The University of Tennessee Southern (UT Southern or UTS) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

Pulaski, Tennessee Pulaski is a city in and the county seat of Giles County, which is located on the central-southern border of Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,397 at the 2020 census. It was named after Casimir Pulaski, a noted Polish-born general o ...

, United States. Founded in 1870, it was a private institution for over 150 years until joining the University of Tennessee System in 2021. It was renamed and became the first new primary campus in the University of Tennessee System in over 50 years. The name University of Tennessee Southern was chosen because the campus serves the 13 counties of southern

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

History

UT Southern was originally founded as Martin Methodist College in 1870. The college was named for Thomas Martin, former mayor of Pulaski, who left in his will an endowment of $30,000 to establish a college for the education of the white girls and women of Giles County. It is sometimes suggested that Martin did so in fulfilment of a promise to his daughter Victoria, who died at the age of twenty. In 1938, the college became coeducational. Originally founded as a whites-only institution, in 1966 it became racially integrated. The college was originally named Martin Female College until 1908, when its name was changed to Martin College. Then, in April 1986, it became Martin Methodist College after becoming a private institution affiliated with the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

. In July 2021, the campus was purchased by the University of Tennessee System and was converted to a public four-year institution. Grissom Colonial Hall

Athletics

The UT Southern athletic teams are called the Firehawks (previously they were known as the RedHawks before the UT system merger). The university is a member of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA), primarily competing in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) on its second stint since the 2023–24 academic year. The Firehawks had previously competed as members of the SSAC on its first tenure from 2013–14 to 2019–20, until briefly joining the

Mid-South Conference The Mid-South Conference (MSC) is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Kentuc ...

(MSC) from 2020–21 to 2022–23. They also competed in the (now defunct) TranSouth Athletic Conference (TSAC) from 1996–97 to 2012–13, and in the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference (TCAC) from 1986–87 to 1995–96. UT Southern competes in 19 intercollegiate varsity teams: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, and track and field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Competitive cheerleading and competitive clay target shooting are offered as a co-ed sports. Former sports included men's and women's bowling. Athletic teams at UT Southern have won 12 national championships: * Men's Soccer – NAIA National Champions (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) * Women's Soccer – Three-time NAIA National Champions (

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

). * Competitive Cheer – NAIA National Invitational Tournament Champions (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) * Clay Target Team –

SCTP The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a computer networking communications protocol in the transport layer of the Internet protocol suite. Originally intended for Signaling System 7 (SS7) message transport in telecommunication, the ...

Champions (2016-2020) and ACUI Champions (2021, 2022)

Notable alumni

* John Andrews (2008), former professional soccer player from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and current manager of

Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur (, ) , commonly referred to as Víkingur Reykjavík (to distinguish them from Víkingur Ólafsvík) and internationally known as Vikingur F.C., is a professional Icelandic sports club based in the Fossvogur neighb ...

* Chike Augustine (2019), professional basketball player from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

* Ross Bass (1938), member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from Tennessee * Tenywa Bonseu (1998), former professional soccer player from

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

* Adam Darragh (2002), former professional basketball player from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

* James Justice, Jr. (2012), former professional basketball player * Jennifer Muñoz (2016), former professional soccer player representing

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

* John Ogiltree (2000), former professional baseball player from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and Olympian for Team Canada * Fabiola Sánchez (2016), former professional soccer player from

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

* Hanit Schwartz (2012), former professional soccer player from

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

* Mariah Shade (2011), former professional soccer player from

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{Authority control Public universities and colleges in Tennessee Universities and colleges established in 1870 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Education in Giles County, Tennessee Buildings and structures in Giles County, Tennessee Tennessee Southern 1870 establishments in Tennessee Southern