Education

Edward L. Ayers (Knoxville ’74) is president of the University of Richmond (Va.). From 2001 until 2007, Ayers was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia. In 2003, he was the U.S. professor of the year. Ayers has written or edited nine books, one of which was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a Civil War scholar.

James McGill Buchanan (Knoxville ’41) won the Nobel Prize in 1986 for his theory of public choice in politics and economics. He is advisory general director of the Center for Study of Public Choice and professor emeritus at George Mason University. He is the author of numerous books and is a fellow of the American Economic Association.
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Cleveland Leon Dennard (Knoxville ’64) was president of Atlanta University from 1977 to 1983, and president of the Technological Institute of Washington from 1976 to 1977. He was chief operating officer of the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change and was the 1972 Washingtonian of the Year. (deceased)

Burgin Estel Dossett (Knoxville ’22) was president of East Tennessee State University from 1949 to 1968. (deceased)

Full image Donald R. Eastman III (Knoxville ’68) became president of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2001. Prior to that he was a vice president at the University of Georgia. Learn More

Emerson H. “Eli” Fly (Knoxville ’61), was president of UT from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, he began serving as the first president of the University of Tennessee Foundation. He is a former president of the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers.

James D. Hoskins was UT’s 14th president. He earned UT degrees in 1891, 1893, and 1897.

Thomas W. Humes became president of East Tennessee University in 1865. During his term, in 1879, the legislature changed the institution’s name to the University of Tennessee. He resigned the presidency in 1883. Humes was an 1830 graduate of East Tennessee College, the forerunner of East Tennessee University and UT. (deceased)

Full image I. King Jordan Jr. (Knoxville ’71, ’73) retired as president of Gallaudet University at the end of 2006. He was the first deaf president of Gallaudet, a university for the deaf and hard-of-hearing located in Washington, D.C.

Edward C. Merrill Jr. (Knoxville ’48) was the fourth president of Gallaudet University. He served from 1969 to 1983. Merrill was dean of the UT College of Education at Knoxville from 1961 to 1969. (deceased)

Arliss Lloyd Roaden (Knoxville ’58, ’61) was president of Tennessee Technological University from 1974 to 1985. He also was executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

James Zwingle (Knoxville ’29, ’32) was president of Park College (Missouri) from 1947 to 1955. He later was a vice president at Cornell University and president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. (deceased)

Full image Edward J. Boling (Knoxville ’48, ’50) was president of the University of Tennessee from 1970 to 1988. He is a former Tennessee commissioner of finance and administration.

Landrum R. Bolling, (Knoxville ’33) was president of Earlham College, the Lilly Endowment, and the Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. He also was a senior fellow of the Center for International Policy.

Dr. Earl D. Brooks (’77) became president of Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, in 2000.

William D. Carnes, an 1842 graduate of East Tennessee University (UT’s predecessor), was UT president from 1858 to 1860. (deceased)

Lawrence G. Derthick (Knoxville ’30) was U.S. commissioner of education from 1956 to 1961. (deceased)

Full image Nathan W. Dougherty (Knoxville ’09) was dean of the UT College of Engineering at Knoxville from 1940 to 1956 and chairman of the UT Athletic Council from 1917 to 1956. He was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Archie Reece Dykes (Knoxville ’59) was chancellor of the University of Kansas from 1973 to 1980, chancellor of UT Knoxville from 1971 to 1973, and chancellor of UT Martin from 1967 to 1971. After leaving the University of Kansas, he was president and CEO of Security Benefit Life Insurance Co. in Topeka, Kansas.

Full image Sherry L. Hoppe became president of Austin Peay (Tenn.) State University in 2001. She holds the master’s degree from UT Chattanooga and the doctorate in educational administration from UT Knoxville. Learn More

David Bancroft Johnson earned degrees from UT in Knoxville in 1877 and 1880. He founded Winthrop University (South Carolina) and was president of the National Education Association from 1915 to 1916. (deceased)

Full image Joseph E. Johnson (Knoxville ’58, ’68) was president of the University of Tennessee from 1991 to 1999. In 2003-2004 he returned as interim president.

Yan-Hwa Wu Lee (Knoxville ’76) is president of National Yang-Ming University in Tapei, Taiwan.

Seymour Allen Mynders (Knoxville 1880) was the first president of West Tennessee State Normal College (University of Memphis). (deceased)

Full image Shirley C. Raines (Martin ’67, Knoxville ’72) is the first woman president of the University of Memphis. She became president in 2001. Previously she was a vice chancellor and dean of education at the University of Kentucky. Learn More

Charles E. Smith (Knoxville ’61) was chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee commissioner of education. He was editor of the Nashville Banner from 1979 to 1980.