UT-K welcomes first MBA Entrepreneur Fellows

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is kicking off its MBA Entrepreneur Fellow program this fall, where students are paid to start a business while earning their degrees.

According to a news release from the UT College of Business Administration, it is the only program of its kind in the country.

Each fellow receives a $30,000 scholarship – $10,000 for each of the program’s three semesters.

They must make satisfactory progress toward launching or growing their business idea to continue receiving funding.

This year, three students received the fellowships. They are: Paul Haymore from Marietta, Ga., and Matt Parton and Brian Mohney from Knoxville.

Mohney called the fellowship “a dream come true.”

Source: WATE.com

Knoxville works to stay competitive in tourism industry

People in the tourism business want Knoxville officials to know just how much money visitors are bringing into the city.

They’re hoping the city will keep supporting tourism projects with tax dollars even while budgets are being cut in lots of departments.

On Monday, Steve Morse, Director and Economist of the Tourism Institute at the University of Tennessee presented a study about the impact of tourism in 2008 on Knox County.

“A lot of people think tourism is just leisure or pleasure travel, but actually in Knoxville about 35 percent of all dollars spent are from the business community,” Morse says.

The Knoxville Convention Center is actually one of the biggest money makers in our area for tourism.

The city spends time and money recruiting large groups to come in for conventions. Those groups spend money on hotel rooms and they eat at restaurants.

Morse estimates tourists bring in $1million on an average day through retail, restaurants and hotels.

Knoxville’s slogan is “Meet Stay Play.”

Gloria Ray, President of Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation explains the target. “We’re trying to get people to come here and have their meeting for four or five days and at night stay our hotels eat at our restaurants and enjoy our attractions.”

In Tennessee, Knox County is fourth out of 95 counties for bringing in tourism dollars. Sevier County is number three.

City Councilman Daniel Brown talks about why Knoxville loses tourists to surrounding areas. “I was just thinking about the baseball park. We let that get away and most cities of our size have minor league parks downtown.”

The tourism forecast in Knoxville is positive. The tourism industry heads discussed Monday that the challenge now is to become more competitive with cities the same size.

Source: WATE

UT report shows signs the recession is easing

A new report from the University of Tennessee shows signs the recession is finally easing.

The report comes out three times a year and it provides an economic forecast for state and local governments.

The most recent report is the first one in a long time that shows signs the economy is turning around.

“We’re now looking at a situation where we think the US economy has bottomed out in fact the recession is likely over,” explains UT Economist Matt Murray.

But says Murray there is still some grim news. “This has been such a severe economic downturn it is going to take a considerable period of time for the state to return to pre-recession levels of economic activity.”

The unemployment rate in the state fell from 10.7 percent in August to 10.5 percent in September, but Murray says it is still a difficult labor market.

“Jobs are scarce and jobs continue to be scarce and I expect we will be above 10 percent unemployment well into 2011,” he says.

As we approach the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, Murray says consumers can expect to see good bargains.

“They are going to have to discount and some instances heavily discount to get people to buy,” explains Murray.

The economy is on an upward slope he says, but the climb to get things back they way they were before the recession could take two years.

Source: WATE

UT raises tuition, cuts jobs

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — .University of Tennessee trustees agreed Wednesday to raise tuition at all campuses, eliminate more than 500 jobs over the next two years and trim the UT system’s vice presidents by half in a top-level reorganization.

Some 200 jobs are vacant now, while 300 others will be shifted to federal stimulus funding that will end in 2012. Affected employees will be told in coming days. About two-thirds of them work at the main campus in Knoxville.

“These are going to be tough times, absolutely no question about that,” Acting UT President Jan Simek said.

The trustees approved an $1.8 billion budget for 2009-2010 containing these actions in response to $65 million in state funding reductions blamed on a lousy economy — though the percentage of state funding received by the five-campus 47,000-student university has been shrinking compared to tuition for several years.

Tuition this fall with rise 7 percent at UT-Martin and UT-Chattanooga and 9 percent at UT-Knoxville, the UT College of Law at Knoxville and the UT Space Institute at Tullahoma.

That means a $490 increase in undergraduate tuition at UT-Knoxville to $5,918; a $296 increase to $4,506 at UT-Chattanooga, and a $308 increase to $4,708 at UT-Martin.

Elsewhere, a 10 percent increase will take effect at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis and a 20 percent hike will hit in-state students at the UT College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville

Student trustee Tyler Forrest, a junior at UT-Chattanooga, called it a “reasonable increase” after fears of even larger hikes a few months ago before the federal stimulus money became available.

“Students actually initially supported larger increases when we thought the budget was totally down the drain. But lots of groups are pleased with the 7 percent, 9 percent range,” he said. “It is not double-digit and compared to a lot of other state universities, I think we are in a great position.”

Budget documents say UT will reduce its payroll by 546 full-time equivalent positions to a total of 13,939 starting July 1. These are the 200 vacancies that will not be filled and the 300 jobs moving to federal stimulus funding. They include 241 faculty positions and 39 administrative positions.

“We are not talking about tenured professors,” UT-Knoxville Faculty Senate President John Nolt said. “We may be talking about lecturers and maybe some classroom teachers. I have not seen a breakdown of exactly which jobs will be lost, but, of course, there is a concern any time we lose classroom teachers.”

