Tech’s enrollment, retention rates and the naming of two buildings and a lecture hall are highlights from the quarterly Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday.
University President Phil Oldham gave his report on university statistics and rankings. Tech ranked No. 135 among 400 national universities in the U.S. News and World Report Oldham said. Tech is one of three Tennessee universities to be ranked on this list.
“Among Tennessee public universities we rank second in the state in terms of student retention rate—the rate at which students come back after their first year,” Oldham said.
77 percent of first year Tech students come back for the next year. Tech students graduate on average with $16,532 of debt and an average starting salary of $55,200 which is the best for any public school in Tennessee Oldham said.
The trustees approved the names of two buildings on campus and a lecture hall. They named the Learning Resources Center in honor of Horace M. Jake Jeffers who was an educator from Scott county and a life-long supporter of Tech. They also named the Alumni Center the Varsity Building. The Lab Sciences Lecture Hall was named in honor of Harry Stonecipher, a 1960 Tech graduate who went on to become the President and CEO of Boeing Co., who was also a supporter of Tech.
