Dr. Lori Mann Bruce
photo by John Shearer
Growing up in Lincoln County in Middle Tennessee west of Monteagle, new UT-Chattanooga Chancellor Dr. Lori Mann Bruce had always admired Chattanooga from a distance.
“I grew up coming to Chattanooga for vacations as a kid and driving through Chattanooga,” she said. “I was in grad school in Atlanta (at Georgia Tech), and from my home I would go through Chattanooga.
“I always saw Chattanooga as this kind of hidden, vibrant city. And finally, my husband (J.W. Bruce) and I said we were small-town folk, but if we ever looked at a city, Chattanooga would be the one.”
As it turned out, UTC and UT system officials ended up taking positive note of Dr. Bruce’s qualifications and skills from afar in return while she was the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Tennessee Tech, and she was selected as the new UTC chancellor this year. As a result, she got her wish of getting to live in Chattanooga after the circumstances of a career move resulted.
Part of the news when she was announced for the position this spring is that she is the first female chancellor or president of this state school dating back to its beginning as a private, Methodist-affiliated school in 1886. But Dr. Bruce was admittedly one of the last people connected with the search to actually realize that.
“Right when I was being named chancellor, someone said that,” she said with a laugh during a recent interview inside her Founders Hall office just a few days after she began her new position. “I think that is when I first learned that.”
While her position is a first for the school, being a pioneering woman is not new to her, she added. “I would say my background in electrical and computer engineering and with pretty much my whole career, I have been one of the few women in a mostly male working environment.
“There have been a lot of times in my life when I learned later I was the first woman to do something or the only female to have done that. That part resonates with the rest of my career.”
But as she talked in her seemingly easily approachable manner accentuated with a friendly Tennessee accent, she seemed excited and ready to lead the UTC community. That has come in part from the excitement of glancing at the aesthetically pleasing campus and the also-welcoming interactions she has had with those in the UTC community so far.
“I can tell from looking at campus that the state of campus is great,” she said. “It’s beautiful. There’s lots of construction projects. Clearly the state is investing in us and in our infrastructure. That is good for the students and the university.
“And every person I have met without fail has been very welcoming and supportive,” she continued. “They want to tell me about the campus and the students, and how they help the students. These first impressions have been very, very positive.”
Dr. Bruce also has already developed her own positive impressions about UTC and even a few ideas as she continues to learn more about the school.
“One of my main goals is to grow enrollment, not because I’m chasing a number, but because I believe in the power of education,” she said. “I believe in UTC’s product. I want as many people to have access to that and benefit from that as possible.”
Part of the reason for this viewpoint is seeing how her own family was positively affected by going to college. “I was 11 or 12 when my mom went to college. She was obviously a non-traditional student. But just watching her and her love of education and then seeing how the family’s socio-economic trajectory changed” was impactful, she said.
Dr. Bruce said her mother studied math, computer science and history and went on to teach math classes and a computer lab class in the public schools.
That in part inspired Dr. Bruce to focus on numbers, too – or at least one number and one letter, 4-H – while growing up in the tiny Flintville community of Lincoln County on the border of Franklin County.
“I was really into 4-H,” she said. “We lived on a farm, but I was mostly into 4-H. I did non-agricultural projects. I loved bicycles and biking.”
Dr. Bruce, who said she still enjoys riding bikes and looks forward to exploring more of the trails along the Tennessee Riverwalk and elsewhere, was a national 4-H winner for some bicycle-related projects she did. Her work as a student included organizing bicycle trails across the county, organizing “bike-packing” trips and creating a program for public housing to keep bicycles from getting stolen.
“They didn’t have garages or any place they could secure bicycles,” she said of her motivation.
Like a constantly spinning bicycle wheel, Dr. Bruce was also active almost non-stop in other activities growing up.
“I was into everything,” she said. “I was a majorette. I was a cheerleader. I was into the marching band. I played clarinet in the high school choir band.”
This drive and energy led to her getting some scholarship opportunities to attend the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where she majored in electrical and computer engineering and became more broadened in practical knowledge about such sports as hockey, which was popular there. She also received her PhD from UAH.
Some Student Government Association work during her school years had also given her some leadership opportunities and prepared her for her future along with her high school and college courses. As a result, she began formulating early on what makes a positive leader, and that along with her later experiences have been beneficial as she now leads a university of more than 11,000 students.
