Description
This collection of essays relates the story of the dynamic growth of Tennessee’s largest undergraduate institution, Middle Tennessee State University. Founded in1911 as a Normal School for teacher preparation, MTSU has gone through several incarnations in the last hundred years. Not so much a chronological history as an exploration of the institution’s intriguing past, the book is divided into four sections. The first essays showcase the school’s founding, the growth of its architectural landscape, the changing campus culture for women, and the often contentious identity search, influenced by the image of Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest. The second section begins with student life in the 1930s, then details the history of campus athletics, and finally looks at MTSU during the turbulent year 1968. The third section opens with English professor Philip Mankin’s firing that became a cause célèbre, continues with an essay about the growth of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at MTSU, and finishes with the impact of the Geier decision, an attempt to bring racial balance to Tennessee universities. The final section examines the pilot training program in the 1940s and the University Honors College. Taken as a whole, these essays promise to entertain and enlighten not only members of the MTSU family but also those seeking to learn about this fine school located in the heart of Tennessee.