Dr. Aimee Shouse, Dr. K. Renee Fister and Dr. Laurie Couch. (Provided photos)

Three finalists have been named and visited campus in hopes of becoming the next Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Aimee Shouse from Tarleton State University, K. Renee Fister from Murray State University and Laurie Couch from Salisbury University each visited the UT Martin campus in recent weeks to meet with staff, students and community members. 

UT Martin has been in search of a provost since the departure of the previous provost, Philip Cavalier. Cavalier left UT Martin after the end of the spring 2025 semester to take up his new job as the president of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania on July 6, 2025. Stephanie Kolitsch was named the transitional provost until a new provost is named.

For those unaware, the UT Martin provost is a high-ranking university administrative officer who serves as the chief academic officer. The provost holds many requirements in their role, including (but not limited too) strategic planning and institutional alignments, visionary leadership, resource development and quality assurance for all of the colleges, departments and supporting units.

As of the date of the publication of this article, UT Martin has completed all three campus visits and public presentations for the candidates. 

Shouse was the first finalist to visit the campus, and she held her public presentation on Nov. 10. Shouse earned her Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University and currently serves as the Associate Provost, Associate Vice President for Curriculum and Faculty Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Tarleton State University. In her position, she oversees the Center for Education Excellence of the university.

Some of her accomplishments include expanding the faculty support service, aligning university rules with administration priorities and Texas A&M University System policies, redesigning the new faculty onboarding process and strengthening shared governance.

Fister was the second finalist to visit the campus, and she held her public presentation on Nov. 17. Fister earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Tennessee and currently serves as the Associate Provost at Murray State University.

Fister is experienced in leadership, including institutional effectiveness and enrollment management. She has published 36 research papers, given more than 100 research presentations and successfully secured 30 research grants. 

Couch was the third and final candidate to visit the campus, and she held her presentation on Nov. 20. Couch earned her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Tennessee and currently serves as the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at Salisbury University in Maryland. 

In her role, she oversees the success of students and faculty, curriculum, strategic planning, research, budget management and enrollment management. Under her leadership, there have been increases in student retention, course competition, graduation and equity. 

Each of the public presentations was structured for a 40-minute presentation with 20 minutes available for questions. The candidates were told to give a brief description of themselves and to share their vision for advancing the academic mission of UT Martin as outlined in the strategic plan.

The strategic plan consists of five main goals: To achieve sustainable enrollment growth by investing resources to attract and support a wide range of learners, to enhance our institutional reputation by delivering exceptional education and service to all UT Martin constituents, to create and enhance physical and virtual spaces that meet the evolving needs of future learners and educators, to reaffirm our commitment to West Tennessee by strengthening existing partnerships and developing new collaborations to drive regional growth and development and to promote and celebrate faculty and staff excellence and student achievement for outstanding embodiment of the university mission.

Below is a recap of how each of the candidates approached the topic.

Aimee Shouse

Shouse took the approach of connection. She argued that faculty support and faculty retention rate are tied directly to the support and success of students, and that the role of the provost plays a part in organizing those pieces in the best way possible to help the student succeed.

As provost, she intends to collaborate with the chancellor’s cabinet and with the different departments to meet student needs, seeing the role as a liaison to provide communication between the departments to find the best schedule that fits most students’ needs. 

She highlighted the importance of staying aware of the development of higher education, especially when it comes to online students or hybrid students, and she also plans to look at the growth in enrollment and support it. 

“When you have growth and enrollment, that means it’s growing everything else,” Shouse said. “All the things that come with being a college student then increases because you’re increasing the size of the student body.”

Her plan includes getting input from faculty in order to promote and celebrate the achievements of the staff and the students. By prioritizing face-to-face meetings, she hopes to improve the faculty orientation, help teachers feel more connected with others around campus and be able to put a face to the people they interact with. Also, she plans to use data gathered by the school to make informed decisions about what is best for students.

K. Renee Fister

Fister grounded her approach in hope for the future. She acknowledged that the school already has strong programs, but argued that they can be expanded on to greatly improve the campus. 

“My connection is on hope… and what we have to hope in is the hope for our future,” Fister said. “We can’t give up hope, on you, on our students, on ourselves.”

Her priorities include support of faculty and staff to recognize their work, shared governance and equitable salaries. She said she prioritized the staff and student aspect because she believes that if people are not taken care of, nothing else can be taken care of. She proposed integrating peer learning into the residence halls to encourage learning in a way that interests students and promotes more interaction between students.

Beyond the campus, she wants to grow connections between legislators and faculty. This will allow them to be aware of what the faculty is doing and their future goals. She wants to help students get through school and connect across advancements.

She ended her presentation with a paraphrase of Jim Mantz: The measure of a person’s life was never in terms of success, but rather whether that individual had a life of significance.

Laurie Couch

Couch gave a data-driven approach.  She hopes to emphasize her skills and background to grow the school if she receives the position.

Couch’s priority is to provide data that visualizes issues so that a solution can be found quickly. She says she wants to spend time learning about the campus and speaking with the faculty of the school, so they can find the best strategies to help remove barriers that students face. She also proposed allowing faculty to use their expertise and engage them in meaningful ways that give back to the institution. 

Couch has many ideas she wants to add to the campus. The first idea is to introduce stackable credentials, which are things like certificates or licenses that make a student more marketable. She also outlined the idea of adding a fast-paced graduation program where students can graduate faster by taking winter or summer fast-tracked classes. In addition, there would also be graduate admissions to students through classes as they finish up their degrees.

Couch noted that she has many other ideas for the campus, but could not fit them all into the 40 minute presentation.

Each candidate brought distinctive visions to their presentation and to the role of provost. These perspectives reflected the different priorities of the candidates, but there was one common consensus: the success of students.

The candidates’ presentations are now available to watch, and feedback surveys, along with the Curriculum Vitae of each candidate, are available online at https://www.utm.edu/executive-search/provost/.