TTU Trustees To Hear Review Over President From Outside Consultant

The Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees will get a review of President Phil Oldham from an outside firm around January 1st.

Board Chair Trudy Harper told the Executive Committee she received a debrief Wednesday.

“The opportunities for improvement and the strength and successes of the university,” Harper said. “She had a lot of really positive things to say about our school in general, and I was very proud of that.”

Harper said a retired university president with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities lead the review. The consultant’s report will include surveys and interviews conducted over a two day period as well as a meeting with Oldham, Harper said.

“Dr. Dana Hoyt. Dr. Hoyt is a retired university president from Sam Houston State University,” Harper said. “She did a number of activities. She did some surveys. She gave us a list of all she wanted to do. The staff set all this up for her, gave her the contacts of the people she wanted to talk to and set up various interviews.”

Harper said the consultant’s review will be comprehensive over the university and include more than a report over Oldham. Harper said she also asked the consultant to consider how the Board of Trustees can be more useful to Oldham in the implementation of the recommendations.

“She thought that was something she could do, so hopefully we will get that, and it will all be useful to us,” Harper said. “I thought it was a good exercise and for the money, I think we did well.”

The university’s Executive Committee approved up to $25,000 to be spent on the consultant in October.