UTC’s College of Business receives funding for new research center

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- UTC’s Gary Rollins College of Business has been awarded more than 3 million dollars for their new Research Center.

“We have worked with The Journey Health Foundation, for a couple years to develop a center of health analytics and economics,” said  Robert Dooley, Dean of the Gary Rollins College of Business at UTC. “They place their trust in us to start doing research for the foundation and for the community of Chattanooga to look at health outcomes.” 

The Journey Health Foundation Center will serve as a vital role for research across the United States.

Dooley believes the new center will help educate business students. 

“More importantly, it provides experiential learning opportunities for our students, for where they can get involved in solving real world problems for the community. And so it is going to be a heavily student engaged center with the students doing a lot of the research,” said Dooley. 

More than 2 point 25 million dollars will go towards solving health care challenges in the region like transportation. 

As well as 1 point 25 million dollars towards projects led by the center. 

Dooley says it took years to finally receive the funding. 

“It has taken a couple years to get there, but good things take time, and is well worth the wait,” said Dooley. “I think we have established something for the city of Chattanooga that is going to have a long, lasting impact.”

But, Dooley expects the center to be a great addition to grow UTC in the future. 

“It is extremely exciting. The community, the college, has had a long history of community engagement and supporting the community, but I do think the center is going to be one of the most impactful programs that we have in the college going forward,” Dooley concluded.