Sponsor And Warm Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:24

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SPEAKER_02 0:50

Welcome back to Talking Tennessee with Yavonka. I am your host, and today I am here with a dear friend of mine, Vice Chancellor Frank Quavis of Student Life at the University of Tennessee. Welcome.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Most definitely, viewers, let me just say, from the moment that I met this person, he always has greeted me with a smile. He's always been that person that I could ask any question on the campus. And if he didn't know

Family First And Core Values

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it, he would tell me where I could go to get the answer. And I just want to thank you for just being the man you are and just loving people.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Well, you're welcome. I like to connect people and other folks and try to help them out.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Well, the biggest thing that sticks out to me about you is just for one, you always have a smile on your face and you always greet people with kindness. It doesn't matter what level of profession they're in, if it's a student or whoever, you treat everybody the same. And so that's what sticks out to me. So I want everybody to know my friend Frank Quavis. So let's get into it. Who is Frank Quavis?

SPEAKER_04 2:03

I'm a husband and a father first and foremost.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Um family is very important to me. So titles come and go. Yes. But the most important ones are those two for me. I mean uh spending time with my family and being with um the people I love and and just that's really what drives me.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Okay. Tell us about your family.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Absolutely. I have uh my wife who's also uh teaches at UTK, and and you I know you had the pleasure of meeting her. She's beautiful. She's fabulous. We've been married uh 26 years, and um and uh we have two uh adult children that are off and have gone and are doing great things. And um one is in Manhattan and one in Florida who's uh getting ready to ma uh finish his master's and okay. I I always felt that you you if you do your job as a parent, you uh you you launch them, yes, you give them the tools that they need to make the choices, they begin adulting and they begin you help them along the way and um you can watch them succeed and thrive.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Well, I'll tell you, you have a beautiful family, and his wife, Kathy, she's another one. From the day I met her, she has always been just so sweet, so supportive of you, and you're supportive of her. Absolutely. And that really, you know, I we talked about this a few uh episodes back about marrying someone, first of all, that God puts in your life, and then evolving together and being equally yoked. You and Kathy are the great example for that because it can be her moment, you're her biggest cheerleader. It can be your moment, she is your biggest cheerleader, and you don't see that all the time. So when you do see it, it's just like, oh wow. And just she loves to see you thrive.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

And I love to see her thrive. Yeah. We cannot achieve great things without support along the way. Somebody's gonna be helping you out. And you know, I'm so proud of her. She's she uh we became empty nesters and she went back to graduate school and finished her PhD, and it was just fantastic. And the whole all my son and daughter always like, you can do this, Mom. You got it.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

And you know the biggest thing, like last year she got her doctorate last year, and you were the one that picked up the phone and said, I want to celebrate my wife. Yavonka, how can we do this? I need to make sure that my wife has her day. And you made sure of that. And every detail, there was nothing left on the table. You wanted it to be her day. And so let me ask you, where did your leadership come from? Did it start at a young age?

SPEAKER_04 4:50

I would say yes. You know, I I'm I'm one of five, so I'm the fourth of five. And if you come from a large family, at a certain point you you have to start funding for yourself. Kind of like if you want some attention, you gotta have to sort of figure figure

Migrant Roots And Education Drive

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your way out. And find it. And find it. And um at a very young age, I felt like I can do, I can chart my own path. Yes, I I can at least chart my own path. I have great family support. And um I always tried to do something that says, you know what, I can achieve this, or I can do this. And um I think what I what I learned is I've become more self-confident. I wasn't very self-confident as uh speak on it. And I think that that's something that I had to learn. Okay. And in in terms of being more self-confident, putting yourself out there and saying, you can achieve this and you could do this, you could go on to college, you're gonna finish high school. And you oh, by the way, you're gonna go to school seven hours away from your hometown.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Seven hours. So, viewers, let me tell you this. Frank Quavis is the first generation college graduate in his family. Let's think about that. What does that mean to you to be the first generation?

SPEAKER_04 6:16

Well, you know, it it means a lot. I I grew up in a family, we we were um migrant farm workers. So my dad had an eighth, about an eighth of ninth grade education. My mother had not finished her GED. She eventually went back and got her GED. Um so for me, it's I grew up, we would go all up and down the east east coast of the U United States, and we would harvest crops in different places. In fact, my very first time in Tennessee was in Coffee County.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Coffee County. It was in Hill, a little town, unincorporated community of Hillsborough. So I knew Coffee County before Monaro was even a thing. Okay. So um, and and we used we would be there for about four or five months, in the four or five weeks harvesting potatoes. Okay. Um and I knew as a young age, it's like there's gonna be something better. Mm-hmm. Nothing wrong with good har good work. And that was good work. I mean, honest work. But you wanted something better. But I was like, you know what? I can start charting my own pathway. And I felt like education is the way to do it. Yes. Education is a great equalizer of being opening up pathways for some for anyone. And that's why I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Say that one more time.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Education is a great equalizer and it creates so many pathways.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

So many pathways. And you know, in this world that we live in, you know, educ my grandfather was the very first black principal in Herriman, Tennessee. And from my childhood, my my grandfather screamed education. Okay. Was that all through my family? A lot of my family was educators, but then there was a part of my family that did not see the value in getting a college degree. And so when you sit and say that, okay, my family were making great, you know, ways to feed us, but you wanted it better. You wanted a higher lifestyle for yourself, you know, and charting your way. That I love that, because it is charting your way. You know, you see how you were raised and you decide, okay, that doesn't mean that you're looking down on that. You're just saying, I want more. And I can understand that because coming from Herman, Tennessee, it was the same way. You know, I'm first generation entrepreneur, you know, and so I didn't have a blueprint.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

You're having to carve your own path.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. You didn't have a blueprint on what it would be like going to college. Now, let's talk about during your high school years. What was it like being in high school trying to figure out about college? It sounds like that you didn't have a lot of money growing up. So, what was that like in high school?

