Южная адвентистская университет в Колледжейле

Private university in Collegedale Tennessee, US

Southern Adventist University is a private Seventh day Adventist university in Collegedale, Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Southern Union Conference of Seventh day Adventists. It was founded in 1892 in Graysville, Tennessee, as Graysville Academy and was the first Adventist school in the southern U. S. Due to the need for additional space for expansion the school relocated in 1916 and was renamed Southern Junior College. In 1944, Southern began awarding baccalaureate degrees and was renamed Southern Missionary College. In 1996 the institution started conferring master's degrees and adopted its current name. Southern offers associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. and is considered the most conservative of the Seventh day Adventist schools in North America. The college operates a radio station (WSMC FM), a health food store and a wellness center. Enrollment was 3,053 students in 2010, its highest level to date.

Southern's roots stem from the establishment of Graysville Academy in Graysville, Tennessee, in 1892, in a part of the South much affected by the American Civil War. The area saw the battle of Chickamauga and the Chattanooga campaign, and was the staging ground for Sherman's Atlanta campaign. The academy was privately funded at first, with no financial support from the Adventist church. In 1897 it was renamed the Southern Industrial School and then Southern Training School in 1901. The school moved to the community of Thatcher's Switch in 1916, renaming it Collegedale. In 1943, Kenneth A. Wright became president of the school. During Wright's administration, Southern Junior College became accredited as a four year college. A new name, Southern Missionary College, was adopted in 1944, and Southern granted its first baccalaureate degrees two years later. When the school became a university in 1996, the trustees voted on a new name: Southern Adventist University.

The Graysville Seventh day Adventist Church was organized on September 8, 1888, and by the fall of 1890, the members had dedicated a church building. R. M. Kilgore, former president of the Illinois Conference had been asked to supervise the church's work in the Southern United States. He had just moved to Graysville and was present for the church dedication. As the superintendent for the church's work in the South, Kilgore repeatedly advocated the establishment of a school. Kilgore invited George W. Colcord (1843–1902), to come to Graysville and establish a school. Colcord was the founder of Milton Academy, which is the forerunner of Walla Walla University. The General Conference Education Secretary, W. W. Prescott, along with Kilgore and Colcord worked together to establish the school at Graysville. Colcord and his wife Ada began the school. The first term began in February, 1892, with 23 students. The second term began in September of that year. By January 1893 Colcord reported that 62 students were in attendance. By 1893 there were three full time teachers and three part time teachers. Prescott considered the positive attitude of the school's faculty, students and supporters to be indicators of the school's future success and good reason to start other such schools in the South. During 1892, Colcord operated the school privately. Then, at the session of the Seventh day Adventist General Conference held at Battle Creek, Michigan, February 17 to March 6, 1893, the church officially took over the school. This first school in the South inspired the session to recommend that other schools also be established. In the Fall of 1894, Graysville Academy faced a crisis. Fourteen of the members of the Graysville Church were indicted for having violated the Tennessee Sunday law. This included Colcord, his nephew, I. C. Colcord, and M. C. Sturdevant, manager of the boys' dormitory. The church members found guilty refused to pay the fines, choosing to go to prison instead. The imprisonment of the school's leaders resulted in its immediate closing for the rest of the year. The students, some of whom were ready to graduate, returned to their homes.

In November 1897, the district conference voted to change the school's name to Southern Industrial School. The name change reflected a change in the school's emphasis. Industries were established including a wagon and blacksmith shop, a broom shop, a printshop and a school farm. The farm grew peaches, pears and many types of berries and vegetables.

The Southern Union Conference was organized in April 1901. Kilgore, the superintendent of the Southern District, known as District 2, was elected the first president of the Southern Union Conference. The headquarters was in Graysville. The General Conference arranged for the Southern Union to take over the operation of the Southern Industrial School. The property was transferred to the Southern Union. They renamed the school the Southern Training School. It offered 14 grades of instruction.

