East Tennessee State University President Brian Noland returned to business as usual Thursday for the first day of classes in the spring semester, speaking publicly for the first time of the serious neck injuries he suffered in a November car crash.
Wearing a cervical collar to keep his head and neck stationary, Noland addressed the media, describing his medical recovery and outlining his vision for the university’s next five years.
“I have a broken transverse process on my (seventh cervical vertebra), I have numbness in my left hand, loss of strength in my triceps and just the aches and pains of running into a telephone pole at a high rate of speed,” he said. “But the primary injury is, in layman’s terms, I have a broken neck.”
Noland’s SUV was struck on the evening of Nov. 18 by a flatbed tow truck police said ran a red light at the intersection of West Watauga Avenue and West Market Street as the university president was traveling home.
After hitting the truck, Noland’s vehicle also struck a utility pole at the intersection.
He said he expects to wear the neck brace for about five more weeks, but his doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
“I just want to rip this off. I’m in it 24/7,” Noland said, motioning to the collar. “I’ve felt better, but I’m fortunate to be here. A millimeter and a half and I would be in a very different position than I am.
“I feel OK, I get tired, I’m not where I was, but I’m taking it slow so that in a couple of months we’ll be back to where we were.”
Now that he is back on campus, the president said he intends to redouble his focus on the issues and projects he initiated before his accident.
Near the forefront of his charge are the building projects either in the process of or nearing the beginning of construction.
The 1,200-space parking garage, despite its delays, will soon be finished on the campus’ north side, Noland said, and sites and designs are in the process of being selected for the school’s fine arts center and football stadium.
“In a two-year time period, it’s amazing the amount of construction that has occurred across this campus,” he said. “We’ve opened an expanded (the) CPA, a new baseball stadium, green space in the center of campus, new intramural fields, Culp (Center) renovations that include (the) bookstore and enhanced dining services, a veterans student lounge, a fountain in the center of campus honoring the legacy of the first African-American students who desegregated ETSU, a study facility for our students in Quillen and new facilities in Kingsport and Sevierville.”
Noland said the numerous completed projects were an important and impressive list of accomplishments for his first two years at the college’s helm, but said there were many more changes planned for the university.
In that time period, he said more than 6,000 students earned their degrees at the school and three new academic deans were hired to lead departments.
The president also said key university personnel are also closely watching the state Legislature this year, as lawmakers lay out Gov. Bill Haslam’s “Drive to 55” initiative to increase the number of state residents with college degrees and make important funding decisions.
The level of funding awarded to the university on the state and federal levels will dictate the availability of resources and could lead to some difficult decisions, he said.
“We have to begin to plan and budget like private institutions do, because the paradigm around us has changed,” Noland said, noting the gradual reduction of state funding over the years to state colleges.
But the university will not have massive layoffs or outsource custodial services, he said, dispelling rumors that spread early in the school’s budget process.
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