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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Tusculum University
Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college or university in the United States.

In addition to its main campus, the institution maintains a regional center for Adult and Online Studies in Knoxville, and Morristown.

The entrance gate to Tusculum University, Tennessee

History

In 1806, emancipated slave John Gloucester became the first African-American student to study at Greeneville College. He was the first African-American educated by a college in Tennessee and later helped found the First African Presbyterian Church in 1807, in Philadelphia.

Samuel Doak and Hezekiah Balch sought the same goals through their separate colleges. They wanted to educate settlers of the American frontier so that they would become better Presbyterians, and therefore, in their thinking, better citizens.

Scott Niswonger Student Center on the campus of Tusculum University.

Origin of name

Samuel Doak left Washington College and founded Tusculum Academy, on the present campus of Tusculum University, in 1818 with his son, Samuel Witherspoon Doak. S.W. Doak was named after Princeton University's then-president Dr. John Witherspoon, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and Tusculum Academy was named after Witherspoon's estate at the College of New Jersey (Princeton). The original Tusculum was a city near Rome, Italy, and home to Roman scholar and philosopher Cicero. It was he who, along with others, identified the civic virtues that form the basis of civic republican tradition, which emphasizes citizens working together to form good societies that in turn foster individuals of good character.

Presidents

  • Greeneville College (1794–1868)
    • Hezekiah Balch, D.D. 1794–1810
    • Charles Coffin, D.D. 1810–27
    • Henry Hoss 1828–36
    • Alfred Hoss 1836–38
    • James McLin, B.A. 1838–40
    • Samuel Matthews 1843–45
    • Charles Van Vlech 1845–46
    • John Fleming 1846–47
    • William B. Rankin, D.D. 1854–58
    • John Lampson 1859–60
  • Tusculum Academy (1818–68)
    • Samuel Doak, D.D. 1818–29
    • Samuel Witherspoon Doak, D.D. 1829–44
  • Tusculum College (1844–68)
    • Samuel Witherspoon Doak, D.D. 1844–64
    • William Stephenson Doak, D.D. 1865–68
  • Greeneville and Tusculum College (G&T) (1868–1908)
    • William Stephenson Doak, D.D. (1868–82)
    • Alexander M. Doak (acting) 1882–83
    • Jeremiah Moore, D.D. 1883–1901
    • Samuel A. Coile, D.D. 1901–07
  • Washington and Tusculum College (W&T) (1908–1912)
    • Charles O. Gray, D.D. 1907–12
  • Tusculum College (1912–2018)
    • Charles O. Gray, D.D. 1912–31
    • Charles A. Anderson, D.D. 1931–42
    • John McSween, D.D. 1942–44
    • Jere A. Moore (acting) 1944–46
    • George K. Davies, Ph.D. 1946–50
    • Leslie K. Patton (acting) 1950–51
    • Raymond C. Rankin, D.D. 1951–65
    • Douglas C. Trout, Ph.D. 1965–68
    • Charles J. Ping (acting) 1968–69
    • Andrew N. Cothran, Ph.D. 1969–72
    • Thomas G. Voss, Ph.D. 1972–78
    • Earl R. Mezoff, Ed.D. 1978–88
    • Robert E. Knott, Ph.D. 1989–2000
    • Thomas J. Garland (interim) 2000
    • Dolphus E. Henry III, Ph.D. 2000–07
    • Russell L. Nichols, Ph.D. (interim) August 2007–April 2009
    • Nancy B. Moody, DSN April 2009 – 2017
    • James L. Hurley, Ed.D. 2017–2019
  • Tusculum University (2018–present)
    • James L. Hurley, Ed.D. 2017–2019
    • Greg Nelson, Ph.D. (acting) 2019–2020
    • Scott Hummel, Ph.D. 2020–present

Academics

Academic rankings
Master's
Washington Monthly341 of 604
Regional
U.S. News & World Report86 (tie) of 90

Tusculum is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, baccalaureate and Master degrees.

Annie Hogan Byrd Hall is a performance space used for both university theatre and music events as well as outside arts events.

It also maintains institutional memberships with the American Council on Education, the Council of Independent Colleges, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the Council for Opportunity in Education, the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, the Tennessee State Board of Education, the Appalachian College Association, the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, the American Association of University Women, the American Medical Association, and the New York State Board of Regents.

Athletics

The tennis courts and athletic buildings on the campus of Tusculum University.

Tusculum athletic teams are nicknamed as the Pioneers. The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the South Atlantic Conference since the 1998–99 academic year.

Tusculum fields 24 recognized varsity sports teams: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, cheerleading, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, track & field and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, cross country, cheerleading, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Although most of those sponsored sports compete in NCAA D-II in the SAC, two teams compete as de facto NCAA Division I members. In women's bowling, a sport added in 2019–20 in which the NCAA holds a single championship open to members of all three NCAA divisions, the Pioneers are single-sport members of the Conference Carolinas. Also added for 2019–20 was men's volleyball, in which the NCAA holds a combined Division I/II national championship; the Pioneers compete in that sport as an independent. Tusculum also added the non-NCAA sport of men's bowling in 2019–20, and also recognizes its cheerleaders (both male and female) as varsity athletes.

In 2004, Ricardo Colclough, a defensive back and kick returner, became the first Tusculum Pioneers football player to be drafted by the National Football League when he was selected in the second draft round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Colclough, the first Tusculum player to appear in an NFL game, played for the Carolina Panthers. He was dismissed from the team in August 2008.

In 2007, former Tusculum College basketball player, Tyler White, became a member of the Washington Generals, the exhibition team that travels with and plays against the Harlem Globetrotters.

In August 2009, Chris Poore, another former Tusculum College basketball player, also became a member of the Washington Generals.

On September 4, 2014, the Tusculum football team hosted the College of Faith, an online institution in Charlotte, North Carolina. In a 71–0 win, the Pioneers set two NCAA all Division records: fewest total yards allowed (minus-100) and fewest rushing yards allowed (minus-124). Tusculum also had three safeties, which tied a Division II record.

Notable people

Alumni

Faculty