New UT president to visit Obion County
New UT president to visit Obion County Posted: Thursday, March 31, 2011 9:04 pm
The event, sponsored by Obion County University of Tennessee Alumni Association, is scheduled from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Hampton Centré at 2201 West Reelfoot Ave. in Union City. Tickets are $20 and the price includes hors d’oeuvres. A cash bar will be available. Reservations will be accepted through Friday. Call Claudia Maness at 885-1698 or contact her by e-mail at chmaness@gmail.com to purchase tickets. Checks should be made payable to Obion County UTAA. DiPietro officially took over his new position from Interim President Jan Simek on Jan. 1. As president, he serves as the chief executive officer of a statewide university system that includes the flagship campus in Knoxville, campuses in Chattanooga and Martin, the Health Science Center in Memphis, the Space Institute in Tullahoma and statewide institutes of agriculture and public service. The president also serves as chairman of the Board of Governors of UT-Battelle, which manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, and as a member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees. Prior to becoming president, DiPietro served as chancellor of the UT Institute of Agriculture from 2006-10. The title of that position was changed from vice president to chancellor in July 2010. As chancellor, he oversaw UT Extension, AgResearch, the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Veterinary Medicine. During his tenure, the institute began interdisciplinary programs such as the Center for Renewable Carbon, the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative and the master’s degree in landscape architecture. Between 2006 and 2010, external grant support for the Institute of Agriculture increased 30 percent from $26.6 million to $34.8 million annually. A veterinarian by training, DiPietro’s research emphasis was veterinary parasitology. He earned his bachelor’s degree, his doctor of veterinary medicine and his master’s degrees at the University of Illinois, Urbana. Before coming to UT, he served as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida from 1997 to 2006. He rose to tenured professor of veterinary clinical medicine and veterinary pathobiology at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and held administrative positions there, including assistant director of the Agriculture Experiment Station and associate dean for research of the College of Veterinary Medicine. DiPietro and his wife, Deb, live in Knoxville and have three children and six grandchildren. Published in The Messenger 3.31.11
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