Tennessee State University
An early picture of the campus.
http://www.tnstate.edu/index.asp
A Brief History
Tennessee State University is a comprehensive urban coeducational land-grant university founded in 1912 in Nashville, Tenn. The 450-acre main campus, with more than 65 buildings, is located in a residential setting; the Avon Williams Campus is located downtown, near the center of the Nashville business and government district.
Through successive stages, TSU has developed from a normal school for Negroes to its current status as a national university with students from 42 states and 52 countries. The present-day Tennessee State University exists as a result of the merger on July 1, 1979, of Tennessee State University and the former University of Tennessee at Nashville.
By virtue of a 1909 Act of the General Assembly, the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School was created, along with two other normal schools in the State of Tennessee, and began serving students on June 19, 1912. William Jasper Hale was appointed as head of the school. The original 247 students, along with the faculty and staff, operated as a family. Everyone worked to keep the institution running in its early years, from clearing rocks to harvesting crops to carrying chairs from class to class.
In 1922, the institution was raised to the status of four-year teachers' college and was empowered to grant the bachelor's degree. The first degrees were granted in June 1924. During the same year, the institution became known as the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal College. In 1927, "Normal" was dropped from the name of the College.
As the college grew in scope and stature throughout the 1920s and 1930s, so too did its impressive roster of alumni who embodied the school's charge: "Enter to learn, go forth to serve." In 1943, when William Hale retired after more than 30 years at the school's helm, an alumnus was chosen to succeed him. From 1943 until his retirement in 1968, Walter S. Davis led the institution through an era of tremendous growth, in areas as multifaceted as academics, facilities and worldwide recognition.
The General Assembly of 1941 authorized the State Board of Education to upgrade substantially the educational program of the College, which included the establishment of graduate studies leading to the master's degree. Graduate curricula were first offered in several branches of teacher education. The first master's degree was awarded by the College in June 1944.
Accreditation of the institution by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was first obtained in 1946. In August 1951, the institution was granted university status by approval of the State Board of Education. The reorganization of the institution's educational program included the establishment of the Graduate School, the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education and the School of Engineering. Provisions were also made for the later addition of other schools in agriculture, business and home economics.
Prior to the redevelopment of campus in the 1990s, Centennial Blvd. ran through the center of campus. The Administration or "A" Building has been renovated as the Humanities Building.
The University (then known as Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University) was elevated to a full-fledged land-grant university status by approval of the State Board of Education in August 1958. The Land-Grant University program, as approved by the State Board of Education, included: the School of Agriculture & Home Economics, the Graduate School, the Division of Extension and Continuing Education, and the Department of Aerospace Studies. The School of Allied Health Professions and the School of Business were created in 1974. In addition, the School of Nursing was established in 1979. Currently, TSU consists of four colleges and four schools: The College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Engineering & Technology, the School of Agriculture & Home Economics, the School of Nursing, and the School of Graduate Studies.
In 1968, Andrew Torrence, also an alumnus, was named the university's third president. It was during his relatively brief tenure that the state legislature formally dropped "Agricultural & Industrial" from the university's name, which became Tennessee State University. Also, one of the most significant events of the Torrence presidency would not be fully resolved or have its impact felt for decades to come.
It was in 1968 that a TSU faculty member named Rita Sanders filed a lawsuit alleging a dual system of higher education in Tennessee based on race. An agreement in this case, which over the years evolved into Geier v. Tennessee, would not be reached for over 30 years.
When Frederick Humphries became TSU's president in 1975, Nashville still was home to two public four-year universities. On July 1, 1979, the former University of Tennessee at Nashville was merged with TSU as a result of a court order in the 1968 Geier v. Tennessee case. Humphries was the first TSU president to face the challenge of maintaining the balance between TSU's role as one of America's preeminent historically black universities and as an emerging comprehensive, national university.
The University of Tennessee at Nashville began in 1947 as an extension center of the University of Tennessee and offered only one year of extension credit until 1960, when it was empowered by the Board of Trustees of the University of Tennessee to offer two years of resident credit. Authorization was granted to extend this to three years of resident credit in 1963, even though degrees were awarded by the Knoxville unit.
To more fully realize its commitment as a full-function evening university, the UT-Nashville campus became a full-fledged, four-year degree-granting institution in 1971 upon successfully meeting the requirements for accreditation of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. During the same year, the General Assembly sanctioned the institution as a bona fide campus of the University of Tennessee, and the new University occupied its quarters in the building at the corner of Tenth and Charlotte avenues in downtown Nashville.
It was the erection of the above-mentioned building which gave rise to the decades-long litigation to "dismantle the dual system" of higher education in Tennessee. The litigation resulted in the merger of both institutions (ordered by Judge Frank Gray in February 1977), resulting in an expansion of the present-day Tennessee State University as a Tennessee Board of Regents institution.
The Geier v. Tennessee case went on for 32 years. Initially brought by Rita Sanders Geier, who taught at TSU, TSU professors Ray Richardson and H. Coleman McGinnis intervened as co-plantiffs in the lawsuit, as did the U.S. Department of Justice. After numerous court ordered-plans failed to produce progress on the matter, a mediated Consent Decree, agreed upon by all parties, was ordered by the court on Jan. 4, 2001.
TSU fifth president, Otis Floyd, assumed his post in 1987 following a year as interim president. He left the University when he was appointed chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents in 1990. Floyd kept TSU moving forward in both capacities, initiating efforts that resulted in the university receiving an unprecedented $112 million from the state general assembly for capital improvements in 1988. Under this plan, nearly all buildings on campus have been renovated, and eight new buildings have been constructed, including the Floyd-Payne Campus Center, the Ned McWherter Administration Building, the Wilma Rudolph Residence Center and the Performing Arts Center. Currently, the downtown campus is undergoing a renovation project.
Since 1991, James Hefner has served as president of Tennessee State University, just the sixth president in its illustrious 91-year history. Through its eight colleges and schools, the TSU of today offers 43 bachelor's degrees and 26 master's degrees, and awards doctoral degrees in six areas: biological sciences, computer information systems engineering, psychology, public administration, curriculum and instruction, and administration and supervision.
Now, in 2004, TSU is striving to meet the needs of future students with the first capital campaign in the university's history, a $50 million campaign to help meet the challenges of providing a sound educational foundation to a diverse student body with an even broader diversity of needs…all the while remembering the school's charge: "Enter to learn, go forth to serve."
Pictures from the 1949 yearbook highlight the University's historical mission for agricultural and industrial training.
TSU Timeline
Noteable Alumni
Oprah Winfrey
Bobby Jones
Wilma Rudolph
Ed "Too Tall" Jones