Donde Plowman

Donde Plowman has served since 2019 as chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the state’s flagship land-grant research university. In that time, the university has set records in enrollment, student retention, alumni giving, state support, and research expenditures.Shortly after her arrival, she led the campus through the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving national recognition for her leadership and transparency. She has also made strategic hires and decisions that added nationally acclaimed faculty to key research initiatives, launched a new division of student success, revitalized the athletics department, brought new momentum to the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm, and ushered in a new era of industry partnerships.Prior to becoming chancellor, she served as dean of the College of Business and then executive vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was previously a department head at UT. Plowman is a globally recognized organizational scientist whose scholarship includes the topics of leadership, change management, and strategic decision making.