Dr. John Petersen, who served as the University of Tennessee system president from 2004 to 2009, passed away at the age of 77 at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as reported by Walker’s Funeral Home. Before his tenure at UT, Petersen held significant academic roles, including executive vice president and provost at the University of Connecticut, and dean of the College of Science and professor of chemistry at Wayne State University.

His selection as UT president followed an unconventional open search process involving 47 candidates and public interviews, but his presidency was marked by tension with the Knoxville campus, notably a vote of no confidence due to his handling of a campus-wide email and IT breakdown. Despite these challenges, Petersen’s leadership saw achievements like the opening of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a record $65 million NSF grant that advanced UT and ORNL’s supercomputing prominence.

Current UT President Randy Boyd expressed condolences to Petersen’s family and friends. Petersen held a PhD in inorganic chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara (1975) and a BS in chemistry from California State (1970).