MTSU president to speak at Chamber banquet

Dr. Sidney McPhee (MTSU photo) [Click to enlarge]

Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney A. McPhee will be the guest speaker at the Shelbyville-Bedford County Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at the Blue Ribbon Circle building on the Celebration grounds.

The university's chief executive will discuss the general state of higher education in Tennessee, the value of a vibrant higher education system to the entire state and the challenges and opportunities the state's largest undergraduate university faces in the current economic climate.

This is the first year for the banquet to be held as a luncheon rather than a dinner.

McPhee is the 10th president of Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to his appointment at MTSU in 2001, he was executive vice chancellor at the Tennessee Board of Regents in Nashville. In addition, he served as chief academic officer and interim chancellor for the Board of Regents System.

Before his appointment at TBR, McPhee served in various administrative capacities at several major universities including Oklahoma State University, the University of Louisville and the University of Memphis. In May of 2007, he was conferred the Honorary Professor title at China Agricultural University in Beijing, China, which is the highest academic award given at the university. McPhee was named the 2002 Outstanding American University President by the American Football Foundation. In 2003, he was listed by The Nashville Post Business Magazine as one of Tennessee's 100 Most Powerful Individuals, and in 2004, he was ranked by Business Tennessee Magazine as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful African Americans in the State of Tennessee. The MTSU president was listed in 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of seven university presidents in the United States who are shaping intercollegiate athletics on a national scale.

McPhee earned his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Prairie View A&M University; a master's degree from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida; and a doctorate in Applied Behavioral Studies in Education from Oklahoma State University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard University Management Development Program and has completed professional-development programs at St. Mary's University of San Antonio, Texas, and Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

The reservation deadline for the banquet has passed. For more information, call 684-3482.