Eventually the Graysville school outgrew its site. Church leaders looked for a larger plot of land. They believed "that the only education worth while in these strenuous days is that practical kind which teaches the student to actually do with his hand the things he learns about in books." > To provide for this practical concern, they found a larger property. Plans were made to relocate the college program to a farm at Thatcher's Switch east of Chattanooga. The move from Graysville to Thatcher's Switch involved moving most of the school's equipment, livestock, and implements to the new site fifty miles away. The school moved and opened in its new location by October, 1916. The community was soon renamed Collegedale and the school as Southern Junior College. The term training school had become associated with reform schools while at the same time the junior college designation had become a popular one. Graysville Academy continued on at the original site as a church and conference sponsored secondary boarding academy until 1938.

In 1916, the school's property holdings totaled $32,000. Two years later, due mainly to the construction of additional buildings on campus, the school's holdings increased to $113,000. Many students earned their tuition by helping to construct these buildings. Southern was financially supported by two union conferences of the Church's North American administration. The school organized construction bees. Interested church members came from across the South to help in these bees. At first, the school taught only students in grades 1–12 with a total enrollment of 59 students. In 1918, three students were taking post high school level classes. The total student enrollment at this time was 175. Southern Junior College served two union conferences of Seventh day Adventists, the Southern and the Southeastern. Later these two would be reorganized into one, the Southern Union Conference. In 1920, Lynn H. Wood, the president of the college, presented a major report to meetings for both union conferences. He reviewed the events of the first four years at the Ooltewah location.

On July 1, 1982, the word "Missionary" was dropped from the school's name. The reported reasons for the change were that the general population reacted negatively to the term; foreign countries resisted accepting church workers who were from a "missionary" college; the name incorrectly identified the school as only a Bible college, rather than a fully accredited, four year liberal arts institution; and, graduates found the name "missionary" made it more difficult for them to get a job. Southern was the last Adventist college in North America to retain "missionary" in its title. The others changed their names many years earlier. In their official announcement of the name change, the Board of Trustees of Southern Missionary College explained that a shorter name would help popularize it. They also stated that, "The word 'Southern' has been associated with the College since its beginning—Southern Industrial School, Southern Training School, Southern Junior College, Southern Missionary College, and now Southern College."

Southern College found itself drawn into a wider church controversies involving Desmond Ford who was dismissed from ministry in the Adventist church in 1980, and Walter Rae, and Ronald Numbers' book, The Prophetess of Health. It began after a visit to the campus by a leading Bible scholar and theologian of the Seventh day Adventist Church, Edward Heppenstall, on his understanding of the church's "investigative judgment" teaching, and who was also mentor to Desmond Ford. Then grew when a teacher from the theology department made a comment that seemed to disagree with statements made by church pioneer Ellen G. White. The incident along with other concerns led to accusations that faculty at the school did not believe in White as a prophet and led to calls for their dismissal.

In May 1996, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools granted approval for Southern to become an accredited Level III institution, allowing the school to confer master's degrees. By September of that year, the college's constituency approved the name change to Southern Adventist University. In 1996, attendance was 1600. Since 1996, Southern has continued to grow and build, reaching a peak enrollment of 3,053 in 2010 (compared with 2,079 in 1980). There is a campus wide internet network with all classrooms accessing the wireless network and a computer lab in each building with access to printing. Wireless printing is also accessible in the dormitories.

Southern's dormitories are single gender although students can opt out of the dormitories during summer sessions or with permission from a dean. Upperclass and married students can receive exemptions from this policy. The men's dormitory is Talge Hall and the women's dormitory is Thatcher Hall. An accidental fire in Thatcher Hall in April 2005 killed one student and injured two others. The dormitories have also been used to shelter storm victims who needed short term housing, such as after tornadoes in early 2011.

Southern owns and operates FM radio station WSMC which is almost completely staffed by students and the only classical music station in the Chattanooga area. In 2003, following technical problems that caused the station to keep dropping off the air, WSMC upgraded equipment to improve its reliability. It has been in operation since 1961 and is located on campus.

McKee Foods has its headquarters beside the campus and has been an important part of school history as one of the companies which have provided jobs within walking distance for students to fund their education. It was founded by a Southern alumnus and is the headquarters for Little Debbie, Sovex and Sunbelt products. McKee Foods is one of the largest employers in Hamilton County.