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Again, thank you for coming out this afternoon, on a beautiful August day here
on our campus and it is my pleasure to turn the program over to our Student
Government Association President, Miss Iqra Ahmad... Iqra...
Good Afternoon!
On behalf of our Student Body, Faculty, and Staff, it is my pleasure to welcome
you to East Tennessee State University
In 1911, when East Tennessee State Normal School opened, Students took a trolley car to
Campus.
Today, a hundred and one years later, we are breaking ground on a
425,000 square foot parking garage that will provide just over
1,220 parking spaces.
In 1911,
that would have been approximately 42 parking spaces for each student
enrolled, with a few left over for President Sidney Gilbreath.
A parking garage has been a dream of ETSU students from decades past,
but a few years ago an opportunity to bring this dream to fruition came before
the Student Government Association.
Realizing this need for a garage would only become increasingly dire in the years to come,
especially during times of record enrollment. The SGA agreed to help fund a
portion of the construction costs
by increasing parking fees for Students.
That vote was an investment in the future of ETSU, and in one year, that four level
parking garage will be standing right behind me.
I love ETSU more than anything and I'm excited that during my senior year on
this campus, I will be able to watch this garage rise from the ground level by
level.
At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the program over to our 9th President,
Dr. Brian Noland.
Iqra, thank you very much. It's my honor to welcome everyone here today to
the campus of East Tennessee State University.
Today is a day when we look at our history,
but more importantly when we look forward to our future
but today's a day that's made possible through the vision of our Students,
and I cannot thank our Students enough for their dedication to making this
possible.
I wish that all of our students were as active and engaged as Iqra.
There is not a better Student Body President
in this State, and you're not going to find someone
who is was more engaged on this Campus
than our Student Body Leader and the folks who are here today.
That word engagement really strikes to where we're going as an institution.
How do we become engaged with those in the community?
How do we become engaged with our partners in the City?
How do we become engaged with our Students, engaged with our Alumni?
You may think, how does a parking garage have anything to do with engagement?
Well, look around the room!
We have Faculty, we have Staff, we have Students,
we have leaders from the City, leaders from the State, leaders from the Board of
Regents.
This is engagement!
This is all of us coming together as a family,
to think about where we may go,
and what that future may hold.
I can tell you one of the things that that future will hold
is a focus on Students,
and a focus on Student learning,
and a focus on outcomes.
Through this garage,
through the pressure that it will release
in the quest to find parking, and if you think there's pressure now come back in
two weeks...
Get here early! If not, it'll be a great opportunity for wellness enhancement as
you walk to class.
But that focus on Students, this will
relieve pressure as we grow,
as we grow from 15,500 students, to 16,000, to
17,000, to 18,000 and beyond,
and as we grow as an institution,
this will provide a front door as Students move into the heart of Campus.
But it's not only as Students move into Campus, it's that you as Community members,
you as Faculty,
and you as Staff.
This gives us a safer Campus,
and this gives us a more pedestrian friendly Campus.
Visit in the Fall, the green space and come back next Fall and visit the green
space again,
and come back when we open this garage and visit the green space a third time
because a pedestrian friendly Campus strikes to the center of who we
are, and that's an institution that's focused on Students and that's an
institution that puts Students first.
There are a lot of folks here who we're honored to have with us this afternoon.
Iqra's going to do some of the introductions, but I'd like to do some as
well.
I'd like to start with my wife, Donna.
Thank you for taking the time to be here today! Yesterday at a Chamber event
I introduced her as my son,
so I had to make sure I got it right today!
We're also pleased to have with us President Emeritus Paul Stanton, who will offer comments
shortly.
Mayor Jeff Banyas who is a great partner at the city.
Senator Rusty Crowe, Representative Matthew Hill,
from the Board of Regents, Paul Montgomery, from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission,
Robert White,
John Abe Teague, from Congressman Phil Rowe's office,
Bridget Baird, from Senator Corker's office,
across the room, are City leaders, Community leaders, I apologize if I leave
you off the list but if I touched on everyone who's here, that cake is going to begin
to melt, because while it is in the shade, it is a little warm.
So, I thank you once again for being here today,
and for now I'd like to
turn it back over to Iqra, who will take us to the next step of today's events. Thank
you very much!
Thank you Doctor Noland!
The decision to move forward with the parking garage was made during the
tenure of President Emeritus, Doctor Paul Stanton.
We are honored that he could be here with us today, on this groundbreaking, and I will
turn the program to him at this time.
Thank you, Iqra!
I'll tell you, you do have a wonderful SGA President, in Iqra.
You have a wonderful President of the institution in Dr. Noland, he and I have known each
other for a dozen years,
and I'm very pleased that he's here.
