Nashville Business Journal published an article describing advances at Austin Peay under the heading, “Austin Peay Making Its Move.” The article noted that “the state’s $900 million budget shortfall has frozen growth plans at many state schools,” but described Austin Peay’s strides forward–a soon-to-be completed new facility at Ft. Campbell, new satellite campuses slated for Springfield and Dickson, and a new facility on our main campus, funded by the state of Tennessee, to house a Chemical Engineering Technology program to meet the needs of Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. In spite of our state’s budget woes, it’s a great time to be at Austin Peay!

Some of our Austin Peay students joined the 1.8 million or so people who attended the inauguration of President Obama in Washington, D.C. last week. It took a 13-hour bus ride each way, but they arrived at the national mall at 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the inauguration and saw the nation’s new president sworn in.

Thanks to Congressman Phil Roe, Austin Peay’s first alumnus in Congress, my son Ben and I were also able to attend the inauguration. We had seats–for which I am immensely thankful after spending so much time that morning and the previous day standing in lines and walking! I don’t remember being quite so cold in recent times, but it was great to be a part of the event.

Austin Peay’s new provost, Dr. Tristan Denley, is on the job, and it’s good to have him here. I have known Tristan for several years and think he is one of the brightest, most student-friendly academics I have ever met. Tristan chaired the math department at the University of Mississippi successfully for several years and led the faculty of that department to make changes to some of the entry-level math courses which had the effect of helping students learn more. He also coordinated the various university faculty who taught in the first-year honors courses of the Honors College, helping them chose the various books honors students would study. And when the University of Mississippi sought an academic to lead its first residential college, Tristan was the obvious choice.

During the process of interviews for provost here at Austin Peay, I understand the search committee set up a variety of standard interviews for the candidates, but then entertained specific requests about what the candidates wanted to see while on campus. Tristan was the candidate who wanted to see more students. In addition to a general student session, he asked to meet with a group of freshmen and a group of seniors, to find out how our students perceived Austin Peay at the beginning and the end of their academic careers. That’s the kind of provost we need.

Welcome to Austin Peay!

There has never been a more exciting time to be a Governor! I feel every day as though the future were rushing toward Austin Peay — and especially here on the doorstep of a new year.

Last month in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall, Gov. Bredesen, Sen. Bob Corker and other state and local officials announced that Hemlock Semiconductor and Dow Corning Corp. will build a $1.2 billion plant in Clarksville. Austin Peay is partnering in this extraordinary venture by creating a new degree program in chemical engineering technology to supply 80 or more graduates a year to work in the new facility. The state of Tennessee will fund the construction on our campus of a $6.2 million classroom and laboratory building to house the new program.

This new construction project, slated to begin immediately, joins others already well along the way. Next month, we expect to complete construction on our new educational facility on post at Fort Campbell. This facility will arrive just in time, since our enrollment in the second Fort Campbell fall term was up by more than 20 percent from the previous year, and we plan to offer a new fifth term at Fort Campbell this summer. Renovations to our Memorial Health and McReynolds buildings are in full swing, and we are midway through the design process for a new 400-bed student housing facility to be located in Castle Heights. Construction on this project will begin in November 2009. This housing will meet the needs of the ever increasing number of students choosing Austin Peay as their academic home. This past fall, our enrollment climbed to 9,400 students, the largest in our history! Enrollment growth has also compelled us to hold two graduation ceremonies in December and May, accommodating all our graduates and their families. At least I don’t have to pass out quite so many diplomas at one time now!

This past fall, the beginning of an important partnership between Austin Peay and the Montgomery County School System was seen, as we launched the Middle College. Roughly 120 high school students are now studying on the campus of Austin Peay, carrying a course load of both high school and university classes. I’ve met many of the students personally and could not be more pleased to have them here on our campus. We expect many of them to choose Austin Peay as their university home after they graduate from high school.

The past summer, we also witnessed our first Governor’s School of Computational Physics, which attracted stellar students from all over the state to live on our campus for six weeks and to earn eight hours of college physics credit with our physics faculty. The program was so successful that the state of Tennessee will provide more support next summer so we can almost double the size of the next Governor’s School.

On the athletic front, Dave Loos, our athletic director and men’s basketball coach, does a brilliant job of helping our athletics succeed both on and off the field. Coach Rick Christophel continues to make strong progress building our scholarship football program. Thanks to all of you who have supported financially our return to scholarship football, attended the games this season, and participated in the growing tail-gate tradition. I hope to see many more of you tailgating and attending the games next year! Our women’s volleyball team, lead by coach Jenny Hazelwood, had an outstanding season, with a 21-10 overall mark and 13-5 conference record, finishing third in the OVC Tournament. Men’s and women’s basketball are both well under way, with conference play about to begin in earnest, and both teams enjoying early successes. In addition, on Feb. 5, at our game against UT Martin in the Dunn Center, we will retire the jersey of legendary player, Fly Williams. I hope to see many of you there.

So, the new year is off to a great start, even though state budget woes continue and we may lose as much as 20 percent of our state funding next year. Austin Peay has been blessed, though, with strong financial support from its alumni and friends. I encourage all our alumni and friends to continue this wonderful tradition of support in the coming year. Perhaps some of you would consider establishing a scholarship endowment to help students come to Austin Peay or making a gift to help expand its faculty or physical facilities to serve the ever larger number of students who have chosen Austin Peay as their university home. You might also consider making the university a part of your estate planning. I would love to talk with you about any of these possibilities.

In the meantime, don’t be a stranger to campus. We would love to see you here and wish you a great new year.

Tim Hall
President

P.O. Box 4576
Clarksville TN 37044
(931) 221-7567 (office)

(931) 221-7297 (fax)

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin