East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is an accredited American university, founded October 2, 1911 and located in Johnson City, Tennessee. It is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities. ETSU has small off-campus centers in nearby Kingsport, Elizabethton, and Greeneville, Tennessee.
Graduate programs include a fully accredited medical school, the Quillen College of Medicine, named in honor of U.S. Congressman James H. Quillen who successfully fought for its creation in the 1970s. In 2005 a College of Pharmacy was approved which further augmented the medical specialties at ETSU. Classes in the ETSU College of Pharmacy began in January 2007. The university is listed by The Princeton Review in their 2007 edition of America’s Best Value Colleges. ETSU has the only master's degree in the United States in storytelling, and has been increasingly noted for its Appalachian Studies programs and features a nationally acclaimed and accredited program in Bluegrass and Country Music.
History
ETSU was founded as East Tennessee State Normal School, to educate teachers; the K-12 training school, called University School, operates to this day. East Tennessee State officially became a college in 1925 when it changed its name to East Tennessee State Teachers College, subsequently gaining accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1927. In 1943, East Tennessee State Teacher's College was expanded into a college with a range of liberal arts offerings, becoming East Tennessee State College. The college became a University in 1963, adopting the name it holds today.[4]
ETSU announced plans to open a College of Pharmacy in 2005, rapidly receiving local support to secure the approval. Full accreditation is expected in June 2010, the year the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy graduates its first class.
In December 2007, the College of Public and Allied Health split into two two new colleges, the College of Public Health and the College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences. Both are part of ETSU’s Health Sciences Division, which also includes the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, and the College of Nursing.
In late 2009, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the Tennessee Board of Regents authorized the formation of a Ph.D program in Sport Physiology and Performance. This program, the first of its kind in the United States, will focus on sports science and physiology in athletics. It will feature concentrations in sport physiology and sport performance, and is expected to start in 2010.[5]
Presidents
- Sidney G. Gilbreath, 1911-1925
- Charles C. Sherrod, 1925-1949
- Burgin E. Dossett, Sr., 1949-1968
- D.P. Culp, 1968-1977
- Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr., 1977-1980
- Ronald E. Beller, 1980-1991
- Bert C. Bach (interim), 1991-1992
- Roy S. Nicks, 1992-1996
- Paul E. Stanton, Jr., 1997 to present
Colleges and schools
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Business and Technology
- College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences
- College of Education
- College of Medicine
- College of Nursing
- College of Pharmacy
- College of Public Health
- Honors College
- School of Continuing Studies
- School of Graduate Studies
Notable alumni
Recording star Kenny Chesney, four-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, holds a degree in advertising.[6] Another notable ETSU attendee is Timothy Busfield, known for his Emmy Award-winning role on the popular 1980s TV series thirtysomething. Busfield attended ETSU for a short while, but did not graduate. He starred in a series of advertisements for the school in the late 1980s. Ron Ramsey, the current Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee, graduated from ETSU in 1978 majoring in Industrial Technology. Ronald E. Carrier, a 1955 graduate of ETSU, was the fourth President of James Madison University, serving from 1971 to 1998. Mike Smith, current Atlanta Falcons head coach, also attended ETSU. CBS Survivor Africa and Survivor All-Stars contestant Tom Buchanan (Big Tom) graduated from ETSU as well.
Athletics
East Tennessee State Buccaneers logo
ETSU collegiate athletic teams, nicknamed Buccaneers, presently compete in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. In the 2006-07 year, ETSU won both the conference's men and women's All-Sport trophies, winning seven team titles. They repeated as the overall and men's All-Sport champions in 2007-08 with three team titles, and again in 2008-09 with five team titles.[7]
Current men's sports at ETSU are baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and track and field. Women's sports are basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field and volleyball. Men's soccer competed at the club level in the fall of 2007, before entering NCAA and Atlantic Sun competition as a scholarship program in the 2008 season.[8] A new on-campus soccer field, the Summers-Taylor field, opened in Fall 2007. In the 2007-08 season, the women's basketball team made their first trip to the NCAA tournament. In 2009, both the men's and women's team earned an automatic berth to the NCAA championship by winning the Atlantic Sun Conference tournaments.
