HISTORY
AND TRADITIONS
| History
and Traditions. Tennessee Technological University
is supported by the state of Tennessee and is governed by the Tennessee
Board of Regents. Established in 1915 by the Tennessee General Assembly,
Tennessee Polytechnic Institute was formally opened as a junior college
on September 14, 1916. The buildings and grounds of Dixie College,
a private school, were purchased, and two new dormitories were built
with funds provided by Putnam County and the city of Cookeville.
Additional course work was added in 1924 and 1928, and the first
four-year degrees were awarded in 1929. Full accreditation by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools was attained
on March 31, 1939. In 1948, the instructional program was expanded
and organized into five schools: Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and
Home Economics, Business Administration, Education, and Engineering. In 1950, TTU added the Department of Military Science, and in 1951
commissioned the first class of eleven officers. Since that time
TTU has commissioned over fifteen hundred officers for service in
the U.S. Army, the U.S. Reserve, and the Army National Guard. Many
of these have served with great distinction in positions of national
importance. In 1958, the program grew to include the Graduate School offering
the Master of Arts degree in Education, and in 1964 the Master
of Science degree in Engineering was added. The Specialist in Education
degree was authorized in 1970, the Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering
in 1971, the Master of Business Administration in 1976, the Doctor
of Philosophy in Environmental Sciences in 1997, and the Doctor
of
Philosophy in Exceptional Learning in 2000. The University granted
its first three Master’s degrees in August 1959. On July 1, 1965, by action of the 84th General Assembly, the name
of the institution was changed to Tennessee Technological University. In 1980, the School of Nursing began offering a B.S. degree, and
the Joe L. Evins Appalachian Center for Crafts began offering a
baccalaureate degree. In 1986, the English department began offering
the B.S. degree
in Technical Communications, the only degree of its kind in the
state at that time. In Fall 1997, a B.S. degree in World Cultures
and Business
was implemented and the B.S. degree in Computer Engineering was
added in 1998. The School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Extended
Education
was added in 2001 to develop and implement new baccalaureate degrees
in the rapidly developing areas of business and technology. TTU
was the first Tennessee Board of Regents’ school to graduate
a student with the degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. Tech’s multipurpose instructional program, in an age of emphasis
on scientific and engineering training, has increasingly attracted
students from Tennessee, many other states, and a number of foreign
countries. The school colors, purple and gold, were suggested by the beauty
of the purple flowers of the iron plant and the golden blossoms of
the goldenrod which adorned the roadside and fields of the Cookeville
area when Tech first opened. The colors became symbolic of the motto, “In
education there is strength and value.” Tech’s athletic teams did not have a name or symbol until
1925, when the Athletic Association selected “Golden Eagle” from
suggestions submitted by students to the campus newspaper. The name
of the student yearbook was changed from Tech Dynamo to The Eagle;
pictures of the eagle soon were used on other publications. The Golden Eagle, which sits on the tower atop Derryberry Hall today,
first appeared on the campus during the 1952-53 school year, when
a group of students “borrowed” it from a Monteagle motel
for a pre-game rally. At the request of Governor Frank G. Clement,
the owner, John W. Harton, gave the eagle to Tech on June 5, 1958.
It is a constant reminder of Tech spirit. The eagle received its
golden finish in 1961, when it was placed in its present location. The late Mrs. Joan Derryberry, concert pianist, former instructor
of music at Tech and wife of a past president of the University,
composed the “Tennessee Tech Hymn,” which was first presented
to the public on the commencement program in 1943. The hymn was adopted
by the Associated Student Body, the Alumni Association and the faculty
as the official college hymn. In 1949 a ring was designed which incorporated the Golden Eagle,
first used by the class of 1929. By action of the Student Council
of the Associated Student Body, the Administrative Council, the
Tech Alumni Association and the faculty, this design was accepted
as Tennessee
Tech’s official class ring. Appropriate revisions were made
in the design of the ring when the institution achieved university
status in 1965. |
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