And she realizes passion is as important as experience and other traits she also considers important, like being fair, honest and positive.
“A leader understands how a university works,” she said. “Having a background in higher education and understanding the mechanics of a university are important, but having a love for higher education is important.
“You need to understand the operations of a university, but your heart has to be in it. You have to get up every single day thinking about the students and thinking how you can make the student experience better.”
On a lighter note, one piece of knowledgeable advice she has historically also passed on to her students regarding her experience is that they better be careful whom they sit next to, as that person might become a spouse. She jokingly added that she and her husband, Dr. J.W. Bruce, sat next to each other in a class at UAH, and that led to marriage.
He is also an electrical and computer engineering professor and will be teaching at UTC this fall.
Because of all these experiences, Dr. Bruce said she is a big defender of college in general at a time when universities across the country have come under attack from some politicians for a variety of reasons.
“From reading the news, it appears that the public doesn’t always understand the value of higher education,” she said. “I see first-hand every day the difference it makes in students’ lives. Every day, there are people who go to college, and they are often the first people in their family to go to college.
“The college experience, the skills they gain inside and outside of the classroom, it really changes lives,” she continued. “Of course, you want college graduates to have a great career, but it is not always about the paycheck, it’s about the quality of life and having a job you love and being passionate about it.”
Dr. Bruce added during the interview last week as she was still getting her office furnished that the school campus has seemed calm during the slower summer weeks, but she knows her schedule of school-related activities and meetings will ramp up even more soon.
“When fall semester happens, it will get much busier,” she said with a laugh.
But as a provost and vice president whose work in helping develop new academic programs and increasing research funding brought praises, she feels ready for the challenge. She had also been an administrator and faculty member with varying responsibilities at Mississippi State University prior to going to Tennessee Tech.
“Having been a provost and operating at the university level had been great preparation for being a chancellor,” she said. “You are getting to look across the entire landscape of the university.”
She also looks forward to continuing to learn more about UTC and watching the numerous construction projects, including the addition to the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, a large new dorm on Oak Street near Douglas Street and the Dorothy and Jim Kennedy Health Sciences Center for nursing students near Erlanger Hospital, among several others.
Dr. Bruce added that she has not had a chance to examine or learn more detail about the situation with an unused Engel Stadium that UTC has owned in recent years, and she has not formed any opinion yet. It is of interest especially to the larger Chattanooga community due to its rich baseball history but uncertain future.
But she really likes what she has seen overall of UTC. She thinks it is similar to Tennessee Tech in areas like size and academic programs offered, but she jokingly added that she believes UTC is a lot better overall in athletics.
She also likes the fact that UT is part of the UT system.
“We have the support of the system and are part of a larger group, so we have the resources and support structure that a locally grown institution that is not part of the UT system doesn’t have.”
She also said that UT Chancellor Donde Plowman and UT President Randy Boyd have been very supportive.
“I can call them anytime and ask for advice,” she said. “And we pick each other’s brain and just help each other problem solve.”
Another aspect she likes about UTC is the look of the campus, referencing how attractive it is. “I was asked today the thing that has most surprised me, and I said it was how pretty the campus is” she said. “I had not been on campus much that I can remember before I came for my interview, and I was really surprised at how beautiful campus is. It’s kind of a green oasis in the middle of the city.”
She also just likes the general atmosphere of the school.
“I would say we have a fun vibe to campus,” she said. “It is hip and vibrant and being in Chattanooga, there are lots of things on and off campus for students to do. That is a positive.”
When not involved in the campus activities and the large demands of her new job, Dr. Bruce enjoys being involved in a variety of hobbies and activities. She has two small dogs and enjoys walking them. She also enjoys hiking, kayaking, sewing and doing embroidery.
“I joke that I’ve never met a craft I didn’t want to do,” she said with a laugh. “And my husband and I both love to cook.”
Dr. Bruce actually lives right by the UTC campus, which might make it easier to do some of these activities while also helping craft as chancellor UTC into the kind of university she and other administrators and leaders want it to become.
Regardless, it will be a short walk to the office for this woman who has had a long journey to becoming a local female pioneer in higher education.
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net
Lori Mann Bruce
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