‘We Are on a Roll,’ Chancellor Buckley Says at Town Hall

Chancellor Peter Buckley, MD, Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Marketing and Chief of Staff Karla Leeper, PhD, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Raaj Kurapati, along with Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs and Chief Academic Officer Cindy Russell, PhD, held a town hall Thursday to answer questions and update faculty and staff on recent accomplishments, the university's positive financial standing, and refreshed branding.

Executive leadership at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences held a town hall Thursday on the Memphis campus to discuss the university's momentum, pay raises for employees, a refresh to the university's branding and other updates.

"We are on a roll, and we've got great momentum," Chancellor Peter Buckley, MD, told the faculty and staff members who attended the meeting at the Student-Alumni Center.

It was part of a series of interactive town halls across the statewide campuses designed to keep the UT Health Sciences community informed and offer the opportunity to ask questions. Town halls have been held in Memphis and Knoxville in the past two months, and future town halls are planned in Chattanooga on July 21 and in Nashville at a later date.

'In the Good': Pay Raises and a Balanced Budget

Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Raaj Kurapati provided an update on the university's operations and finances. He announced a plan for compensation adjustments that would give employees much deserved raises in the next fiscal year.

As Kurapati explained, the raises will be implemented in a two-tier approach: a base adjustment for all employees based on current salary and a one-time bonus based on employees' annual performance reviews. He noted that the proposed compensation plan was presented to and approved by the UT Health Sciences Advisory Board and is subject to further approval by the UT Board of Trustees as part of the proposed FY2027 budget.

The proposed compensation plan for all employees is above the 1.5% allotted in the state budget and is possible by the good work over the past two financial cycles leading to a projected surplus for FY2026.

"In January 2024, we set out a strategy to balance our budget and eliminate our deficit, which was a pretty daunting number, $55 million," Kurapati said. "I'm very pleased to share with you that we expect to end this fiscal year $35 million in the good."

UT Health Sciences leaders will present the 2027 budget to the Board of Trustees at its meeting June 29-30. The total budget proposal is roughly $747 million, which includes the university's largest-ever capital budget of $334.4 million.

'Our Stock Has Risen': Sharing Our Accomplishments

Chancellor Buckley began the meeting by explaining some of the university's recent accomplishments, including funding for the new College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building. He called on the town hall attendees to be ambassadors by spreading the word about the university's momentum in the community.

"We are incredibly fortunate to be the recipient of $311 million from the state towards the College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building," Chancellor Buckley said. "This is the ultimate one-liner in your cocktail parties: 'What's going on at UT Health Sciences?' 'We just got $311 million in the largest-ever capital gift for higher education from the state.' 'Wow, you guys are rocking and rolling.'"

Executive Dean Michael Hocker, MD, explains how the new College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building will help deepen UT Health Sciences' statewide impact on health and healthcare.

Michael Hocker, MD, executive dean of the College of Medicine, shared additional details about the new building, explaining how the building's design gives passersby "a glimpse into who we are." The white exterior reflects the white coat as a symbol of medicine and healing, while an orange staircase visible through the windows underscores the university's place within the UT System. Other architectural features are inspired by the rivers and bridges that connect Memphis and the rest of the state.

"We're not just a college of medicine in a health science center that's in Memphis, but we really work across the state," Dr. Hocker said. "This is for the people of Tennessee and for the betterment of people across the state. This is more than a building. This is where we're going to train the next generation of healthcare providers."

Dr. Hocker said the design process is nearing completion, and thanks to expert planning by Kurapati and the team, the timeline has been shortened by 14 months. The goal is to bring the building to the State Building Commission in August and to start construction in the fall.

"Our stock has risen," Chancellor Buckley said. "This (the College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building) is driving the momentum, but it's not only that. And so, we should go forth and multiply."

'The Essence of Who We Are': Refreshing Our Brand

Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Marketing and Chief of Staff Karla Leeper, PhD, announced a refresh to the university's branding. She showed new logos with the "UT Health Sciences" wordmark, eliminating the word "Center," and an updated color palette with a new primary green shade that better complements Tennessee orange.

"This is about how we talk about ourselves, so as we continue to promote ourselves, we are better understood by people in our community and in communities broader than us," Dr. Leeper said. "People generally don't have a full understanding of who we are, and that's true even with our neighbors in Memphis. We are taking the mystery out of the 'HSC.'"

"This is not a name change; this is a refresh," Chancellor Buckley said. "It's getting to the essence of who we are, which is unequivocal: we are the health sciences university of the University of Tennessee System."

Dr. Karla Leeper shares details about UT Health Sciences' branding refresh, saying it will help the university "be clearer about who and what we are."

Dr. Leeper explained that the branding refresh aims to more accurately depict the university today, improve clarity about the diversity of UT Health Sciences' programs and reduce confusion with clinical enterprises.

"A 'center' tends to be one spot where you go for care," she said. "We are not one location. We have locations all the way around the state."

Dr. Leeper also said the refreshed branding will encourage cobranding with clinical and hospital partners and will better leverage "the big orange" and the University of Tennessee brand while maintaining a unique identity.

Implementation of the refreshed branding will take time and will occur in the normal course of business, Dr. Leeper said. The Office of Communications and Marketing has created templates for the campus community's various design needs and will offer training on the updated branding for students, vendors and others who require it.

Supporting Students and Leaders

Vice Chancellor for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs and Chief Academic Officer Cindy Russell, PhD, provided an update on enrollment strategy, accreditation and leadership development at UT Health Sciences.

Dr. Russell detailed the university's strategic enrollment plan, which focuses on three priorities: a targeted approach to marketing and recruitment, partnerships with other academic and healthcare institutions, and the student journey from enrollment through graduation.

"The student journey is about when you are transitioning to us and all the way through, it's a smoother journey," she said. "This will help us better support our students as they go through our programs."

Two health sciences programs, cytopathology and physician assistant studies, will have accreditation site visits this fall, Dr. Russell said. She also reported on the second cohort of the Health Sciences Senior Leadership Academy, which wrapped up in May. Feedback is being gathered from the 12 participants - two from Knoxville, three from Chattanooga, and seven from Memphis - to design the program for the third cohort. More information will be distributed in early fall.