SPEAKER_04 9:08

You know, first of all, I was just thinking, can you do this, right? You know, um, I worked a lot while I was in high school. I I was involved in some activities. I was in, I was in a band. I was I was in one of those little, you know, I didn't do that. You was a band student. I was a band student. I didn't, I, I, I, uh, I I played trombone, I was in, we had a little jazz band, and we had a little uh that kind of thing. But I I always felt like college is a possibility. And I I was very fortunate enough to be able to have some counselors that were like, you should think about this. And you you can't you can put yourself, your mind to it, you can achieve it. Because I was a I was a good student.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Were your parents for it? Or because I mean a lot of times back then, you know, some parents because they didn't achieve that, not that they want to hold their kids back, but it's something they don't know.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

My parents gave me a lot of flexibility. You know, like I said, I'm one of four or five, so every time you get to it, I always felt like, you know what, we're doing all right. He's gonna be okay. Yes. But no, in all honesty, my mother, my mother always encouraged. Okay. And my dad too, in a in a quiet way.

SPEAKER_05 10:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Um, and my

Counselors Mentors And Finding Community

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mother actually later on was managing a Head Start program. So she she valued education at an early, you know, at an early age and actually ran a bilingual Head Start program. Really? And it was the importance of understanding the community you're in, supporting the community, and and and there was a feeling of education is important. You need you you could, I talked about you can have all kinds of titles and all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, no one can take away the education you've earned.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

My grandfather used to say, he said, the key to success, you have to be educated on whatever you're gonna do. You have to be educated and you have to know that if you want to get in rooms, if you want to, you know, excel, you want to to achieve things, you have to have those tools. And education is the key. Absolutely. You know, so speak on that.

SPEAKER_04 11:13

So that saw that to me early on. So then I started thinking about okay, I can do this, I could probably do this. And what do I need to do to position myself so that I can see college as a possibility? Okay. Now, because of not knowing how that pathway works, I was slow. I was slow at the game. I'm like trying to figure out, all right, there's a community college down the road, and that was a great community college, and I said I could go there. And so I then I started thinking, what if I go a little bit further and start thinking maybe a couple hours away? My sister, older sister, she had she had um she had gone to started at the community college and then went on about three and a half hours away. And even when she left about three and a half hours away, it was it was like, do we really want her to go three and a half hours? And and so I started looking at what schools are in close vicinity within a uh driving distance. And um the reason I chose where I ended up going is because I had familiarity with the city. I knew the community. Okay. I had been there. Um and when we would go farm right outside we stayed in an apartment complex that overlooked the the the stadium. Okay. Uh and and um and that's where we stayed was we were and we would farm out in uh not too far, about 15 miles outside the city. And I said, Well, I I kind of know this campus, so maybe I'll try then. Maybe I'll try there. And um I applied and and fortunately got in. Now, okay, that's good. And I had to figure out, okay, what are all those other steps you need to do to actually enroll with university? Right. So that's where I had to l find my way. Um and um was was fortunate enough to to talk to people that kind of connected me to other people and said, you know, do this, you need to do this. My counselor said, my high school counselor said, talk to these folks here, make sure you visit these folks there, um, and um to get yourself there.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

And uh So you allowed, okay, viewers. He said people connected him to people that could help him. Help him to achieve what his goal was. He wasn't at his goal, but he needed people in his life to help him to know what he didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

And that and that's critical. Um that when you uh enter this place, the University of Tennessee, you may be familiar with it because you have gone to a football game. Right. Your grandparents may have brought you to a game, your parents may have brought you to a game, or you've seen it on television. But familiarity does not always equate to comfort. That's true. And so it's about helping create that sense of community for people. And um that's why I think it's important to for us to try to help our students find their place in community in a campus as size as we are.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Okay, so let's talk about, let's go back just a little bit. What led you to University of Tennessee?

