After December’s confirmation, ETSU President Brian Noland shared his hopes for his recent appointment to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board of directors.
The TVA, founded in 1933 as a part of the efforts to combat the Great Depression, focuses on providing energy and work to local communities, as well as maintenance of federal land in the region. As a part of its federal corporation status, public oversight is appointed to the board of directors for a term of five years. Directors are responsible for determining the long-term strategy and goals of the TVA, as well as lending their personal perspectives on the challenges that the region faces. The position requires a full background check and security clearance and includes a $45,000 stipend for administrative costs.
The process of joining the board began over two years ago, Noland shared in an interview with the East Tennessean, after Senator Lamar Alexander reached out to express interest in putting ETSU’s president’s name in front of the President of the United States. Acceptance on the board requires appointment by the POTUS with confirmation by the Senate, which was completed in December of 2020. Due to the logistical difficulties posed by COVID-19, Noland has not gotten the chance to attend a board meeting yet. His first is expected to take place virtually over Feb. 10 and 11.
“One of the things I’ve really been inspired by is a lot of the things that I’ve learned over course of the past couple of weeks and would like to bring back and see some applications at ETSU,” said Noland. “As I’ve learned about some of their equity and inclusion initiatives, manners in which they celebrate excellence across their employee base, really looking to see what we might be able to incorporate here at the university.”.
Aside from attending quarterly meetings of the entire board, Noland will also serve on the Committees of Nuclear Oversight and People and Performance. On the board, Noland’s peers will include a mix of leading voices in the political, developmental and industrial spheres of the region.
“There have been multiple moments in which I’ve realized how complex simple things appear,” Noland said. “We take for granted the fact that I can turn on the light switch and the lights come on. All of these things that you just take for granted, there are teams of people that all they do is ensure that things work seamlessly. And that for me and just been really, really, overwhelmingly inspiring to know how complicated things are but they work so well that for us it seems simple.”
