Vaughn took over as president, UT’s assets stood at a paltry $38
million. Now, assets total over $736 million.
There are so many ways to measure UT’s academic quality: The
ever-more-impressive credentials of incoming students. The national
rankings for the university – both UT and its Sykes School of Business
are included in the prestigious Princeton Review, which lists 385 top
U.S. undergraduate institutions. And the tremendously wide diversity
of programs, with more than 200, compared to about 70 in 1995. Terry
Parssinen, a history professor who’s been at UT since 1992, has seen
the changes, “and it’s been tremendous to watch,” he said. In the past
few years alone, he has watched as new programs have been created
in international business, communications, cybersecurity, applied
health, nursing and criminology, just to name a few areas. No matter
the program, the focus is on high-quality teaching by professors with
a wide range of backgrounds: Many are Ph.D.s who have significant
research experience, while others have years of real-world experience.
In the criminology department, you’ll find professors who were police
officers or lawyers earlier in their careers. In the business school,
there are professors who had high-level corporate jobs in investment
banking and business consulting. What you won’t find are graduate
students as teachers: More than 90 percent of UT’s full-time faculty
members have doctorates or the top degree in their chosen fields.
In the heart of UT’s campus,
the Sykes Chapel and Center
for Faith and Values fosters the
development of character and
values of UT students.
MAY/JUNE 2020 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 47