SPEAKER_04 14:30

So let me this is an interesting story.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

When I so I went off to college, got my undergraduate degree, and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do after that. Actually, I had this grand plan that I'm gonna go go to law school. Okay. And I tell the story to students all the time, and people ask, so if I had executed that plan the way I was thinking when I was a 17, 18 year old, I'd probably be practicing law today. I don't have no regrets. Okay. But what I was He said no regrets. No regrets. When I was in once my first year, people you you often hear the freshman 15. You you Yes. I didn't have the freshman 15. If anything, I lost weight. And part of that is because I struggled in finding my community. Okay. And it it uh but I did I decided you can do this. Mm-hmm. Because I felt like if I for me, then I always be for everyone, but for me, if I turned around and went home, I failed.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

True.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Now And you'll never know if you could have done it if you would have gone back home. No, I would have gone home, gone to community college and all that. But I felt like, you know what, you can push yourself. Okay. So it it was an experience that I said, all right, put yourself out there. Do things that you normally have. So I started thinking, all right, let me start getting connected. And people help me get connected. So I live in a resistance on campus. Back then you had one phone, you know, you had the cell phones, everywhere, one little phone, whole phones. So there was um a woman who worked in the building that was in uh Mercedes Joyce Rice and I always remember her. And shout out to her, she's still living. She's known, she got she has passed away so many years. She's thankful for her because what here's what she did. She saw me probably calling quite quite a bit. The phone was downstairs in the main lobby, so and she had direct eyesight. She would work the desk, she knew everybody come and go in at that moment.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

And she and she she was like, Are you okay? Just ask me a question. Are you okay? And it started from there, I just started talking, and then she she she sees me when I go to class, see me come back. How are you doing today? What's going on? And then she actually started connecting me to the people in the building. Next thing you know, I'm working in the building, I'm working the front desk. So you start building communities, you just have a sense of purpose and those kinds of things. And then So she helped you to find she find a village. She did. You start connecting your village. And you built your village and started building there. So the point I'm trying to make is once I started doing that, started meeting and expanding that network, that by the time I got to my junior year, I started realizing you mean I can make a living working in a college environment, supporting students. Mm-hmm. This might this might be what I'd like to do. Okay. And um I had some very good mentors who had helped me along the way. And um and they and they had said, we have a graduate program, and we can even pay for your graduate school. There's some s graduate assistantships, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

You just need to He must have a really good grade, Joe.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

Uh connect you with the right folks and and apply and do those kinds of things. But I still wasn't sure. I thought, you know what? I know what I need to do is I want to finish my degree in four years. I want to test, maybe I'll go work.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Where was your confidence level then? Um had it grown? Or was or was you still teeter talking?

SPEAKER_04 18:13

It had grown from where I was as a first-year student. It just wasn't where it wasn't where at the point where it's like, you know, I I I'm good to go. I can do this.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

And the reason why I asked that is because I think a lot of young people think that if their confidence level is not where it where they see other people's confidence level is, they think they're less than. Confidence, honestly, is something you have to build every day.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

And we're gonna talk about it, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

So yeah, at that point I decided, you know, um, I'm gonna I'm gonna see if I want to go work, do some work first, and then come back and go to school later. Bottom line is I opted to go to grad school. Uh got the graduate received the graduate assistantship, went to the program for two years, did that. So I graduated, got my master's. Then I started thinking, where do I want to work? I knew that I wanted to work at a large public university. So the University of Tennessee was on my list. Okay. And I interviewed her, this was in the early 90s, so I interviewed here, came to campus, had an interview, I was fresh out of grad school, and back then people advertised anticipated openings. Anticipated because they had people that were also looking to move on, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

So I got here, had a great time, and walked around campus. It looks so much different today than it did back then. It really did.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

David says the same thing. David's like, this looks like a totally different place.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

And so anyway, it um got here and uh towards the end of my interview, I was here for about a day. I learned that it was an anticipated opening. And and um I said, okay, I I've got a couple of other interviews scheduled at different universities.

The Long Road Back To UT

SPEAKER_04 20:10

So I moved on and went to the next school, interviewed, and there, and um, and um that's where I accepted my first job at at Ohio State, the Ohio State University.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Right.

SPEAKER_04 20:22

And um in any case, as luck would have it, two or three days later, Tennessee called and says we have an opening. But I already had to commit it. To Ohio State. So I did not want to do that. They were they were it's like, you know, they they I had a good experience of it at my time interviewing. I made a commitment to them.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

How long was you at Ohio State?

SPEAKER_04 20:44

Well, I was there for about two and a half years because here's what I learned people from Florida don't move to Ohio. People from Ohio moved to Florida. It's too cult. Okay, yes, exactly, exactly. So I was looking to move and go back. So fast forward to all that, went back to was recruited back to Florida State University where I did my undergrad and graduate work and worked there for a few years. I uh and I wasn't ready to come back, but I was ready to be somewhere a lot warmer. So I I went with the mindset as I'll come back for three to five years. That turned to 15 years. Met Kathy, we got married, had children. Yes. And then um eventually pursued my bachelor, my doctorate, got that done. And then I saw an opportunity at the University of Tennessee in 2010.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yes, 2010.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

So that's when I and I said, wow, we're gonna give this another shot.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Like a full circle. A full circle.

SPEAKER_04 21:40

So I I came, interviewed, and I asked, is this anticipated or opening?

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Let's clarify right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Let me find out.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Let me get my expectations set. No, it was open, it was open, and I came full circle and uh was hired here at the University of Tennessee, and I've been here since 2010.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

So let me say this: I met a couple. Do you remember your first That came in for our Ohio State game, and we were doing an event at the Tellgate an alumni. And you remember they came and I'll never forget the wife, just I mean, she was like, he's such a great guy, Kathy. And so I'm like, okay, because I did not know that you had been at Ohio State until that game. And they were telling me that. And so we're so glad that you came to University of Tennessee.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

But I just want to tell you that even the people in Ohio and Ohio State still love him. So let's talk about University of Tennessee. So you got here. What was that like coming on this campus and just getting started?

