NASHVILLE -- Tennessee higher education officials are seeking a half billion dollars in state funding for 11 building projects in next year's state budget.
Among them is a $57.68 million addition and renovation proposal for Fletcher Hall at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where the school's Rollins College of Business is located.
Officials made the pitch last month to Gov. Bill Lee, seeking $556.42 million in funding for the 11 proposals, which include a proposed $129.41 million chemistry building for the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Lee and his staff are evaluating the requests as they construct the state's 2023-24 budget that the governor will present to the General Assembly early next year.
"I hope it goes through," Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, said Monday by phone. "I think that because it's gotten this far, it probably will. Fletcher Hall is an iconic building at UTC where a lot of us went through UTC in that building. I had many classes there."
"This project represents a transformational opportunity not only for UTC and the Rollins College of Business but for Chattanooga and our entire region," Rollins College of Business Dean Robert Dooley said in a statement to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
He called it a crucial investment.
"We will be well-positioned to prepare the workforce our economy needs," Dooley said. "Our region is evolving, and so are we. What we teach and research, how we teach and research, and how we serve our community are all going to be impacted by this expansion. We're very grateful to Gov. Lee and for the vision of our state delegation, led by Sen. Bo Watson and Rep. Patsy Hazlewood."
Watson, R-Hixson, is Senate Finance Committee chairman and Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, is chairwoman of the House Finance Committee.
Lola Potter, spokeswoman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said the administration is reviewing all budget requests as officials develop their spending proposal.
The business college is in Fletcher Hall, which opened in 1940 and originally housed the city and university libraries. It was renovated in 1995, 2016 and 2020. The college of business was renamed the Gary W. Rollins College of Business after Rollins, a University of Chattanooga graduate and successful billionaire businessman, gave the university a $40 million gift in 2018.
With some 2,300 students enrolled in eight undergraduate programs, three graduate degree programs and six minors, the Rollins College of Business graduates more than 550 business students annually. Most of them remain in Tennessee and the region, according to UTC.
The business school graduates are workforce-ready employees for the more than 250 companies in the region that recruit annually in the Rollins College of Business, officials say.
But UTC says the business school remains "significantly limited by space constraints," hampering its ability to grow enrollment and graduates to address workforce needs.
While the previously renovated building provides dedicated space for the Rollins College of Business, the limitations of the current structure affect the college's ability to deliver high-impact academic instruction and engaging programs needed to support the future workforce development needs in the region, according to UTC.
It lacks many key features of modern business schools including state-of-the art teaching spaces focused on collaborative learning, lab space used for research and training, and more, according to UTC.
UTC said in it funding proposal the Fletcher Hall addition would serve as a catalyst for continued enrollment growth in the college, noting the number of business graduates is up 21% during the past 10 years.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.