POLICY NO. 1:02:04:00

SUBJECT: Selection and Terms of Board Members

Members. The Board shall consist of nineteen* members including four ex-officio members who shall be the Governor, the Commissioner of Education, the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, who shall be a non-voting member. Twelve public members shall be appointed by the Governor subject to confirmation by the Senate, but appointments shall be effective until adversely acted upon by the Senate. One member shall be the immediate past Commissioner of Education as of July 1, 1972, who shall serve for a term of twelve years there from.* One member of the Board shall be a student who shall be appointed annually by the Governor for a term of one year commencing on July 1 following his or her appointment, provided that the student must retain status as a student in good standing for the duration of his or her term on the Board. One member of the Board shall be a current faculty member at an institution or technology center of the Board of Regents. The faculty member shall be appointed annually by the Governor for a term of one year.

Terms. Except for the appointment of the original public members on July 1, 1972, who shall serve for variable terms, all subsequent terms shall be for six years. Public members may be appointed to succeed themselves. If a vacancy occurs, except by reason of expiration of term, it shall be filled for the remainder of the term.

Representation. One public member shall be appointed from each congressional district in which he or she shall be domiciled. Three at-large members shall be appointed from different geographical areas of the state. Each of the two leading political parties shall be represented on the Board by at least three appointed members. At least four of the appointed members shall be alumni of the institutions governed by the Board of Regents, but not more than two of such appointed members shall be alumni of the same institution. At least one appointed member shall be under thirty years of age. At least one appointed member shall be sixty years of age or older. At least one appointed member shall be of a racial minority. Appointments made after January 1, 1995, shall alternate such that every other appointment of a new member to the board shall be a female until the membership of the board reflects the percentage of females in the population generally, after which the provisions of this sentence shall cease to be effective.

Conditions. No employee of any public institution of higher education, nor any elected or appointed official or employee of the State of Tennessee, or any member of a governing body for any institution of higher education, may serve as a public member of the Board while so employed. The position of any at-large member of the Board shall be vacated at such time as he or she shall cease to have his or her domicile in the State of Tennessee. The position of any member appointed from the congressional districts shall be vacated at such time as he or she shall cease to have his or her domicile in that district.

Source: Tennessee Code Annotated 49-8-201, as amended

 

*The Commissioner of Education in 1972 was Mr. J. Howard Warf who deceased in 1996; therefore, the Board consists of eighteen members.