Walters State Community College serves Cocke County

Walters State, as a premier community college, is committed to increasing educational attainment and workforce preparedness through excellence in teaching and service.

The Morristown-based community college offers post-secondary educational opportunities to many of Cocke County’s students with classes at the Morristown campus, and at the Tanner Building in Newport.

Dr. Tony Miksa currently serves at Walters State Community College President.

The college opened in 1970 and has played a major role in educating many East Tennesseans. After Walters State Community College was authorized by the 1967 General Assembly, Hamblen County was chosen by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission as a location.

The Tennessee State Board of Education then chose a campus site located on the southeastern edge of the city of Morristown, two miles from the Hamblen County Courthouse. This main campus includes 134 acres of beautiful rolling land that faces east with access roads from the Appalachian Highway. This highway is the connecting link between Interstate 75 in Kentucky and Interstates 81 and 40 into North Carolina and Virginia. The college also occupies modern education facilities in Newport, Greeneville, Sevierville and Tazewell.

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 10th 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 27 colleges of applied technology has made the Tennessee Board of Regents System the sixth 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. It was renamed the Dr. Jack E. Campbell College Center in 2005.

The next major addition to the campus was the Career Technology Building which was completed in the winter quarter of 1975. The Career Technology Building was expanded and renovated in 1987 and the new facility was renamed the Technical Education Building. In 2001, this building was renamed the Clifford H. “Bo” Henry Center for Business and Technology.

SEE WALTERS ON PAGE 68