Tennessee State University, at Nashville; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; est. 1912 as Tennessee Agriculture & Industrial State Normal School for Negroes; attained university status 1979. It offers programs in arts and sciences, nursing and allied health professions, education, agriculture, business and public administration, criminal justice, and engineering. The university maintains a joint program with Meharry Medical College.

Tennessee State University (TSU) is a comprehensive, urban, coeducational land-grant university founded in 1912. TSU is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee. TSU has approximately 8,750 students with a student/faculty ratio of 17/1.

TSU projects itself to its students, faculty, and alumni and to the citizens of the State through the school's charge "Enter to learn, go forth to serve." and its motto, "Think, Work, Serve."

History

Though it was organized as the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School in 1909 and began serving students on June 19, 1912, its status was raised to a four-year teachers' college in 1922. It was then elevated to full-fledged land-grant university status by the Tennessee State Board of Education in 1958. Since 1972 it has been operated under the auspices of the Tennessee Board of Regents.

The present-day Tennessee State University exists as a result of the merger on July 1, 1979, of Tennessee State University and the former University of Tennessee at Nashville. This resulted in a downtown campus.

The Geier desegregation case

In 1968, Rita Sanders, then a TSU faculty member, along with other Tennesseans, sued the state, demanding that the dual educational system be dismantled and made fair for all its citizens. The law suit is now known as the Geier case. The Geier v. Tennessee case went on for 32 years. TSU professors Ray Richardson and H. Coleman McGinnis intervened as co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, as did the U.S. Department of Justice. After numerous court ordered-plans failed to produce progress on the matter, a mediated Consent Decree, agreed upon by all parties, was ordered by the court on Jan. 4, 2001. The Consent Decree effectively ended the lawsuit initially filed in 1968. The university is to receive $40 million over the next five years as part of the closing settlement announced on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006.

Academics

This university is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award 42 baccalaureate degrees, 21 master's degrees, as well as the two-year Associate of Science degree in nursing, dental hygiene, and doctoral degrees in public administration, administration and supervision, curriculum and instruction and psychology. The College of Nursing is accredited for the A.A.S., B.S.N., M.S.N. degrees by the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission. The TSU College of Engineering, Technology & Computer Science is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) offering baccalaureate degrees in the areas of Architectural and Facilities Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, & Computer and Information Systems Engineering; graduate degrees in the areas of Computer and Information Systems Engineering, General Engineering (M.E.), Biomedical, Civil, Environmental, Electrical, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering; with the Ph.D. in Computer and Information Systems Engineering with concentrations in Computer Communications and Networks, Control Systems and Signal Processing, Robotics and Computer Integration, and Manufacturing. It is also accredited by the National Association of Industrial Technology (NAIT) offering the B.S. in Aeronautical and Industrial Technology with concentrations in Aeronautical Technology (through Academic Common Market), Aviation Management, Aviation Flight, and Industrial Electronics Technology (through Academic Common Market). The TSU College of Business was the first to earn dual Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB International) accreditation (accreditation of both the undergraduate and graduate programs at the same time) in 1994.

Campus

The 450 acre (1.8 km²) main campus has more than 65 buildings and is located in a residential setting at 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd in Nashville, Tennessee. The Avon Williams campus is located downtown, near the center of the Nashville business and government district.

Student activities

NPHC Fraternities

• Alpha Phi Alpha 1934 Beta Omicron Chapter
• Kappa Alpha Psi 1931 Alpha Theta Chapter
• Omega Psi Phi 1930 Rho Psi Chapter
• Phi Beta Sigma 1931 Zeta Alpha Chapter
• Iota Phi Theta 1999 Delta Beta Chapter

NPHC Sororities

• Alpha Kappa Alpha 1932 Alpha Psi Chapter
• Delta Sigma Theta 1936 Alpha Chi Chapter
• Zeta Phi Beta 1933 Epsilon Alpha Chapter
• Sigma Gamma Rho 1931 Alpha Beta Chapter

Independent Fraternities and Sororities

• Alpha Phi Omega Psi Phi Chapter
• Gamma Sigma Sigma
• Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia 1956 Eta Xi Chapter
• Epsilon Gamma Iota 2000 Delta Chapter (National Website)
• Sigma Alpha Iota 2001 Kappa Iota Chapter
• Alpha Nu Omega
• Alpha Kappa Psi 2003 Chi Psi Chapter

Notable Alumni

External links

• www.tnstate.edu Official web site
• www.tsutigers.com Official TSU athletics
• www.tsumeter.com The Meter (Student newspaper)]
• www.bigblueroundup.com Alumni site