Featured Image: Professor Robert Nanney in his office on Jan. 22, 2026. (Pacer Photo/Chloe Kent)

After more than 25 years, Robert Nanney stepped down on Jan. 1 as the chair of the Department of Mass Media and Strategic Communication at the University of Tennessee at Martin, succeeded by fellow professor Tracy Rutledge.

Nanney, currently in his 34th year working for the university, began his career at UT Martin in 1992 as an assistant professor of communications. When the department chair position opened in 2000, he took the position as one of the few faculty members who had doctoral degrees at the time. Though the position was not one that he sought out, he recognized the chance to serve students, which has always been a core value for both Nanney and the department.

“We are student centered,” Nanney said. “Together we all try to find ways to serve the students and prepare them well for an ever-changing media world out there. The opportunity to constantly do that with the best staff and faculty on campus has been what has motivated me and been the most rewarding.”

Even while working in an ever-changing field such as communications, student success has always remained the “north star” for Nanney, both as chair and professor.

One of the ways that Nanney has been able to help students succeed is by bringing in faculty with new skills and insights that have allowed the department to evolve alongside the world of communication.

“I’m one of 12 faculty, and we have been blessed all along the way for people to come in and make that significant impact in their own way to keep this department strong and pertinent,” Nanney said.

Jerald Ogg, Jr., a longtime faculty member at UT Martin and current professor in the MMSC department, says that the department’s staff is reflective of Nanney’s impact.

“What he’s done is hired faculty who love students, who love to teach, and who want to be a part of this hands-on program that catapults students forward. His greatest legacy is everybody up and down this hall,” Ogg said.

Along with the faculty, Ogg says that one of Nanney’s biggest impacts is the evolution of the department’s curriculum over time.

“If you look back… the curriculum is completely different than what we had when he took over,” Ogg said. “His footprint is large; he’s got fingerprints all over the curriculum that we now have.”

Dylan Sulcer, a junior MMSC major from Nashville, Tennessee, said Nanney cares about his students’ success in all aspects, not just academically.

“He cared about my success in the classroom and outside the classroom,” Sulcer said. “You could just tell he wanted to make sure you were doing good in life.”

Emma Bruner, who works as the social media coordinator for University Relations at UT Martin, is a 2020 graduate from the MMSC department. Bruner’s last semester was complicated by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanney served as a reassurance to students in uncertain times.

“He helped our group of seniors graduating in May of 2020; he helped us through the COVID hurdle,” Bruner said. “He was a stable voice of reason through all that, he really stayed on top of things… he was just a big constant encouragement through that.”

Because of the relationship Bruner has with both Nanney and the MMSC department, she has been able to give back to current students, which meant a lot to her.

“I just love it so much because of what the department meant to me, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without the department’s help, with professors like Dr. Nanney,” Bruner said.

Though he is stepping down as the department chair, Nanney is not planning on retiring anytime soon. Along with continuing to teach classes, Nanney is taking on a new role as Special Assistant to the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Dean for Capital Projects.

Over his 25 1⁄2 years of service as MMSC department chair, Nanney is grateful for the people he has met and the relationships he has formed along the way.

“Probably the most rewarding thing about my time as chair and my time in academia is the relations that you form with the alumni, with students, with faculty, with staff,” Nanney said. “Life is about relationships, and I’m so thankful for the relationships that I have had the blessing to form and develop through all these years. That means more to me than anything.”