The first African American vice president of the UT system, Michael T. Nettles, earned the bachelor’s in political science at UT in 1976 and the MS in higher education (1977), MA in political science (1978), and PhD in higher education (1980), all from Iowa State University. He was appointed UT vice president for assessment in 1989 by then-president Lamar Alexander, a position he held until 1992, when he left to become a professor of education at the University of Michigan.
From 1996 to 1999, he served as the first executive director of the Fredrick D. Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund. Nettles is a member of National Assessment Governing Board, where he serves as a vice chairman. His past positions include membership on the Educational Testing Service College Board of Trustees where he chaired the College Board Research and Development Committee, senior research scientist at ETS, and assistant director for academic affairs at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.