ETSU Memorial Center, also known as the Mini Dome
The 2005 move of the Buccaneers from the Southern Conference to the Atlantic Sun was an indirect result of ETSU President Stanton's decision, following the 1999 ETSU Athletic Task Force recommendations, to drop the ETSU football program after the 2003 season, in response to budget limitations imposed by the state legislature. The football program was posting close to $1 million in financial losses each year between 1999-2003.
The "Mini Dome", the largest building on the ETSU campus, has served as a U.S. indoor arena venue for college football and track and field competitions. The Mini Dome has hosted many non-athletic events which could not be housed in an indoor setting on most American college campuses, such as national indoor championships for free flight model aircraft.
Proposed student athletic fee increase
ETSU President Stanton announced on December 22, 2006 that the ETSU administration is now supporting the return of the ETSU NCAA Division I FCS football program to the university, after accepting the recent ETSU Football Task Force report calling for increased student athletic fees to both restore the ETSU football program and additional funding for equivalent female athletic programs in order to meet U.S. federal Title IX gender equity requirements. Dr. Stanton has also stated that ETSU will "...need $4 million to $5 million" collected each year from of a combination students fees and private contributors to "...get it all done."
Both the ETSU student body (by a referendum vote) and the Tennessee Board of Regents would have needed to approve Stanton's proposal to increase ETSU student athletic fees for funding a new football program before competing in the 2010 season.
Stanton also stated that ETSU generates approximately $500,000 of revenue from every $25 student athletic fees collected each semester at ETSU (i.e.: a conservative estimate of student fees fully funding ETSU football at the $5 million dollar level would amount to an additional $250 in ETSU student athletic fees each year). During the last year of the football program in 2003, ETSU was only able to raise $127,000 (of the minimum $1.5 million needed) in private contributions toward the operating costs that will associated with the ETSU football program (excluding approximately $15 million dollars for a new 10,000 seat stadium).
On April 10-11, 2007 the football referendum failed by a vote of 59%-41%, with about 3,500 students voting. Paul Stanton released a statement following the vote, saying the issue of football was dead for the immediate future.[12]
Greek life
There are several Greek organizations offered at East Tennessee State University. Greek life provides occasions for social interaction and intramural participation between young men and women.[14] The Interfraternity Council offers young men seven options of Fraternities: Sigma Chi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, and Pi Kappa Alpha.[14] The Panhellenic Council offers young women four options of Sororities: Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Kappa Delta, and Sigma Kappa.[14]
Tobacco policy and campus reaction
All ETSU campuses and grounds were declared tobacco-free as of August 11 2008.[15][16]
Despite the ban and the offer of a cessation program,[17] many members of the campus community continue to use tobacco. Several signs regarding the tobacco policy have been removed and defaced.[18] Current policy[16] does not allow fines against those in violation of the ban. This and several other aspects of the policy have been criticised by students.[19][20]
In April 2008, then Student Government Association President T.J. Mitchell stated his willingness to "strive for a partial repeal on the smoking ban" and his hope for "designated smoking areas on campus". A Senate resolution introduced by Mitchell debated before the 2008-2009 Student Government Association Senate supporting such designated smoking areas failed to pass. 2009-2010 Student Government Association President Brian Bowman has no intentions of combating the tobacco ban.[21]
Campus Life
While attending ETSU, students can benefit greatly from the many activities available to them on campus. In April 2002, the Basler Center for Physical Activity was opened and is a 100,000 square foot facility. The building contains many recreational facilities including, an indoor 40-foot climbing wall, raquetball and basketball courts, an indoor swimming pool, a 15,000 square foot weight room, etc... The Basler center also offers a diverse selection of fitness classes from yoga to martial arts taught there in the studio rooms available, all free of charge to the student.
References
External links
- Official websites
- Other websites
See also
Coordinates: 36°18′12″N 82°22′09″W / 36.30333°N 82.36917°W / 36.30333; -82.36917
