TBR Chancellor Will Address Commencement Dec. 15
For release: Dec. 11, 2002
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey

Dr. Charles W. Manning, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents, will address 1,211 graduates at The University of Memphis' winter commencement Sunday, Dec. 15. Ceremonies begin at 3 p.m. at The Pyramid.

For the first time, the University will also confer degrees to graduates of the Board of Regents Online Degree Program. One degree will be awarded posthumously, to Kevin Yeager, who died in a car accident earlier in the semester.

The TBR is the state governing body for 45 campuses across Tennessee. With 180,000 students, the Board of Regents constitutes the nation's sixth largest system of higher education.

Although he came to Tennessee only two years ago, Manning has a long career in public higher education. For 10 years he served as chief executive officer of the University System of West Virginia, that state's flagship system of higher education. Under his leadership, the West Virginia system increased its resource base substantially, rising to thirteenth among all states in per capita investment in public higher education.

Prior to his success in West Virginia, Manning had been executive vice chancellor of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education and deputy executive director for the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. He holds a bachelor's degree from Western Maryland College and a doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Maryland.

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