2001 - 2007

Dr. Nick Dunagan served as the eighth chancellor of UT Martin from 2001-2007. He joined the UT Martin family in 1973 as director of development, and later held positions as executive vice chancellor, vice chancellor for student affairs, and vice chancellor for development and administration.

Dunagan also served as interim chancellor three times (1985-86, 1997-98, 2000-01) and as executive director of the WestStar Leadership Program – the state’s oldest and largest regional leadership program, which was founded at UT Martin in 1989. He is active in economic development activities in the Martin area and serves as a member of the Weakley County Economic Development Board and president of the Martin Public Library Foundation.

A native of Caruthersville, Missouri, Dunagan graduated from UT Martin in 1968 and went on to graduate from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1971. He later earned a doctorate in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University in 1990. He is a retired colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard and is an active member of the Martin First United Methodist Church.

He is married to the former Cathy Porter, a UT Martin graduate from Humboldt, and they have four children. The oldest, Stan, is a professor of geology at UT Martin. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two children. The second child, Tracy Dunagan VanderMeeden, works as a travel agent, and she and her husband, Brett, have two children. The middle son, Casey, died in 2011, and has one child. The youngest son, Cody, is the sales manager for Vulcan Materials in the Huntsville, Alabama, area. He and his wife, Glenna, have four children. Stan, Tracy, Cody and their spouses are all UT Martin graduates.