You know,
you mentioned Iqra,
1911
going back to the George L. Carter era,
if there's any one thing I would have hoped wouldn't have been done, that
was
we wouldn't have torn down his house,
and if you look at, the book has just come out,
by Ray Stahl and Ned Irwin,
on those years. It's a very special book to go through to review some pictures.
But we're blessed with the Campus
and I can only imagine, when those 29 first students arrived
back at that particular point in time in 1911.
As you said, they came on streetcars, they came on trains and so forth but, for the most
part, they didn't have a car.
Some of you sitting here have heard me welcome
Faculty and welcome Staff and Students at the various Fall Convocations
and I say that, you know, we're blessed with good Students
who must have good summer jobs
because when 15,000 some of them arrive,
in a couple of weeks, they will each have bought two cars during the Summer.
But the dream that goes back to a plan that
I was peripherally involved in, in 1994,
was that of a Campus master plan by Sasaki and Associates
that called for five
Campus
parking decks.
Well, there's one across the street, and it's shared with the City and the hotel and
and the participants in the Millennium Centre and this one that Doctor Noland
and his Staff are about to build
is gonna be magnificent when you look at four hundred and some-odd thousand
square feet.
That's huge, but I'll predict that within two years from now people will say,
'You know, when are we going to start that next parking deck?'
because it will be needed, we're blessed with growth
and in the Johnson City/Tri-Cities region
we have many partners. So thank you for inviting me to be present today and be a part of this.
I treasure the opportunities to come back on the Campus
and I fear for Dr. Noland that he introduced
our First Lady as
his son.
I've done worse, so...
but God bless you! Have a great day!
Thank you Dr. Stanton.
Please join me in welcoming Tennessee State Representative Matthew Hill.
Thank you very much for that.
I, as many of you know, and some may not know, I'm a very proud Alum of ETSU.
About three fourths of my family... very proud Alums of ETSU,
and I just want to say to Dr. Noland
that at my time during
my tenure here at East Tennessee State University,
I participated in the wellness enhancement program you spoke of many many
days! They said
Well, what parking lot did you park in, I parked in the Bojangle's parking lot over there,
and I was also... you talked about being engaged.
When i started at ETSU, I worked two jobs and my morning classes I was
maybe a little tardy Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I was very well egnaged with Public
Safety as...
trying to find a parking place to be at class.
So... wellness enhancement and engagement, I'm very well attuned to when it comes to the
parking situation but I appreciated the comments that this is not a parking
garage.
This is quite frankly a monument to the growth and the influence of East
Tennessee State University on our region.
Now some may see a parking garage and it is beautiful
in this rendering of what it's going to look like when it's finished
but when I look at it,
I don't see a parking garage, I see progress.
I see what ETSU has been, what it is, and what it is going to be
and that is a true continuing of vision
as an economic engine for our region,
Student focused that then, those Students
do as I have done and many others are doing and that is stay here and
contribute to our region, to our Community, and they're going to be able
to do that and this is a true sign
of
that growth
and I am so proud and honored to be able to be here today and share that with all
of you.
It is just something to me that just gets me extremely excited to know
that ETSU, and ETSU always has, under the leadership of Dr. Stanton and now
Dr. Noland, it always continues to move forward. ETSU is never stagnant, ETSU
is never just occupying space. ETSU is always moving forward and
this is a testament to that, so congratulations to you and to the Students
of East Tennessee State University. Now, where do I get a parking pass for this thing, that's what I need to know
Thank you!
Thank you, also joining us today is Tennessee State Senator Rusty Crowe.
Senator Crowe, if you will come forward at this time.
Thank you, I appreciate the invitation, the hospitality, thank you so much.
and we apologize, Matthew and I apologize for for addressing you dressed like
this but we
were with
Deputy Governor Clause Ramsey and
General Bassham
who is in charge of
Tennessee Emergency Management
going and reviewing all of the
damage that we have had from the floods recently.
Mayor Banyas was with us this morning talking about Johnson City's damage and
what we can do to mitigate that.
Johnny Teague and the Congressman were with us and
obviously Matthew.
One of the distressing parts of the trip was
looking at...
going to view the remains of our Buffalo Mountain
our Buffalo camp
our Methodist camp
We just spent a hundred thousand dollars on a swimming pool and it's full
of mud and
close personal friends of the road
absolutely looks like
the work that's been done out there and and it's amazing what
a small creek...
what water can do when it gets under pavement but
you know, we rebuild and as we grow here on campus, let's be
very thankful and hopeful that we don't have disasters like that, but keep
all of those people
in your minds and in your hearts there's re
as we grow here at ETSU.
