News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Tech Executive Committee voted Tuesday to approve Dr. Jennifer Taylor as the Vice President for Research and Economic Development.
“There’s a tremendous foundation on which we can build for research and working with our faculty and students,” Taylor said. “That will be a wonderful opportunity.”
Tech has recorded more than $18 million in research dollars for this fiscal year. Tech President Dr. Phil Oldham called that a true accomplishment based on the lost time to COVID-19. Last year, Tech topped $20 million in research dollars for the first time in school history.
Taylor currently serves as the assistant vice chancellor for Research and Innovation at Arkansas. She came to Fayetteville in 2014. Taylor has also been involved with research and sponsored programs at Vanderbilt and Louisville , and the director of Sponsored Programs, at the University of Arkansas.
Oldham told the Board of Trustees Executive Committee that his team conducted a “rigorous national search” to bring Taylor to Tennessee Tech.
“It was a large search committee comprised of faculty and staff from across the campus,” Oldham said. “We believe we’ve got the best candidate from that pool.”
Taylor takes over for Dr. Francis Otuonye who served as the Interim Vice President.
“I think we’ve got some great opportunities and look forward to working with everyone to move the needle on some of those,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she looked look forward to moving to Cookeville, but said it will likely be late summer before that happens because of COVID-19. In the meantime, Taylor said he looked forward to getting up to speed as quickly as possible.
