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Strategic
Vision
It takes a Volunteer

Our Vision

A world enriched by our ideas, improved through our action, and inspired by the Volunteer spirit of service and leadership

Read the full Strategic Vision document

We know how much is possible when we unite our individual talents and aspirations, put compassion front and center, and

step forward
together as
Volunteers.

Our Mission

We are a diverse community with a shared commitment to discovery, creativity, learning, and engagement.

    At UT Knoxville we:

  • Empower learners of all ages and backgrounds to achieve their dreams through accessible and affordable education and state-of-the-art research training opportunities
  • Advance the prosperity, well-being, and vitality of communities across Tennessee and around the world through our research, teaching, service, and engagement
  • Commit to excellence, equity, and inclusion within the university, across the state, and in all our global activities

Our Goals and Objectives

Cultivating the Volunteer Experience

Demonstrate leadership in providing high-quality educational opportunities for people at every stage of life, whenever and wherever they seek to learn

  • Provide learners at all levels with opportunities to engage in rich learning and in scholarship that is collaborative, inquiry-based, experiential, affordable, and relevant
  • Deliver educational opportunities that are responsive to the needs of learners
  • Support curricular innovations that align with 21st-century workforce needs and our research strengths and priorities
  • Ensure that the programs we offer are accessible to communities across Tennessee and beyond

Conducting Research That Makes Life and Lives Better

Advance the frontiers of knowledge to create a more just, prosperous, and sustainable future through world-class research, scholarship, and creative work

  • Strengthen the impact and reputation of our research, scholarship, and creative activities
  • Ensure that the research outcomes we generate lead to the creation of a more just, prosperous, and sustainable future
  • Invest in state-of-the-art research infrastructure and frameworks to ensure that our researchers, scholars, and creatives continue to work at the knowledge frontier

Ensuring a Culture Where Vol is a Verb

Develop and sustain a nurturing university culture where diversity and community are enduring sources of strength

  • Implement structures and practices that attract and retain a diverse community of faculty, staff, and students and that support a culture where everyone matters and belongs
  • Challenge students to examine their understandings of the world and their capacity to act as members of an inclusive community
  • Nurture change that supports inclusive behaviors and a culture of respectful dialogue to create greater understanding of difference, starting with our administration, faculty, and staff

Making Ourselves Nimble and Adaptable

Empower and sustain a culture of collaboration, adaptability, and innovation

  • Enhance a campus-wide culture of innovation and collaboration at all levels
  • Adapt current structures and systems to foster identity and collaboration while supporting innovation
  • Foster organizational agility and innovation by developing incentives for innovative and transformational work that also breaks or blurs the lines of organizational silos

Embodying the Modern R1, Land-Grant University

Connect with every Tennessean and with communities around the world, inspiring future Volunteers to join our diverse community

  • Deepen and extend the university’s ability to connect with Tennesseans
  • Establish, build upon, and streamline processes to identify community needs and activate university resources to meet those needs

We examined the changing landscape of higher education and analyzed the university’s prospects for the future.