SPEAKER_04 22:41

You know, it was good. For me, it was full circle because I I I felt like there were great opportunities here. I felt like this is a great institution. I really did it and still do. It's like there's some opportunities here. You can, and I when I came in here, I was hired as the director of housing.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

I was just about to ask you, what was your title there?

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Uh executive director of housing. Okay. And um, and I felt like there's so many possibilities here because I do believe that where people live uh is it's the when we go back to meeting basic needs, giving people play a place to live where they feel comfortable, they're safe, there's a place of community. That's where you start forming communities. And so I was like, let's focus on we can we can do some really good things with the people that are here, and we can continue to hire and bring great people here.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

This sounds like he's a servant later.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

So I am. Uh that's uh so we started working on that, and I've been very blessed and fortunate that I've had a couple different positions here and have uh the in my time here to have led me to where I am today.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

So tell me this how long have you been vice-chancellor?

SPEAKER_04 23:43

I've been vice chancellor uh five and a half years. I stopped in this role in an interim capacity in January of 2020, and then COVID hit.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Really? What was that like? Well was COVID alike?

SPEAKER_04 23:57

Well, you know, it's it's very interesting because nobody knew what was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Mm-hmm. That we were gonna be stuck in house.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

That we're gonna be stuck in right, that we're gonna have to be remote, we were going to be, you know, wearing masks and doing all kinds of things. But I do think that I appreciate the leader that we have, my boss, the chancellor, and all of us just kind of thinking about, you know, at the end of the day, we're gonna take care of the people that we're here to serve, and that's our students.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 24:23

And in doing that, when you're taking care of the students, we have this apply the same principles to our faculty and staff.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

So we really started thinking about we can lead the way. We can lead the way and start doing some things to make still have people connected to this university, even though they're not be here at the moment. And I really believe that that's what has helped set us in a trajectory moving forward since then, where people are like, you know, there's something happening in Tennessee. And the way they responded and did these things and cared for people, cared for their faculty, cared for their staff, cared for their students. Mm-hmm. They're gonna talk to their friends. And their friends are gonna say, We're going to University of Tennessee. University of Tennessee. And yeah, we didn't know what was what was what she was gonna drop the next day when you're going through COVID and all those things. But at the end of the day, we were making I think it was March 16th. Uh yeah, it was March March of 2016. Yes. 2020. 2020, excuse me. Yeah. Where we were thinking, you know, like I remember calling my daughter and and saying she was thinking we're gonna go out there, she was gonna go on a trip. And I said, I don't think this trip's gonna happen. Because I'm thinking, uh I think the world the world's about to change. Yes. I don't know why I had to say the world's about to change.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

You didn't know exactly how, but you knew something was not right.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

And then when I started seeing, wow, they canceled the NCAA tournament? Yes. They canceled the NBA games.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

Do you remember the first few weeks of COVID? I think we all were in denial. I think so. Because I remember Jaden, my youngest son, you know, um, was out of school for like two, three weeks. And that's when it hit me. It took about two or three weeks. And I was like, our kids have been out of school for weeks. I'm like, okay, what are we gonna do? You know, and so I think a lot of parents' minds started churning then because that first couple weeks it was like a long snow time. Thinking of, oh, we've been out of the snowdown, everything will be back in a few days. Yes, and I think everybody felt that way. And then after two to three weeks, then it was like, okay, and when I I'll never forget, you remember when the toilet paper and the paper towels that nobody couldn't do it. Nobody couldn't find it anywhere. Nobody could find it. And the it was a blessing, I'm gonna say this. It was a blessing that before that, maybe six months before, remember Amazon announced uh of having subscriptions. So I had put mine on subscription. And so because mine was on subscription at that time, I was guaranteed to have toilet paper and paper towel. And all I could think about, Frank, was oh my gosh, what it would be like with not having that. And I'm like, oh my gosh, but then I started thinking about food. Then I started thinking about all the different things that we take for granted that now you really want, but you can't have. And then even if you find it, there is a limit of what you can buy.

SPEAKER_04 27:28

That's correct.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

That was really jarring to a lot of people, but I can't imagine on the campus in 2020 what it was like going into a new position, trying to find your way in that new position, find the confidence that you can lead these students to the right down the right path at the same time, your own family. Can you speak on that?

SPEAKER_04 27:53

You know, it's hard. There was hard days we were trying to maneuver and balance that and and trying to be supportive for to your own family, but at the same time putting in the hours to make sure that the greater students that we're serving on campus that their needs are because they they have some questions.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

I mean And they're far away from home.

SPEAKER_04 28:10

Everybody was having a level of anxiety, everyone was trying to figure out Am I gonna go back? Will I get support? Am I gonna lose connection? And I had a daughter who had just started college, so she she she she's in the same boat. And I said, look, at the end of the day, for us it's like and that's why I appreciate the approach, is

COVID Leadership And Student Care

SPEAKER_04 28:30

that we we approach that we're gonna we're gonna be flexible with what we do, we're gonna show compassion, and we're going to make sure that we lay a good foundation for our students so that they'll know we care about you and we want your back.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

So that really came from our our chance, you know, leadership from the very top.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Yes. Tell me this. Tell my viewers what is student life? What is your division?

