TLSAMP History

During the Spring of 2001, administrators at Tennessee State University (TSU) discussed the idea of TSU taking the lead on a proposal to be submitted to the NSF LSAMP program. Degree and enrollment data were compiled and reviewed by this team of administrators to determine who would be invited to participate. During that summer, the Vice President of Academic Affairs of TSU sent letters to eight academic leaders across the state of Tennessee requesting participation. LeMonye-Owen College (LOC), Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), the University of Memphis (UM), the University of Tennessee– Knoxville (UTK), and Vanderbilt University (VU) agreed to join this proposed partnership. The original cast included Lonnie Sharpe, Massie Chair of Excellence Professor at TSU, Muhammad Shafi, Director of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at LOC, Mary Martin, Associate Dean of Science and Technology at MTSU, John Haddock, Vice Provost at UM, James Pippin, Director Minority Engineering Program at UTK, and K. Arthur Overholser, Associate Dean of Engineering at VU. By the time the proposal was completed, Denise Jackson, Professor of Industrial Engineering at UTK had replaced James Pippin and Tom Cheatham, Dean of Science and Technology had replaced Mary Martin. President James Hefner was selected to be the principal investigator for this proposal.