According to a report from long-time Knoxville reporter Jimmy Hyams, there’s been a change of leadership at the University of Tennessee once again.
Per Hyams’ report, Tennessee has fired Beverly Davenport as acting Chancellor at the university by UT President Joe DiPietro. No official announcement has been made from UT yet, but several other reports have since confirmed Hyams’ initial report.
BREAKING NEWS: Sources: UT chancellor Beverly Davenport has been fired by Dr. Joe DiPietro. She was hired Dec. 15, effective Feb. 15. She made the controversial hire of John Currie as athletic director, then fired him Dec. 1 and hired Phillip
Fulmer as AD.— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) May 2, 2018
Davenport was hired on December 15th, 2016 and took over as Chancellor on February 15th, 2017. She was the university’s first ever woman to serve as Chancellor. She was earning $585,000 annually as her base pay.
Though her reign turned out to be short as Chancellor, Davenport’s time at UT was certainly eventful. She was responsible for both the hiring and firing of John Currie as UT’s Athletics Director, and she appointed Phillip Fulmer to replace Currie in December of 2017. She also blocked the outsourcing of jobs at UT much to the chagrin of some power players at the university.
We will update as any more news comes out about Davenport’s firing.