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Okay, that's a good question. Um, our division, we we're focused with life outside of the classroom.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Life without outside the life.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Life outside of the classroom. A student spends roughly 85% of their time outside of the classroom. They're enrolled in 15 hours or 16 hours, or what have you, for the m 85% of their time is spent outside of the classroom. So we focus on their experiences outside of the classroom. Okay. Student housing, student recreation, student health center, student counseling center, campus activities, uh programs, Greek life. All those elements, and our team is really focused on supporting our students in those in that arena. And helping them to thrive. Helping them to thrive. We talk about creating spaces and experiences for students to learn, to lead, to serve. Those are our three talents. Learn to lead. Learn, lead, and serve. Creating those experiences for our students, we're going to give you the tools that we so that you can thrive. Because if you thrive, we're all thriving. This university is thriving. And at the end of the day, the reward is your graduation. That's what we wanted to say.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yes. Let me say this. So I've been doing business with the University of Tennessee a little bit over two years, okay? And I was amazed. I was one of those people. I didn't go to University of Tennessee. My husband did, his family, all of them are alumni. But I'll never forget when I first came up on campus, I came to games, but I knew nothing about student life, what it was like to be on this campus, you know, at no matter if you are a full ride, half half-ride, whatever, what was the life like? And the biggest thing that stuck out to me was how much y'all do for the students. And I want to really talk about that because student life, um, like he said, outside of the classroom, I look around and I, well, for one, y'all hire our company, but y'all hire so many small businesses. And I really want people to understand that what they do, they help small businesses, they build up our economy, they teach those students to be servant leaders, and they want them to win. And so how how I have seen it through my eyes is there's always something to do on campus every day. You know, there's always a place, food somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Yeah, we we just we just celebrated our award ceremony this morning for our division. So and I one of the things I shared is that over the last year, fall or spring, over 22,000 students we were able to uh touch in a way that they were felt engaged, that they felt supported. And I know that that came to different events. Some of the events you helped us with. Um and so it wasn't just going to a meeting, but it's actually going to s an act an activity that means more than I'm just here. Where they're learning to learn learn to connect with other people to find their community, to find their place, sense of place. And if we know we do those small things, all the research in the world tells us the more you can do that, it makes a big place feel smaller, and they're gonna be more successful. I had a parent tell me not too long ago that the student of this they have two children, one's at a smaller liberal art school and one's here. Okay. I said, I get a my student here at the University of Tennessee is getting a better experience than the smaller school that they are because they feel a little bit more connected and engaged. Yes here than that's why. So to me, that's a testament to the work that we our our team does about the investment we're put pouring into our students because their success is our success. We want to see them thrive most definitely. And that's what I that's what we try to do. I'm successful because I had people who invested in me to have an experience. So when I step in, I want to make sure we are doing the same level of investment for our students.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

David said this to me years ago, and this is what we live by. Succeeding and being successful. Your servant leading in your community community is all about paying the rent back on earth. If you're still living and breathing, servant leading is your way to pay back what someone did for you. Absolutely. Because it's great to see successful people, but it took people to help them to get there. I don't care who you are. Um, I'll tell you your president Randy uh Boyd was on the podcast in his drops today, and one of the things he talked about was that there were people that helped him. You're talking about people helped you. You had mentors, you had people that said, Hey, okay, you might want to try this, you might want to apply for this, you know, that type of thing. Student life is just a it's a stepping stool for those kids to turn out to be the successful people that they're made to be.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

And and we're we see students at their uh I tell right, we see students at their best and at their worst. Yes. And we want to be there along the way when they're struggling. We want to help them connect them to the resources they need so they can get the support that they need. Um we we we we've been in students when they're in the hospital in the hospital and need a support. Oh we've been with students when or been with their families when we've had to tell them that you know, unfortunately the support decisions were made. Right. And but at the end of the day, you're there when you have to deliver. Right. We we are we're gonna be there for students and and trying to meet their particular needs. You know, the areas that we we work in um is really about creating those opportunities and connecting our students more than just it's not just activities, it's about helping them along the way to be successful.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

And give them a space that they can feel sane.

SPEAKER_04 35:29

Yeah. We we have some um we have a full-blown center for basic needs, which is helping students for um have who may have at some point in time may be experiencing food

Student Life Basics Needs And Belonging

SPEAKER_04 35:40

insecurity. No questions asked.

unknown 35:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

We have pantry to come get some food.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:47

And we have professional clothing there. Please speak on it.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

And we have uh And what he's saying, I've got to witness this. And the pop-up barbershop, which is one of my favorite. That's what that was the next thing. I want y'all to know this, okay? I was blown away. I was setting up uh one day uh in the ballroom. I came out across from the ballroom, and there was a full-blown barber shop going on. And I walked in and I said, What is this? And the guys were like, they're like, it's a barber shop. And they're like, you can get your, you know, your beard trimmed, your haircut, all these different things. And please speak on that. What made y'all do that?

