Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Tennessee State University offers 41 bachelor’s degrees, 23 master's degrees, and eight doctoral degrees. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
History.
The university was established as the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State Normal School for Negroes in 1912. Its dedication was held on January 16, 1913. It changed its name to Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State Normal College in 1925. Two years later, in 1927, it became known as Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College.
In 1941, the Tennessee General Assembly directed the Board of Education to upgrade the educational program of the college. Three years later the first master's degrees were awarded and by 1946 the college was fully accredited the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Significant expansion occurred during the presidency of Walter S. Davis between 1943 and 1968, including the construction of "70 percent of the school's facilities" and the establishment of the graduate school and four other schools.
In 1968, the college officially changed its name to Tennessee State University. And in 1979, the University of Tennessee at Nashville merged into Tennessee State due to a court mandate.
Today, Tennessee State University is divided into eight schools and colleges and has seen steady growth since its inception. It remains the only public university in Nashville and its health science program is the largest in the state and one of the largest in the nation.
Aligned with the Tennessee Board of Regents, it is currently governed by an institutional Board of Trustees.
Campus.
The main campus has more than 65 buildings, and is located in a residential setting at 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee State's main campus has the most acres of any college campus in Nashville. The Avon Williams campus is located downtown, near the center of the Nashville business and government district. Tennessee State offers on-campus housing to students. There are on-campus dorms and two apartment complexes for upperclassmen. On-campus facilities include dormitories Wilson Hall, Watson Hall, Eppse Hall, Boyd Hall, Rudolph Hall, Hale Hall, as well as the Ford Complex and New Residence Complex, TSU's two on-campus apartment complexes.
Academics.
The university is currently accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award 38
baccalaureate degrees, 24 master's degrees, and doctoral degrees in seven areas (Biological Sciences, Computer Information Systems Engineering, Psychology, Public Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Administration and Supervision, and Physical Therapy), as well as two Associate of Science degree programs, one in nursing and one in dental hygiene.
Tennessee State is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity."
The university is organized into the following colleges:
The University Honors College (UHC) is an exclusive academic program founded in 1964 that caters to select academically talented and highly motivated undergraduate students.
The College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). It was the first institution in Nashville to earn the accreditation of both its undergraduate and graduate business programs in 1994. The Psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association and the Teacher Education program by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
The College of Engineering has developed corporate partnerships with NASA, Raytheon, and General Motors and is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the National Association of Industrial Technology (NAIT).
The College of Health Sciences (formerly the School of Allied Health) includes such programs as the Masters in Physical Therapy and the Bachelor of Health Sciences. The Master of Public Health program was accredited in 2015 by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
Student activities.
Athletics.
Tennessee State University sponsors seven men's and eight women's teams in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned sports. The school competes in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision and is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. Tennessee State is one of two Division I HBCUs that are not members of the MEAC or SWAC, the other being Hampton University of the Big South Conference.
Student Organizations.
There are over 60 registered student organizations on campus.