Brian E. Noland

Brian Noland became the ninth president of East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in January 2012. Under his leadership, ETSU has undertaken a series of groundbreaking initiatives to advance the university’s longstanding mission to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. During his tenure, ETSU has achieved its largest freshmen enrollment, highest graduation and retention rates, and highest employee satisfaction rates in history while also securing record-breaking levels of research funding.

Sustaining ETSU’s focus on regional service, Noland has helped further position the university as a national leader in interprofessional health care, rural health, and community engagement. He guided the development and launch of the “Go Beyond the Classroom” initiative, which expands the university’s focus on community-engaged learning and aims to provide all undergraduate students with real-world, hands-on experiences. He has also overseen ongoing innovations within ETSU’s academic portfolio and curricula, including the launch of the BlueSky Institute, a 27-month computer science program developed hand in hand with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.