SPEAKER_04 36:28

You know, we saw our staff saw need. And we we know that there are all of us have been called, you know, if you've been to college, you know that you're gonna be on a limited budget regardless of what.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Most different.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

And $25 for a haircut is that's what the average price. It's still gonna be a stretch for a college student. Yes. So we're lucky to be able to form a partnership with a local, uh, some uh local partners who who are training others and say, come on over. We'll we'll offer this service. It's great, it's a great training tool for those apprentices. But in their own.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

I was just about to say, and if somebody wanted to go into that field, that's the perfect thing. You're getting a haircut, you can ask questions to the barbers, you know, the stylists, all those different people. So it's a no, I meant like I was blown away.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

So it it's been great, very well received. And and we we do a couple of those throughout the year where we do that, we do a pop-up, it's a pop-up. It's truly that. We just enough, you know, our team looks at it and said, you know, we will do one right before commencement because we want to make sure everybody's looking their sharpest for commencement. Yeah. So we've they planned it, worked it, and and uh it is always packed. We we draw students.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Always. And I'll tell you this: even down to the different events, the themes that y'all come up with. It's very well thought out on what is the students attracted to to help. They they come up with themes for different events to make sure that it covers everybody, you know, that type of thing. But what stuck out to me about your events is that the students come in, you'll see they will all come together, and then they'll eat together, they'll they'll have conversation, they will take photos together, they'll do different things that has nothing to do with the classroom. They know they have to do their work, but this is kind of like your celebration, your daily celebration, because you can come in a room in the ballroom or or come out to student uh to uh uh in the courtyard plaza. The courtyard, yes. Thank you. The courtyard plaza, and you can see things, people coming together, engaging. And that's the biggest thing that I love about University of Tennessee. And it's nothing against any other college, but to me as a vendor, as a partner to the University of Tennessee, I wanted to see, okay, the back end. I wanted to see, okay, they say all this in the media. Do they really do it? Y'all do even more. Well, we do more than what's in the media. I can say that.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

We try, you know, we talk about delivering an unparalleled student experience. Yes. And I and we want to deliver on that promise to our students that when you come to the University of Tennessee, you're gonna get an experience unlike any other place. A lot of schools are gonna do activities and events. We were gonna what I say is we're gonna do it at scale. Exactly. We're gonna do it in a way that In excellence. That that is yes, that are driving that are driving a level of engagement that we want our students to feel like. This is a place that I I feel very strongly and associated with that I made the right choice.

SPEAKER_02 39:35

And when these students come, when they say you you're you live on Rocky Top, you come on Rocky Top, and everywhere you go, you know, I love that because everywhere you go, you see UT. And I love that because the students find their place, they find their space, they find their friends, and they find love on the on the campus at the University of Tennessee. And so you have led so many different major projects, and I want to talk about some of them. Tell me about some of the projects that you have led and what made you, you know, I know you have a team, I know this, but what has driven you to have those type uh projects?

SPEAKER_04 40:22

Well, if you you know, well, I've been very fortunate to have the support as we took a capital projects on our campus, right? We're I I joke with people, I said the crane could also be our other mascot because we have uh we will never replace Smokey. Uh but a growing campus and with the uh requires the uh facilities and the environments for students to thrive and be successful. So one of the things I noticed when I got here six fifteen and a half years ago is that we need to make sure we modernize the our residential facilities.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Because we hadn't done anything. I mean, for good or bad, we just hadn't been able to kind of focus our attention on that. So we we we started out in that process. How do we because again, people need to feel good about where they live to be foundationally when you look at basic means?

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Because that's their home for four four plus years, whatever it's.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

So creating that was very fortunate to be involved on the ground levels. We're looking at building a new housing and doing all those things. And then the union presented a great opportunity how to create a central hub on campus where people can come to. That's where I see a lot of we have a lot of our events. That's where we see making that the hub of activity for people to come and hang out and have food and study and just just come in community.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:44

And we were able to really give it fortunate about how we create that space. But then as an offshoot to all those looking and thinking about what do what do our students need to be successful? I I'm around students all the time. I ask them, I hear feedback from them directly, because you know, I I want to hear I I'm their channel. I'm their advocate. So and I can help think about what we can do to make their experience better. And start that's what we start thinking about. Okay, maybe, you know, campus recreation reports to us. So I know that they're using Rec Center quite a bit, so we need additional space for that. And we're gonna, you know, add more space to that. Right. Or we we students have mental health needs, so let's make sure we have the capacity to build and meet those particular mental health needs. Or even as our basic needs centers continue to grow, making sure we're meeting those particular needs on that. I don't know if I told you about this, but we do a uh bus service called East Tennessee to West Tennessee. Okay. It's run out of our basic needs, Center for Basic Needs, and it's a low-cost charter bus service for students who need to get home for the holidays. Need to get home at uh at the Thanksgiving, at the end of the term, for the holidays, or perhaps during spring break. Because we know some families can't take the time off to come, and we have so many students in Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee. So for So y'all charter a bus. So we're basically for like low, very low cost, round trip. We just we have 200, we put 200 students on the bus, give them some snacks, they get on the bus, we drop, we stop right out, we stop outside of Nashville, in Nashville, Jackson, and then end up in Memphis. And then about a couple weeks later, it does a reverse route. Really? Because when we think about And you get those students home to their families. We get them home for their families. In the holidays. And then we get them back. Mm-hmm. But it's also f what I think is no better example of fulfilling our land grant mission, of be creating

Modern Housing Union Growth And Access

SPEAKER_04 43:35

access for students and saying, We want we we care about you, but we also want you to be when it's time, we want you to be able to get home because some students may not be able to get home. Yes. Or their families can't get here.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Can't get here, can't get off from work. And why don't families can't afford it? Right.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

So this this is a uh very low cost service.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

How long uh have y'all been doing that?

