About UT Martin
Our History
The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) was founded in 1927 as the University of Tennessee Junior College. It became the University of Tennessee, Martin Branch, in 1951 and adopted its present name in 1967.
27 years prior to the founding of UT Martin, the Tennessee Baptist Convention opened a school on what was then the outskirts of Martin, Tennessee. Originally the Hall-Moody Institute, this school would later become the Hall-Moody Normal School, and then the Hall-Moody Junior College, before consolidating with Union University in Jackson, TN, in 1927. Before the closure of Hall-Moody could leave an educational void, the campus was publicly acquired and added to the University of Tennessee system.
In 1961, UT Martin was the first campus in the University of Tennessee system to begin racially desegregating its undergraduate classes.
UT Martin Today
Today, UT Martin is one of the four primary campuses of the University of Tennessee system, along with UT in Knoxville, UTC in Chattanooga, and UT Southern in Pulaski. UT Martin has regional centers in cities throughout the West Tennessee region: Jackson, Parsons, Ripley, Selmer, and Somerville. UT Martin offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees, and it remains the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis.