50th Anniversary History Project

Community Colleges Established

In 1955, the Tennessee General Assembly ordered a study of public higher education in the state. After two years of work, Dr. Truman Pierce and Dr. A.D. Albright delivered their report to the legislature. The 1957 Pierce-Albright Report on Public Higher Education in Tennessee found a need for additional postsecondary opportunities for Tennesseans throughout their lifetimes and closer to their homes. The report envisioned new four-year colleges and universities, but as discussion continued over the next few years, the potential for two-year community colleges and institutions for career and technical education emerged.

Finally, in 1963, with the advocacy of newly re-elected Governor Frank G. Clement and state Education Commissioner J. Howard Warf, the legislature appropriated $200,000 over two years to begin planning for more higher education institutions. The State Board of Education quickly authorized the first regional state technical institute, in Chattanooga (which opened in 1965), and later in 1963, began developing plans for the first community colleges.

In 1965, the General Assembly authorized establishment of the first three community colleges - one to be located in each of the state's three Grand Divisions. Columbia State Community College opened as the community college in Tennessee, starting its first classes in 1966. The other two - Cleveland State Community College and Jackson State Community College - opened in 1967.

In subsequent years, the legislature authorized additional community colleges: Dyersburg State Community College and Motlow State Community College near Tullahoma opened in 1969; Walters State Community College in Morristown opened in 1970; Roane State Community College in Harriman and Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin opened in 1971, and Shelby State Community College in Memphis opened in 1972.

Over time, the state technical institutes in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and the Tri-Cities also grew into full-service community colleges: Chattanooga State Community College, Pellissippi State Community College, Nashville State Community College and Northeast State Community College. In 2000, the State Technical institute at Memphis and Shelby State Community College were combined into one institution named Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Area Vocational-Technical Schools & Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology

The statewide network of Area Vocational-Technical Schools began to be established with the state's enactment of legislation following the Federal Vocational Education Act of 1963, which provided federal funding to assist states in the provision and expansion of career and technical education. The schools began opening in 1965. Over time, 27 were opened in communities across the state. In 1983, administration of the Area Vocational-Technical Schools was transferred from the State Board of Education to the Tennessee Board of Regents. As their program offerings expanded, they were renamed Tennessee Technology Centers in 1994. In 2013, the state legislature approved another name change, to Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, to better reflect the level of career and occupational training they provide.

1971-72: Governor Dunn & the Advisory Committee on Governance of Higher Education

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) was created by the General Assembly in 1967 for the purpose of coordinating and supporting the efforts of postsecondary institutions in the State of Tennessee, but without direct operational administration of the institutions. All postsecondary institutions outside of the University of Tennessee System remained under the State Board of Education, which also set policy for elementary and secondary education.

Following years of discussion regarding administration of the state's public colleges and universities, Governor Winfield Dunn - soon after his inauguration in January 1971 - appointed a special commission, chaired by Nashville business and civic leader Nelson Andrews, to examine higher education governance and make recommendations for policymakers to consider. After months of research and hearings across the state, the Governor's Advisory Committee on Governance of Higher Education issued its report on Dec. 30, 1971, recommending the establishment of a new governing board for the state's six regional universities outside of the UT System. Governor Dunn immediately endorsed the commission's report and announced that he would introduce legislation to implement its recommendations when the General Assembly convened in January 1972.

Tennessee General Assembly enacts Public Chapter 838 of 1972

When the legislation was introduced, in addition to the six universities that the “Andrews Commission” had recommended, it also called for transferring governance of the nine community colleges in existence at the time to the new State Board of Regents. After several weeks of discussion, the General Assembly approved Public Chapter 838 of the Public Acts of 1972, creating the State University and Community College System and its new governing Board of Regents, on April 14, 1972, the last day of the legislative session. Governor Dunn signed it into law on April 25.

Public Chapter 838 declared, “There is hereby established a State University and Community College System to be composed of Austin Peay State University, East Tennessee State University, Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University, Cleveland State Community College, Columbia State Community College, Dyersburg State Community College, Jackson State Community College, Motlow State Community College, Roane State Community College, Shelby State Community College (now Southwest Tennessee Community College), Volunteer State Community College, Walters State Community College, and other community colleges which may be established. The government, management, and control of the State University and Community College System shall be vested in a Board of Regents hereinafter called the ‘Board'.”

The Board of Regents Goes to Work

In June, Governor Dunn appointed the first members of the new Board, who would serve alongside the ex-officio members designated by the statute: the Governor, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Education, the Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education, and - for the first few years of the Board's existence - “the immediate past Commissioner of Education.” Public Chapter 838 officially took effect July 1, and the Board of Regents convened for the first time on July 10, 1972. Establishing a precedent that has been followed over the years, the Board elected the Governor as its chair. Regent Ben Kimbrough, a Clarksville banker and business executive, was elected vice chair, who presides in the absence of the chair. As Board Chair, Governor Dunn appointed three committees to help the new Board organize itself: a committee to search for and nominate a chief executive officer for the System (Chancellor), a committee to draft and propose by-laws and policies, and a committee to coordinate the transfer of authority from the State Board of Education.

