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Ernest L. Brothers

Span of Responsibility: Oversees the Office of Graduate Training and Mentorship developed to enhance and sustain a culture for academic success and professional advancement of graduate students. Assists departments and colleges with recruitment and retention initiatives; develops and fosters university partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities; identifies and creates diversity resources and initiatives that strengthen faculty mentoring for retention of under-represented populations in various disciplines; assists with building faculty/student collaborative research teams and interdisciplinary projects.

Publications:

  • Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes
    National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals, Washington, D.C. April 2011
  • Best Practices of Retention of Underrepresented Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Tennessee LSAMP) 
    National Association of African American Studies, Baton Rouge, LA, February 2011
  • We Are Not Building the Space Shuttle: Just Partnerships
    Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools, Huntsville, AL, February 2011
  • Keynote Speaker: Staying on the Path to Graduate Degrees in STEM
    Research Alliance in Math and Science, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, August 2010
  • Faculty Senate Teaching and Learning Committee
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN August 2011-Present
  • Program for Excellence & Equity in Research (PEER) Selection Committee
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, March 2011-Present
  • Scalable Computing and Leading Edge Innovative Technologies (SCALE-IT) Selection Committee
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, March 2011-Present
  • Enrollment Management Committee, Office of the Provost
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, December 2010-Present
  • Top 25 Graduate Education Planning and Implementation Team
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, October 2010-Present
  • Commission for Blacks, Chair, Student Concerns
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN August 2010-August 2011
  • National Alliance for Graduate Admission Professionals
    Member of the Marketing Committee, Summer 2010-Present

How has this Ph.D. helped your career? The degree provides me with the necessary tools to be competitive as senior administrator in higher education. Since graduating in 2006, I have held senior administrative positions at the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. My ability to be innovative, organized, and effective are attributed to the values from the four core tenants that are unique to the program: generative learning, exchange analysis, community of practice, and complexity theory. Other degrees prepare you for your future: this one allows me to create, shape, or change my future.