Knoxville College
Knoxville College is a
historically black college in
Mechanicsville,
Knoxville,
Tennessee, founded in
1875 by the
United Presbyterian Church of North America. At first it offered
education in grades 1 through 12 to prepare
freedmen for higher education; by
1931 the
high school-level
Academy was disbanded, leaving Knoxville College a four-year institution of higher education.
The main campus of Knoxville College is located on 39 acres, situated north of downtown Knoxville, in the city's Mechanicsville community. Its 17-building campus continues to be the primary institution for minority students in
East Tennessee. In
1989, Knoxville acquired the two-year
Morristown College, which became Knoxville College-Morristown. The two-year school closed in
1994. Knoxville College is a
United Negro College Fund member school.
In
1862, the Reverend O.S. McKee, under the auspices of the Freedmen's Mission of the
United Presbyterian Church, founded the
McKee School in
Nashville, the first organized school for Negroes in Tennessee. The church soon established similar
missionary schools for
blacks in
Mississippi,
Louisiana,
Alabama, and
Georgia.
In
1872, the
General Assembly of the church resolved to discontinue support of the schools in order to establish a college where blacks might prepare for ministerial and teaching careers. Two years later, the church selected Knoxville to be the site of the college as the black residents of the city expressed interest in education and the city was strategically located between existent centers of black education, Nashville and
Atlanta.
In 1875, Knoxville College began operation in a former freedmen's elementary school. The following year, the college moved to a permanent location on a hill northwest of and overlooking downtown Knoxville. In 1878, only 174 of the student population studied on a level equivalent to or above that of a college freshman.
During the
1880s, black legislators obtained state scholarships for military cadets at the college. During
1890-
1909, the college served as the Industrial Department for black students of the
University of Tennessee in order to acquire funds for the scientific and industrial education of blacks, authorized by the Second Morrill Act,
In
1914, the
College of Arts and Sciences was established. From
1920to
1950, the
normal school was emphasized giving to the school the distinction of being the leading supplier of teachers to black schools in
East Tennessee. Since 1950, the College of Arts and Sciences has been emphasized including the implementation of community service programs and dramatic productions.
In
1954, the college charter was amended in order to allow the admission of white students, although the children of white faculty members previously attended the college. In
1957, the college was one of the first group of predominantly black institutions admitted to full membership in the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In
1979, the church deeded the title for the college property to the
Board of Trustees of the college.
The
Knoxville College Historic District has significantly contributed to the educational and spiritual welfare of the black population of Tennessee since
1890, particularly in the fields of industrial and normal education.
Knoxville College lost its SACS accreditation in
1997 and has struggled increasingly since then. In the August
2005 and its Board of Directors fired the college
president, Barbara Hatton. Since the loss of the college's accreditation, the campus has had numerous lawsuits from staff, for the lack of paying them.
Knoxville College in partnership with the
Pilot Gas station, located adjacent to the campus (at the corner of Western Avenue and Middlebrook Pike), in revitalizing the Knoxville College Historic District.
= The July 6th, 2006,
The Tennessean Newspaper Article =
According to the July 6th,
2006 edition of
The Tennessean newspaper, based in
Nashville, Tennessee, officials say that historically black Knoxville College is experiencing a reversal of fortune.
A year ago, the college was down to about 130 students, couldn't pay its faculty or electric bills and was drowning in debt.
Today, enrollment is surging. More than 400 students have been accepted for the fall semester from more than 700 applicants. The faculty is being paid, the lights are back on and the college's debts have been cut by about two-thirds, down more than $2 million.
"Oh, let me tell you it's the best problem in the world," Will Minter, an
Oak Ridge National Laboratory official helping as a development strategist and fundraiser for the college, said of enrollment growth. "I'm happy to have one where we're overloaded."
The turnaround began after the school's trustees ousted former President Barbara Hatton in August and asked Robert H. Harvey, an alumnus and longtime math professor retired from the
National Science Foundation, to step in as interim president.
"We are miles ahead of where we were a year ago," said Ronald Damper, a Chicago businessman and chairman of Knoxville College's Board of Trustees. "We've had outstanding success in getting assistance from a number of people to get us to this point. The community has embraced the college."
The Knoxville College Alumni Association is in the middle of a $1 million fundraising effort, while the college is in a $2.5 million "Road to Success" campaign. Administrators say the college has paid down $2 million in debt, but still is $1 million behind.
The goals aren't large compared to what most colleges raise, but the combined amount is more than the annual budget of the small college, which was founded on a hill overlooking Knoxville in 1875.
At this juncture, "I don't know if I can say 'happy,'" Harvey said. "I'm satisfied with the progress we've made."
*
George E. Curry -
editor-in-chief of the
National Newspaper Publishers Association news service (NNPA) and
www.BlackPressUSA.com.
*
Johnny Ford- Mayor of
Tuskegee, Alabama.
*
Jake Gaither - Legendary
Florida A&M University football coach who won more than 85 percent of his games over a 24-year period, from
1945 to
1969.
*
Grady Jackson-
defensive tackle for the
Green Bay Packers football team of the
National Football League.
*
Vernon Jarrett, the first
African-American columnist for the
Chicago Tribune and former president of the
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
*
Dr. Edith Irby Jones - The first female president of the
National Medical Association.
*
Barbara Rodgers, anchor for
KPIX in
San Francisco.
*
Knoxville College home page