He said all UT professors are being asked to increase their teaching load.

Full story here: OakRidger.com

Department of Energy is Major Player in Tennessee Economy

KNOXVILLE – The Department of Energy (DOE) continues to be a major force in the state’s economy with its offices and laboratories attracting a well-educated workforce, providing more than 12,000 jobs and paying an average salary significantly higher than the state average.

UT’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) recently completed an in-depth analysis of the economic impact of DOE on the state economy. This study, which looked at fiscal year 2008, is the eighth such report CBER has done for DOE. Previous reports were done for fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Among the findings:

– DOE and its major contractors in Tennessee directly provided 12,373 full-time jobs in 2008.

– Annual wages and salaries associated with these jobs totaled $803.4 million.

– The average annual salary of a DOE employee in 2008 was $64,687, significantly above the state average.

– Of DOE employees in 2008, 1,036 held doctorate degrees; 1,820 held master’s degrees; and 3,675 held bachelor’s degrees.

– DOE and its contractors purchased more than $926.7 million of goods and services from in-state businesses in 2008 and paid about $29.4 million in state and local taxes.

The report also explains that every job, every salary and every dollar spent by DOE ripples across the state’s economy.

“Not only does DOE make purchases from in-state businesses, it employs a sizable workforce and those people dine at restaurants, buy goods from retailers and otherwise support the local economy,” said Matt Murray, CBER associate director and lead researcher on the study.

Through this ripple effect, UT researchers estimate that every DOE job helps create about 3.7 jobs across the state. Each dollar of income directly paid by DOE in the state translates into $2.08 in personal income for Tennessee residents. The total personal income generated in the state by DOE-related activities was about $2.3 billion in 2008.

Further, CBER economists estimate that DOE’s payroll and nonpayroll spending led to a $4 billion increase in the state’s gross domestic product, the market value of all final goods and services produced. Looking again at the ripple effect, researchers estimate that for every dollar directly spent by the DOE in Tennessee, the state’s gross domestic product increase by $1.87.

Two other statistics also were significant:

– DOE, its contractors and their employees donated more than $5.7 million in charitable contributions, community grants and equipment to organizations across Tennessee in 2008.

– The American Museum of Science and Energy drew 85,689 visitors during fiscal year 2008.

“The presence of DOE and its contractors in Tennessee gives rise to many benefits, both quantitative and qualitative,” the report concludes. “The jobs provided are most often high-skilled, high-paying jobs resulting in a high equality workforce comprised of some of the top researchers in their field.

“The presence of the DOE also provides the state with national recognition as a leader in manufacturing, advanced materials, neutron sciences, biological sciences and transportation technologies. With its (research and development) capacity and technology sharing programs, the DOE plays a significant role in enhancing Tennessee’s competitive position in attracting private firms to locate with the state.

Full story here: TheUniversityofTennessee.edu

UT report: ‘Tidbits of good news’ on economy

KNOXVILLE — Although economic conditions for the state and nation remain dire, there are early indications that a slow turnaround may be coming.

That’s the cautious optimism expressed in the spring update to the 2009 Economic Report to the Governor, prepared for Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the University of Tennessee. The report’s author is Matt Murray, UT economics professor, CBER associate director and chairman of the Blount County Economic Development Board.

“Pervasive weaknesses are present elsewhere in the economy, and data for the first quarter of the year are nothing less than miserable,” the report says, but adds “at least there are tidbits of good news coming from the economy.”

Among those tidbits of good news: “Consumer sentiment has improved slightly from very depressed levels, mortgage applications are up, the stock market has seen significant gains in recent weeks, and the housing market situation appears to be stabilizing.”

The update reports that a rebound in economic activity should occur in the third and fourth quarters of this year: “Quarterly rates of decline in economic activity will generally decelerate in the next several quarters. Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product will return to the black in the fourth quarter of the year, as will nominal personal income for both the state and the nation. Growth will then be re-established over the course of 2010. Low interest rates and falling housing prices are expected to revive the housing sector, while fiscal stimulus will help prop up the spending side of the economy, together promoting the economic recovery.”

Full Story Here: TheDailyTimes.com

Tennessee colleges consider stimulus projects

Voluntary buyout plans, energy efficient buildings, and roofs that don’t leak when it rains — these are the items college administrators in Tennessee have in mind when it comes to spending an additional $312 million in federal and state stimulus funding this year and next.

The one big exception that schools can’t pay for with the extra money is new buildings.

That may be just as well. After receiving additional funding this year, and anticipating an extra $253.3 million in stimulus funds for 2010-2011, Tennessee’s higher education system must brace for a $180 million funding cut.

The money-saving measures being considered now will be key to schools winning state and federal approval for their proposed budgets, which must be submitted in the coming weeks.

The state legislature must then pass the spending plans as part of the governor’s budget, and the federal government, in turn, must approve the state’s stimulus plans. So far, eight states, including California, Illinois and Mississippi, have received the stabilization funds that include money for higher education.

“It certainly is one of the more important projects not just for me, but for the university and the state,” said David Millhorn, UT executive vice president. “We have to make sure these short-term investments have long-term implications.”

Full Story Here: Tennesseean.com