Tennessee State a step closer to having university board

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) –Tennessee State is a step closer to having a university board.

The state Legislature on Monday, Feb. 13, approved Gov. Bill Haslam’s nominees for TSU’s University Board of Trustees. The Senate unanimously approved the group, and the House overwhelmingly passed them 94-3.

The board becomes official upon the call of its first meeting.

The board is part of the governor’s Focus on College and University Success (FOCUS) Act, which changes the way public higher education institutions in Tennessee are governed. Instead of being under the Tennessee Board of Regents, the state’s six public four-year universities will now be governed by a local board.

TSU’s board nominees are:

Deborah Cole, president and CEO of Citizens Savings Bank & Trust Co.

Stephen Corbeil, president of TriStar Division of Hospital Corporation of America

Bill Freeman, chairman of Freeman Webb, Inc., a real estate development firm based in Nashville

Richard Allen Lewis, Sr., owner of Lewis & Wright Funeral Home, which has served the greater Nashville community for over 50 years

Pam Martin, president of Cushion Employer Services and 2014 appointee to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission

Obie McKenzie, managing director of BlackRock, Inc. and founding board member of the National Association of Securities Professionals

Edith Peterson Mitchell, clinical professor of Medicine and Medical Oncology for the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, and current President of the National Medical Association

Bishop Joseph Walker III, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Nashville and presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, International

To see the nominees’ full bios, or learn more about the FOCUS Act, visit http://www.tnstate.edu/president/focus/news.aspx.

Department of Media Relations

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About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 25 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.