SPEAKER_04 43:56

You know, we we we started about five, six years ago. It had a partner that we had started year uh years early, and interest had waned, but since COVID, it has really taken off. And we had about two, like I said, 200 students uh less.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

Uh and I bet you they enjoy it. Plus it's a bus trip.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

It's a bus trip. They're all they got Wi-Fi, they get that you know, and and we've had some great partnerships. You know, we give them breakfast snacks and they snacks for a little baggie of snacks to take for the road and they're good.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

Oh. That sounds like uh leadership not so how how you remember when we when we travel to Nashville, remember the a big old box.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

That's what it reminds me of.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

It's exactly yeah. So but anyway, uh again for me it's how do we create the those those things that will make a student understand that there are people at this institution who care about you, who wanna who support you, and who want to help you navigate the university to be successful?

SPEAKER_02 44:57

So if someone asked, okay, if you could sum up student life under your direction and your leadership, how would you answer that? If somebody said sum up what student life is and what is it to you?

SPEAKER_04 45:18

To me, it's about delivering an unparalleled experience. Okay. And making sure we meet that promise. Giving every student the opportunity to learn, lead, serve. That's gonna look different for every student. You don't need to be a positional leader to have a title because you can lead through influence without having a title.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

Let's talk about lead. When you're trying to find your way, you really don't know how to be a leader. If you could tell the younger version of you, if you could what all the things that you see now that you've been through, what could you tell your younger self that wasn't confident? And the reason why I'm asking you that, because there are students on the University of Tennessee's campus that are you and they have to find their way. How do you how would you say you start being a leader?

SPEAKER_04 46:27

You know, I would say is the first thing is that don't ever afraid to be the author of a new chapter. Because I think for me, even in in high school, I limited myself a little bit about no you can't do this, are you sure? And and and just have this self-doubt. But it took an it took a moment where it was in college where and I shared earlier, I said where I was this close, really close to leaving. Mm-hmm. And just giving up and giving and saying, you know, we're just this can be something else. And started thinking about you can do this. You just might need to start stepping out of your little comfort zone and saying, let me just go ahead and talk to the guys down in the hall who live on your floor and get to know them a little bit better. Let me just go ahead and go to this uh event they're having downstairs. Or and slowly, as that's how you build starting to build. So for me, and then as you're starting to build and you're making those connections and building a sense of community, you start to grow a little bit more confident. And then and then building that confidence is, well, why can't I run for this office? Or why can't I do that? Uh what's to say the thing that's gonna prevent me from doing that?

SPEAKER_02 47:58

Remember, he was the first generation college uh graduating from college, doctor. Um, I'll say for me, okay. Being first generation entrepreneur, I didn't have that blueprint, you didn't have that blueprint. And there is self-doubt when you start.

SPEAKER_03 48:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Okay, there is self-self-doubt because my family truly said, why are you not following this path? But I knew I didn't know what I was going to be, but I knew God had something different for me.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

You know, and so what I want to talk about is, okay, so when you went on your path and you decided, okay, I'm gonna go to college, was there ever times that you felt like, I know you said that you felt like quitting, but was there ever time that you thought back to, okay, so nobody in my family's done this. So if I quit, it's not gonna matter.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

True. And there was. There was a time where I started feeling. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, I get what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

And the reason I'm saying that, because there's some students out there that have, they they are first generation. And they are uh, you know, they and for whatever reason, parents sometimes can discourage you because they didn't accomplish it.

SPEAKER_04 49:17

Please feel like you know, I I have I have an older brother and a younger brother. Okay. And, you know, they they were doing, they charted a different path. Neither one went to college. But they they they finished high school. Okay. And but they're like, we're we're not gonna get this is not for us. That's fine. The college is a fair one. But they were doing other things, and they're like, you know, I I'm working to help the family doing these things. So there was a little bit of for me of guilt, like, yes, I need to be doing that, not what I'm doing. Or is it why me and not and and so I had to work through that and be okay. And not feel guilty. And not have that guilt. But at the same time, I knew that I was gonna I was okay. Because because I where I went to school, I still saw, you know, I went to school and in the summers and what have you, and then go back home. Um just w reconciling that in a way, I am giving back to my family. You are. Because I've charted a different pathway, but I'm giving back in a different way.

SPEAKER_02 50:22

And it doesn't have to look the same.

SPEAKER_04 50:24

And it's not going to look the same. And I'm okay, and I started thinking, you can be okay with this.

