Board awards Coker new contract following comprehensive review
May 11, 2022
The Maryville College Board of Directors unanimously approved a new five-year contract for President Bryan F. Coker during a Board meeting on May 6. This new contract, effective July 1, 2022, will expire May 31, 2027, and supersedes Coker’s original three-year contract.
The decision to issue a new contract was made following a comprehensive evaluation of Coker’s performance, which solicited input from the College’s major stakeholder groups, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, community leaders and members of the College’s Board of Directors.
Board Chairman Mike Davis said Coker received very positive reviews across all constituencies.
“Stakeholders noted his adeptness with communication, decision-making and relationship-building, even with all the challenges of COVID-19,” Davis said. “His strategic vision for the College, focused on being ‘of and for’ this region, has generated high levels of excitement and confidence, and a real sense of momentum.”
Coker, Maryville College’s 12th president, assumed office on July 1, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. As the first college or university in Tennessee to require a COVID-19 vaccination following full FDA approval, Maryville was notably proactive in dealing with the pandemic, and its campus community achieved some of highest vaccination levels in the state. The review process showed that the pandemic actually confirmed many of Coker’s greatest strengths as a leader.
The Board noted Maryville’s substantial progress in areas of focus that Coker identified soon after assuming the presidency: (1) embracing the College’s location and region; (2) becoming a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community; (3) capitalizing upon the liberal arts; and (4) “future-proofing” the College.
The College just launched its first graduate-level program in modern history, a master of arts in teaching (MAT) in STEM education, and other new academic offerings are forthcoming. A new visual identity was developed and launched, incorporating the College’s connection with the Great Smoky Mountains. Interest in the College and admissions deposits are trending positively, and fundraising is at an all-time high, with major gifts recently received for environmental and sustainability initiatives, as well as the new Greaser Alumni Center. Ground was recently broken on the Austin Coleman “Cole” Piper Memorial Track, scheduled to open in August, and a new soccer pitch was installed last summer. The move was made to a full-time athletic director model, a new football coach was hired, and the College joined a newly formed athletic conference, the Collegiate Conference of the South, for which Coker is serving as the inaugural president. Progress is being made with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with all employees recently undergoing training, as well as positive gains in the composition of the College’s workforce. Initiatives in progress include an overhaul of the College’s major technology platforms, as well as the reintroduction of a marching band.
Upon learning of the new contract, Coker expressed gratitude to the Board and others who participated in the “very thorough and constructive review process.”
“I sincerely appreciate the Board’s commitment to my leadership, and likewise, I remain very excited for the College’s future,” the president said. “I continue to believe deeply in Maryville College and the formula for success that I have seen here from day one. My family and I and have connected with – and greatly value – the Maryville, Alcoa and Blount County communities, and we look forward to being part of these communities for many years to come.”
Coker and his wife, Sara, are no strangers to Tennessee, having met as undergraduates at Rhodes College in Memphis, and both having received graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Coker previously served as an administrator at UTK, prior to holding posts at colleges in Florida and Maryland.