Let me tell you how how proud we are
as Matthew said and we talked about this away with it would have to go
to have Brian Noland as our our new President
Just...
we have a youthful, handsome,
energetic,
intelligent,
President to fill the shoes of Dr. Stanton whom we love and
regret that he is retiring.
I think he's enjoying retirement so far.
You looked dapper and healthy and we're proud of that.
Stay healthy, that's the thing.
but we're proud of the growth we're seeing in our
administration and the new young
very vibrant administration.
I told Dr. Stanton, we both looked like that thirty years ago... yeah...
but thank you for taking this job on
Brian, we're proud of you,
and I guess we really, we're glad to see David Gregory here with us
and I think *** Tracy, from the Board of Regents.
The master plan has been in place for some time and
we're always proud to be a part of that in Nashville through the legislative process.
It's a team effort. Brian started out
really as a statistician and
and a think tank type person with the Tennessee Higher Education
Commission with Rich Rhoda and some of those people, so he knows
Nashville very well.
Many of you have come from Nashville to work here at ETSU
and we're proud of that, the growth we see, thank you for what you've done. I
guess we have to thank the Students
for this parking area and the growth here and it's really
really nice. We like to see it when the students can be a part of something
like that and do so
in a willing way and know what it's
going to mean to this university and to this town.
But thank you for what you do.
This University is such a part of our Community,
and we are proud of that and we will be there to help you.
Don't hesitate, Dr. Noland, to let us know
the assistance you need in Nashville.
We love all of you. Thank you so much for having us here today.
Thank you, we are also delighted to have with us the Honorable Jeff Banyas,
Mayor of the City of Johnson City.
thank you Iqra.
The City of Johnson City and East Tennessee State University share a long
history
of a wonderful partnership
and it's a partnership that has spanned decades
and because of this great partnership we're always happy to help
ETSU celebrate their many successes.
We've been fortunate over the years that ETSU has been blessed to have a great
leaders.
The growth of the progress initiated by Dr. Stanton
is now being carried
forth and expanded under Dr. Noland.
The future for ETSU my friends, is bright.
A 26 million dollar construction project
is a great economic development acheivement for us all
and I commend the Student Government Association
for their vision and their willingness to pay for this
much needed project.
Growing up in Johnson City, I've seen the landscape of this University change
dramatically over the years,
but this parking garage will be more than just a change to the scenery.
It's going to represent the continued success
of our University
and growth at ETSU means growth for Johnson City.
Thank you!
Thank you, and finally
it is my privilege to introduce Dr. Joe Sherlin, Dean of Students and
Vice Provost of Student Affairs here at ETSU.
When I saw that I was the last speaker of this august group, I knew that I was going
to need some help
so I went to the obvious place
Google, to pick up a couple of pithty quotes about parking,
but I quickly discovered that
parking doesn't get much
positive coverage on Google.
There were lots of quotes like this one.
The way humans hunt for parking and the way animals hunt for food
are not as different as you might think,
and there were a spate of 'pie in the sky' quotes
a real patriot
is the person who gets a parking ticket
and rejoices that the system works.
Now Vern and I know the
fine folks in the Parking Office
will probably tell me that that quote is not anchored in reality
but I can tell you that the reality of this process has been
a positive one from start to finish,
working with our Students.
When we brought this project to our Student Government
and talked about the need in both the short and long-term they responded
Yes!
We want it!
We need it!
They had the vision
to think about
not only of their needs but of the needs of the students in the future
and they have been involved in this process every step of the way.
They've reviewed facility designs,
they have sat in on multiple planning meetings,
they even took a road trip to look at another garage
and excitement started to build and
there were conversations in that process.
I remember
on the road, a number of students saying, 'You know, I never thought I would say this
about a parking garage,
but this place is gonna be cool.'
And it is going to be cool. It's going to be a true student hub on this campus.
Its proximity to our athletic facilities,
the dining options that we have in the facilities,
its going to draw students to the Campus
and ease their transition coming and going.
So, on behalf of the Student Government and all of those who,
of us, who work closely with students
were so appreciative
to Iqra, to the students
in this effort, and all of our community partners!
Thanks so much! We look forward to working with you to make this project a
reality.
Thank you!
At this time, I will invite our platform speakers,
Regent Montgomery,
Commissioner White, our ETSU Vice Presidents,
Dr. Jane Jones, our State Representatives,
Chief Cottrell,
Vernon Bradley, SGA Vice President Leah Tilson, SGA representative Alexa Castle
to join me for the official ground breaking.
I want to thank Lana Moore
from Senator Alexander's office who is also here with us today.
Again, thank you for being here this afternoon.
Please enjoy some refreshments and more great music from the Great Smokey Mountain Bluegrass Band