In a meeting on Sept. 13, 1972, the Board appointed Dr. Cecil C. Humphreys, then president of Memphis State University, as the new system's first Chancellor. “It won't be easy starting from scratch, but with the cooperation of all involved, we can be one of the major factors in education in our state,” Dr. Humphreys said. One month later, on Oct. 13, 1972, the Board of Regents voted to assume official control of the colleges and universities under its authority.

The creation of the new Board of Regents and the State University and Community College System in 1972 was part of a broader era of reform in Tennessee public higher education. As noted above, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission was established in 1967 as a coordinating agency, and the University of Tennessee System was officially organized as a statewide system in 1968 by the UT Board of Trustees.

“The creation of a Board of Regents was the result of debate over many years. The basic question was how best to structure and govern the six universities and nine community colleges at the time,” said Dr. Richard Rhoda, who joined the Board staff as a Vanderbilt University graduate assistant in 1973, the year after it was established. At the time, the Board staff consisted of the new Chancellor, Dr. Humphreys, one vice chancellor, the general counsel and perhaps 12 other staff members.

“The push for change from within was for these institutions to come out from under the State Board of Education into a system that was exclusively postsecondary. The initial structure and policies of the State Board of Education were transferred, but it was important that they would be revised into a higher education orientation. It was an exciting period in which dynamics and rivalries among institutions were being sorted out,” Dr. Rhoda said in 2022, during a 50th Anniversary event.

“But of particular significance was: who were the founding leaders of the Tennessee Board of Regents? They were of the Great Generation. They viewed public education as a public good. Many of them earned their college education thanks to the GI Bill. They shared a deep and abiding belief that education was the pathway to the middle class and to overall prosperity for our country. They shared the notion that we all benefit from more people being better educated. To them, education was the driving force of public policy,” Dr. Rhoda said.

“How did they know what to do? The college-age population was booming, industry and the economy needed a better skilled workforce, education was seen as the means to achieving equal rights and social justice. They assessed, organized, mobilized, and built. And it should be noted that when the TBR was created, community colleges were new as types of institutions and were considered ‘experiments'.”

Indeed, when the First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, accompanied her husband, President Johnson, helped dedicate Columbia State Community College on March 15, 1967, she declared the Tennessee's first community college to be part of the “new beat and rhythm of our land. When a community college rises from a once empty field, the country expands not outward but upward. I am honored to dedicate this college - dedicate it forever to the service of the people and the progress of our nation,” Mrs. Johnson said.

2010: Complete College Tennessee Act

The General Assembly in 2010 approved the Complete College Tennessee Act, proposed by the administration of Governor Phil Bredesen. As it relates to the TBR System, major provisions of the Act required development of a statewide master plan for higher education; distinctive mission statements for each institution; development of an outcomes-based funding model emphasizing outcomes across a range of weighted variables and incentives for productivity improvements; development of university-tract programs in which credits shall transfer and count toward requirements for bachelor's degrees at all public universities (called Transfer Pathways); required the community colleges to operate as a “unified system with individual campuses…to maximize the effectiveness of the system in enhancing student success and increasing the numbers of college degrees held by Tennesseans.”

2014: Tennessee Promise Provides Two years of Tuition-Free Community & Technical College for New High School Graduates

In his fourth annual State of the State address, Gov. Bill Haslam proposed the “Tennessee Promise,” the nation's first statewide plan for tuition-free community or technical college for new high school graduates, starting with the high school Class of 2015. “Through the Tennessee Promise, we are fighting the rising cost of higher education, and we are raising our expectations as a state. We are committed to making a clear statement to families that education beyond high school is a priority in the state of Tennessee,” the governor said. Haslam noted that, after graduating from a community college, students choosing to continue their educations a four-year university can ensure that their credits transfer by following the state's Tennessee Transfer Pathways program.

2016-17: FOCUS Act Creates New Independent Boards of Trustees for the Six Universities, Focuses Board of Regents on the Community Colleges & Colleges of Applied Technology

Following the transfer of the technical colleges to TBR in 1983, the state's higher education governance structure remained virtually unchanged for more than three decades - until 2016 when the General Assembly approved Governor Bill Haslam's proposal, called the FOCUS (Focus on College and University Success) to create new boards of trustees for each of the six universities in the TBR System. After several months of preparation and transition, the six new boards convened for the first time in early 2017 and assumed governance of their respective institutions. All six universities - along with the University of Tennessee campuses and several private colleges and universities - remain partners with our community and technical colleges in the education of Tennessee's students, including new scholarship opportunities, articulation agreements providing seamless transfers for students, and expansion of the Tennessee Transfer Pathways program for full transfer of credits in designated Pathways majors.

With the universities' separation, the Board of Regents - acting on the recommendations of Chancellor Flora W. Tydings - reorganized the System Office in 2017 to focus on Student Success and Workforce Development at the community colleges and colleges of applied technology. Chancellor Tydings and the Board also worked to elevate the status of the colleges of applied technology in recognition of their critical role in career and technical education for Tennesseans.

2017: Tennessee Reconnect Extends Tuition-Free Community & Technical College to Adults Without Degrees

Two years after Tennessee Promise goes into effect with the high school Class of 2015, Governor Haslam made history again by signing the Tennessee Reconnect Act in 2017, offering adults without college credentials the chance to earn a postsecondary degree or certificate free of tuition and mandatory fees at the state's community and technical colleges - another first-in-the-nation statewide program.