UNIVERSITY NEWS New campus bldg
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
MTSU unveils $40.1M integrated learning concrete, construction building
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University officials cut the ribbon Thursday, Oct. 13, to officially open the new $40.1 million School of Concrete and Construction Management Building students just began utilizing on the west side of campus as they prepare for professional careers...
www.wgnsradio.com
One thing that has happened during McPhee's tenure is the upgrading of campus facilities. How much was him and how much was simply needing done in the first place (science building anyone?) Idk. This, science building, student union, education building, honors, and probably a few I'm forgetting. We have added a lot of majors that one could call "fads" but I think the CIM programs are great for the long haul.
This certainly took a while. Looks good. They closed Ezell and Abernathy when I was there.
This certainly took a while. Looks good. They closed Ezell and Abernathy when I was there.
McPhee is an academic. He's navigated the academic side of things reasonably well (law school fiasco aside).
But he has dropped the ball in a MASSIVE way on the athletic side of campus.
I'd agree with this. I was back on campus for the first time in years, and it's crazy how bigger/better/nicer everything has become.
We have a lot to be proud of. I just wish our ambition and drive in athletics matched our ambition and drive in academics.
I'm not even willing to concede that...
The Sun came up every morning during his tenure. That is just coincidence. Just as new bldgs that were overdue. If someone else was in that position for over two decades, not sure we wouldn't have had them sooner.
There are a number of things that bother me about his time in Cope. The law school failure. Not being fired or resigning in disgrace over the sex scandal. Enrollment lack of growth. What appears to be a hostile environment to Greek life. Refusal to consider the name change so many desire(d). Allowing the ROTC bldg name to fester his entire tenure.
These are a few things I just named off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more I haven't thought of or have forgot.
7 wood is a lapdog who has been at the university for 20 years because he does what he is told. He'd be gone if he bit the hand that feeds him.
Fair criticisms of McPhee. He should have resigned after the fiasco 15 years ago. There was no reason for him to continue in his position after it.
Re : IIRC, enrollment grew earlier in his tenure, but has since flatlined (or even declined). There are a LOT of possible reasons for this.
Re : Greek life. I'm not a Greek guy, but they do play a part in student life. Minimizing student life affects long-term support (and also athletics). That's a fair criticism.
Until the BoT, McPhee wouldn't have been able to change the name, even if he tried. TBOR probably wouldn't allow it. ROTC building name fiasco is another problem during his tenure.
But, navigating the building process (under THEC, TBOR, and BoT eras) is a complicated & a political process. Getting academic buildings built (or at least caught up) deserves some credit (even though he completely dropped the ball with athletic facilities).
Don't need a law school when you can have a meharry fast-track program and beer.
Don't forget to throw in a side hustle with the CCP
We’ve consistently improved our national rankings and moved up to an R2 university. I think he is doing more on the acedemic side than just showing up each day. Athletics is a completely different story.
This has been addressed in the past. Our enrollment has been steady but the focus is currently on improving quality of incoming students. That has improved by a lot.
Agree 100%.
Most everything we see built in the last twenty years really had its origins under the campus "master plan" developed under Dr. James E. Walker during the mid to late 1990's. That plan basically refaced campus from centering around the "old quadrangle" of KOM to East Rutherford Boulevard and we have seen that come to fruition during Dr. Sidney A. McPhee's tenure. Many buildings were replacements for threadbare facilities decades overdue. I will acknowledge Dr. McPhee carried enough political capital to get several projects funded/built. However, original ideas/development of these facilities were largely to his predecessor's credit. Our primary area of service is still designed for the degree seeking undergraduate student and not necessarily catering to those matriculating higher professional/masters' programs. That lack of high regard is a "gray mark" to our graduate's reputation in competing for top career opportunities. Our law school fiasco is Exhibit "A" to diminished credibility of our university under current leadership of the Board of Trustees alongside executive leadership allowing this denial to happen. Basically, we operate with limited regional influence, but even that distinction is being challenged by heavy promotion of "Everywhere you look...UT". This is especially noted in Southern Middle Tennessee and various pockets of West Tennessee where we were once stronger in academic scholarship recruiting and general admissions as being the "university of choice". Today, many students throughout these regions attend UTK, UTM, UTC, UTS in Pulaski, or even Memphis (and now Memphis has a satellite campus in Jackson at the old Lambuth College) while our footprint is becoming concentrated on Rutherford and perhaps Bedford County with our new Aerospace facility and affiliation with Bomar Field Airport.
What should have happened in earlier years of Dr. McPhee is building the University Endowment to somewhere close to a billion dollars. We are nowhere close even with our centennial or subsequent campaigns. That's where extra clout could have help us get a major professional program or upgrade several programs that we offer in research. Such a size of endowment would exhibit quality leadership to make us a Level I research university instead of Level II (and we just got that designation fairly recently) and perhaps accent our athletic programs to a higher level (which includes our athletic conference). Looking back, we fell for the "bait and switch" when we joined C-USA: we were coming in just as the Louisville's, Cincinnati's, Memphis', Tulsa's were exiting and didn't fully do our due diligence as to why they left it. As years went by our conference leadership got weaker to what we are seeing with Kennesaw State and Jacksonville State joining. Probably should have stayed in the Sun Belt, but that's water under the bridge. Think passing up on the MAC was a mistake; that would have helped us long term because of their stability and our budget to fund FBS football as we have it.
What I see this Homecoming are plenty of missed opportunities and what might have been, but at least we're here. And hopefully we can defeat those Hilltoppers this afternoon!
Moreover not to mention having added no other professional degree programs since Geier ended, inability to improve prestige through national rankings, increased crime on campus, and marginal (at best) endowment growth. Let’s not forget his exploits with communist China and his seemingly endless pursuits of shiny pennies, and his higher regard for he and his wife’s exploitation of travel to make themselves feel like royalty rather than MTs best interest.
Graduated over two decades ago and the degree isn’t any more valuable today than then. McPhee has been nothing more than a swashbuckling, self-interested caretaker.
