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Southern Adventist University is a liberal arts university located in Collegedale, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
History
Southern's roots stem from the establishment of Graysville Academy in Graysville, Tennessee, in 1892. The school moved to the community of Thatcher's Switch in 1916, renaming it Collegedale.
In 1942, Kenneth A. Wright became president of the school. During Wright's administration, Southern Junior College became accredited as a four-year institution. A new name, Southern Missionary College, was adopted in 1944. Two men and four women received Southern's first baccalaureate degrees two years later.
Renamed Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists in 1982, the school became a university in 1996. On September 9, 1996, trustees voted on a new name: Southern Adventist University.
In mid-1997 Gordon Bietz became president of Southern Adventist University. Academic expansion has continued, with 10 graduate degrees now offered in business, education, psychology, nursing, computing, and religion. Fifty baccalaureate degrees are offered, 20 associate degrees, 38 minors, and two one-year certificate programs.
In the fall of 2005, undergraduate enrollment reached a record high in the school's 113-year history with 2,390 students pursuing their undergraduate degrees and 132 students studying for their graduate degrees. Southern is the largest undergraduate institution in the Seventh-day Adventist North American Division.
April 2005 fire
On the morning of April 26, 2005, a fire broke out in the Thatcher Hall Dormitory. One student died and two others were injured. Though the fire has been ruled an accident, the cause has yet to be determined. The area of the building in which the fire occurred was not equipped with fire sprinklers, though smoke detectors and fire alarms were in place and functioned properly.* (It should be noted that when fire sprinklers became mandatory the buildings predating this mandate were not required to be retrofitted with them provided that smoke detectors and fire alarms were in place and functional.) Sprinklers, as well as other fire safety measures that go well beyond what is required, have been installed in Thatcher Hall.Names
Southern has had many names since its founding.- 1892: Graysville Academy
- 1897: Southern Industrial School
- 1901: Southern Training School
- 1916: Southern Junior College
- (Alumni from this period are known as So-Ju-Conians.)
- 1944: Southern Missionary College (SMC)
- (Alumni from this period are known as SMC-ites).
- 1982: Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists
- 1996: Southern Adventist University
References
See also
External links
- Official website
- SAUwiki is a wiki for Southern run by students
- WSMC-FM is the radio station owned and operated by Southern Adventist University
Universities and colleges in Tennessee | Universities and colleges affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church
"Southern Adventist University"