Creating Opportunities for Tennesseeans with Randy Boyd ConnectTheKnox

Randy Boyd, legendary Knoxville entrepreneur and current President of the University of Tennessee, is a lifelong Knoxvillian who’s dedicated to giving back to his community. On this episode of ConnectTheKnox, he describes how an early failed business in his career lead him to where he is today, and the work he’s doing to help send Tennessee kids to college free of charge. Randy and Julia discuss how UT is growing along with the rest of Knoxville, and ways that the local community can get involved in their Everywhere You Look, UT campaign. 
 
Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:50 Randy introduces himself and describes his dedication to Knoxville and family
2:13 Randy describes his entrepreneurial journey and how he started his non-profit, tnAchieves
05:12 Why Randy launched the “Everywhere You Look, UT” campaign 
10:32 Randy describes the partnership between UT and Oak Ridge National Lab 
12:33 The Tennessee Promise program and how it inspired Randy to create something similar for UT
16:10 The growth plan for UT Knoxville and the rest of the UT campuses state-wide
19:13 Ad - Just Homes Group
19:58 How people can help support the Everywhere You Look, UT campaign
21:03 Randy describes his running career and his favorite marathons
23:46 Julia fires off her lightning-round questions on Randy’s favorite local spots

Links:
tnAchieves: https://tnachieves.org/
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Just Homes Realty Group: www.justhomesgroup.com Find my Home Buyers & Home Sellers Guide here: https://linktr.ee/thejuliahurley   
Transcript:


Julia: Welcome, everybody to Connect the Knox. I’m your hostess with the mostest, Julia Hurley, connecting the nation to Knoxville, Tennessee. Today’s guest is literally my all-time favorite Knoxvillian. I don’t know how everybody else feels about it, but that’s just how you’re going to get it today. Mr. Randy Boyd, University of Tennessee Knoxville’s president, all-around most amazing father, most amazing son, most amazing husband, most amazing friend, I think the best president UT has ever had. I’m going to keep going. But we’re going to start and let him talk a little bit about himself. Randy, can you tell us a little bit about you, about your family, your Knoxville history, and how you ended up where you are today?
 
Randy: Oh thanks, Julia. And I’m going to go back and check your other podcasts and see if you introduce all your other guests exactly the same way.
 
Julia: [laugh].
 
Randy: But for the moment at least, I’m going to suspend disbelief and say thank you for that very kind introduction. But yeah, I’m a Knoxville native, born and raised, president of the University of Tennessee. I tell everybody all the time that I’m going to be a resident long after I’m a president. This is where I was born and this is where I’ll finish the rest of my lives. I guess if I started with the most important thing to know about me is that I’m a grandfather.
 
I’m called Poppi and I have two granddaughters that are the most adorable in the world. One’s four-and-a-half; she’s [Wiley 00:01:23]. Another that’s two; her name is Penelope. I have two sons. One is the father of my granddaughters, Thomas, and his wife Lindsay, and my younger son is Harrison.
 
Both live in Fourth & Gill in Knoxville, Tennessee. I’ve been married to Jenny now for 37 years. We’ve known each other for 39 years, and we built this wonderful life here in Knoxville. She’s the talent in the family. She plays the clawhammer banjo, the fiddle, the mandolin, and owns Boyd’s Jig and Reel. That’s her place where she has—
 
Julia: My favorite restaurant.
 
Randy: Oh, thank you for t