East Tennessee State University (abbreviated ETSU) was founded on October 21911. It is an accredited American university located in Johnson City, Tennessee and is operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. ETSU has small off-campus centers in nearby Kingsport, Bristol, and Greeneville Tennessee.

ETSU began as a normal school to educate teachers and was subsequently expanded into a college with a large range of liberal arts offerings. East Tennessee State formally became a college in 1925 when it became East Tennessee State Teachers College. In 1943, the school became known as East Tennessee State College before if officially became a university in 1963.

Graduate programs include a fully accredited medical school, the Quillen College of Medicine, named in honor of U.S. Congressman James H. Quillen who successfully fought for its creation in the 1970s. In 2005 a College of Pharmacy was approved which will further augment the medical specialties at ETSU. Classes in the ETSU College of Pharmacy will begin in January ^*. Students commonly refer to the school as "Pride U," a nickname taken from the ETSU Foundation's annual "ETSU Pride" fund-raising campaign. The nickname was used repeatedly by the East Tennessean, the campus paper, in the late 1990s. Today, the phrase "PrideU" is rarley, if ever, used by students.

ETSU has been increasingly noted for its Appalachian Studies programs and features a nationally acclaimed and accredited program in Bluegrass and Country Music. Recording star Kenny Chesney, 2004 Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, graduated from the school, but holds a degree from the Mass Communications program. Another notable ETSU attendee is Timothy Busfield, known for his Emmy Award-winning role on the popular 1980s TV series thirtysomething. Busfield attended ETSU for a short while, but did not graduate. He starred in a series of advertisements for the school in the late 1980s.

Athletic teams, nicknamed the Buccaneers, compete in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. The 2005 move from the Southern Conference was an indirect result of ETSU's decision to drop football after the 2003 season. This left the campus' largest building, the "Mini Dome", an indoor arena which had previously been one of the few on-campus indoor venues for college football in the U.S., deprived of what was its originally-designed primary function, although the building remains ready to host (and frequently does) other events, including many which could not be housed in an indoor setting on most college campuses.

Concerts

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In fall 2005, the Student Government Association sponsored a concert in which rapper Ludacris preformed at the Homecoming concert at a price of $80,0000. In spring 2006, the Goo Goo Dolls preformed with a price tag of $100,000. *^*

Points of interest

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• East Tennessee State University Arboretum

External links

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• http://www.etsu.edu
• http://www.etsubucs.com
• http://johnsonsdepot.com/normal/normal.htm

Fraternities

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• Kappa Sigma - Lambda Beta

Sororities

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• Alpha Delta Pi
• Alpha Xi Delta
• Kappa Delta
• Sigma Kappa

Universities and colleges in Tennessee | Washington County, Tennessee