Dwayne Tucker is reimagining TSU operations

It was a tumultuous time for Tennessee State University when the board appointed Dwayne Tucker as the school’s interim president at the end of 2024. 

That March, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a bill that vacated the historically Black university’s board of trustees following several audits pointing towards financial mismanagement. Then, the university’s previous interim president abruptly resigned after just six months in the role, citing issues working with the newly appointed board — and the state was found to have underfunded TSU $2.1 billion, according to calculations of HBCU funding by the Biden administration.