In 1957, the Pierce-Albright Report on Higher Education in Tennessee was
made to the Tennessee Legislative Council. This report reflected the need for additional
higher education opportunities to be provided for the average Tennessean. Upper East
Tennessee was one of many places where higher education was not readily available to the
citizens.
In 1963, the Tennessee General Assembly appropriated $200,000 for use
over a two-year period to implement the Pierce Albright Report. The State Board of
Education, under the direction of Commissioner J. Howard Warf, developed plans for the
establishment of a group of community colleges to serve these areas without access to
higher education. The goal was to have one of these colleges within a 30-40 mile commuting
distance of every Tennessean. Admission to these colleges was not to be restrictive to
recent high school graduates, but was to be an "open door" opportunity with
colleges serving a whole community from ages 18 to 80. Acting upon the recommendations of
Governor Frank G. Clement and the State Department of Education, the 1965 Tennessee
General Assembly authorized the establishment of the first three of these colleges, one to
be located in each of the State's three Grand Divisions. Columbia, in 1966, became the
first operational community college in Tennessee,Cleveland and .Jackson opened in 1967.
Dyersburg and Tullahoma provided sites for the next two opened in 1969. Walters State
Community College, located in Morristown, was the sixth such college. Its opening date was
September, 1970.
In 1969, the General Assembly authorized three more community colleges:
. Roane State in Harriman,. Volunteer State in Gallatin, and Shelby State in Memphis. The
nine community colleges and the regional universities were under jurisdiction of the State
Board of Education. Chapter 838 of the Public Acts of 1972 authorized establishment of the
State University and Community College System of Tennessee, today known as the Tennessee
Board of Regents System. The elements of the System include the state universities and
state community colleges which had been under the State Board of Education, the Board of
Regents, and the Chancellor. The new system of governance became effective on July 1,
1972.. Chattanooga State Technical Community College, the lOth community college, was
added to the community college system in 1973 Since that time, the state's technical
institutes have been upgraded to community college status and the addition of 26 area
technology centers has made the Tennessee Board of Regents System the seventh largest
system of higher education in the nation. The Tennessee Board of Regents and the Board of
Trustees of The University of Tennessee System are coordinated by the Tennessee Higher
Education Commission.
This sixth community college, Walters State Community College, was named
for former . U.S. Senator Herbert S. Walters who played a key role in the establishment of
a community college in Morristown. In 1970 the campus of Walters State was under
construction and temporary quarters were used during the first year of operation. The
College Center Building was completed in the fall of 1971. The next major addition to the
campus was the Career Technology Building which was completed in the winter quarter of
1975. The Life Sciences Building, completed in December 1979, was essential to provide
needed classroom and faculty offices for a rapidly growing student body. In the summer of
1979 the construction of the Humanities Complex began. The project was completed in the
fall of 1980. In December of 1979, the college added the plant operations building to the
physical facilities inventory to handle the functions of maintenance and repair. In 1994
the college began construction of its Campus Development Phase 11 master plan which will
include a new library, math/science building, public safety center, and administration
building. The new library opened in May of 1997. The college's new agribusiness expo
center is in the fourth year of operation.
Walters State received accreditation by the Southern Association of
Colleges in 1972 and, after completion of an effective institutional Self-Study program,
received reaffirmation of accreditation in 1976. Extensive institutional Self-Studies were
completed during 1985-87 and 1995-97. Subsequent to the successful Self Studies, Walters
State received reaffirmation of accreditation in December 1987 and in December
1997.
