Emerson Harold Fly of Milan, Tennessee, was elected acting president of the university on June 1, 2001, exactly 40 years to the day after he started to work for the university. On October 25, 2002, following the appointment of Dr. John Shumaker to the presidency, the board of trustees removed the term acting from Fly’s presidency and declared that the records of the institution would show that Emerson H. Fly served as president of the university from June 2001 to June 2002. Fly retired from the university in June 2002, accepting the post as chairman of the newly created UT Foundation.
Fly attended UT Martin for two years before entering the US Navy’s aviation cadet program in 1954. When he left the navy, he and his wife, Catherine, moved to Knoxville, where he completed his degree and went to work at UT immediately following graduation. At UT he served as internal auditor, vice chancellor for finance at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, vice president for business and finance of the university system, and executive vice president, in addition to his presidential term.