SPEAKER_02 50:29

So for every student out there, just because your family members may not understand, may not see the path that God has you on, doesn't mean it's wrong. I'm gonna give you a good example. You know I'm a real estate agent. And I had a client years back that we were about to close on her house. We were a week from closing. We were waiting for the seller to get their loan and everything. We were done. Her loan was done, everything. Her grandmother called her and she goes, You're you've got a 19-year-old and you got a 17-year-old. You're about your kids about grown. Why would you want to buy a house? So she calls me and she says, you know, I look up to my grandmother. My grandmother is everything to me. My grandmother told me, you know, this, this, this, this. And I said, Can I ask a question? I said, no disrespect to your grandmother. She goes, yes. I said, Does your grandmother own a house? She said, no. I said, has your grandmother ever owned a house? She said, no. I said, your grandmother can't fathom what you're about to do. Literally, three months she bought the house. Three months later, Frank, she literally got pregnant with twins. Think about if she would have listened to her grandmother. God was preparing her for what was going to hold in the future.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

You know, so I'm bringing that up because with both of us being first generation, you know, there is self-doubt of, okay, well, if nobody else did it, why are we doing it or why are we putting ourselves in an uncomfortable place because we're not confident enough

Leadership Without Titles Identity And Closing

SPEAKER_02 52:15

to know it's okay. We're trying to find our way. But just think back to the younger of you. If you would, if you would have stayed home.

SPEAKER_04 52:27

Yeah, I mean, would not be here, it would have been a different journey.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

And and you would be teaching students how to thrive and be all they can be. And the next thing we're going to talk about is you being a servant leader. Okay. So he's not just a vice chancellor. He is a big servant leader, and he leads in his community. He lends his name, he lends his his talents, he lends, he labors. I I have seen him get his hands dirty for the betterment of his community. What made you be want to become a servant leader and serve others outside of your job?

SPEAKER_04 53:12

Well, you know, for me, when you growing up, I grew up, it's like work need to be done. You gotta roll up your sleeves and get the work done. So I don't think I always say no job is too small for me. That's true. And and I do believe that we have to lead by example.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

I agree.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

And um it for me, it's like, okay, well, there's work to be done. Let's roll up our sleeves and get some work done. And and a lot of it is I saw just from my own experience. I saw my parents working hard, I saw my family, all my siblings, all of us. And for me, it's always been like, okay, what's the next thing that needs to be done?

SPEAKER_02 53:56

And you were t you at a young age were taught how to get your hands dirty. Oh, you know, and and nothing against money, but I'll tell you this because we need to to donate as well. I always tell people, you know, organizations need money to survive. But another thing they need is people to roll up their sleeve, get their hands dirty for the betterment of their community, to be able to offer your time and just your service. I mean, I think a lot of times confidence comes in those forms because when you offer your time, your talents, and you serve, I think you become more confident in yourself when you're helping others. Do you agree with that?

SPEAKER_04 54:44

Yeah, I do. I think that you know, there's something about regardless of of um your circumstances, I think there's an opportunity. If you invest in something, you commit to it, you you you learn about who you are. You learn about the people around you, the communities, and and and and what you're doing is there's growth along the way. You may not see it at that moment. Correct. But you may see it a year from now, two days from now, three days from now, or what have you. And you start thinking like, oh wow, that's fascinating or interesting. I didn't know that's it.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

And you get to see what it's kind of like a blooming season. Um you get to see your work bloom. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? And so, and then there's so many petals. I had a lady uh tell me this years ago. Um, she was selling the house with me and she had just lost her confidence. And I came in and I was talking to her that day, and and she called me and she said, I used to have, uh she said, I used to be like a lion, I roared. She said, but over the years for different reasons that things that she had gone through, she was like picked apart. And she said she was like a flower. She said, but talking to you, she said, it's like you brought that flower back to get back together for me to bloom. And now I have my roared back. And she said, now I'm gonna soar. And I'm like, it's all about soaring. Soaring for your community, soaring for your family, soaring for yourself. You know, and I tell people, you know, awards are great, titles are great, all the different things you accomplish, but I think you agree with this part. Don't focus on those things. Just do the work. Do the work and those things come. The awards will come, people will acknowledge you for your hard work. They will the promotions will come because they see your talents and they see, okay, they're in this position and they're doing really well in this position, but they could be in this position and do even more for whatever institution, whatever organization, whatever business. And so I think the biggest thing is do the work. Do the work to make yourself feel good about yourself at the same time when you do for others, it it helps you to stay humble, I think. It helps you to stay humble and it helps you to feel worthy because you feel like, okay, my work is not in vain.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

That's correct. And for and for me, it was for me, what it helped me also is that the recognition that I won't be defined by others. Yes. That only I can define who I am and what my value is and what I contribute.

SPEAKER_02 57:36

And I'll tell you this. So you, when I was researching you and going over different things, you talked about identity. And you said you struggled with identity at one time. Speak about identity, finding your way. How what would you tell anybody that their identity, how do you find your identity and your self-worth?

SPEAKER_04 58:02

Well, I think it goes back to what I was talking about, not allowing us now or anyone to define who you are in your identities that you're shaped, you are the author of your own story. And that's the way we try to talk to students. You are the author of your own story.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Guys, this has been such an amazing time with Vice Chancellor Frank Quevas from Student Life at University of Tennessee. I've got to give you a part two. Tune in next Friday.

SPEAKER_05 58:31

Thanks for listening to Talk in Tennessee with Yavonka. Watch out for our weekly episodes from the first family of real estate. And check us out on the web, www.yavanka stylesrealestate.com. See our videos on Yavanka's YouTube channel or find us on Facebook or Yavanka Landed Standard Twitter.