Knoxville College, a historically Black institution of higher education, has appointed Rotesha Harris as its president. Her goal, the college wrote in a news release, is to regain the accreditation it lost decades ago.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Harris at the helm during this transformative time,” said Eric Barnes, Knoxville College Board of Trustees chairman. “Her unmatched skill set, dedication to academic excellence, and strong work ethic make her the perfect leader to usher Knoxville College into its next chapter of growth and achievement.”
The college said in a news release she has a “nearly two decades of distinguished experience in higher education.” The news release did not detail Harris’ background, but she submitted a dissertation in May 2023 as part of her doctoral studies in education at Clark Atlanta University about how historically Black universities and colleges weathered the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Knoxville College President Leonard Adams served as interim president in 2021 before taking on the presidency in 2022. Adams resigned in June. Harris has been serving as interim president.
Knoxville College is an unaccredited institution in the Mechanicsville neighborhood, near downtown Knoxville. After struggling for decades with debt, loss of accreditation, low enrollment and aging buildings, the college now offers online classes only to a handful of students. The campus is vacant. Several of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the 126-year-old Elnathan Hall, which was destroyed in a fire on Nov. 4.
Knoxville College is East Tennessee’s only HBCU and has played an important role in education in the Southeast.
A decade after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the U.S., two representatives of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in North America arrived in Knoxville, the Daily Press and Herald reported in 1875. The church’s goal was to start a “normal school,” a term for schools that trained teachers. Specifically, the Presbyterian founders aimed to train formerly enslaved people for careers as teachers. Bids for the work to construct the school opened that same year.
Centennial Hall was dedicated in 1876, the Knoxville Daily Tribune reported that year, at what was then called Knoxville Freedmen’s College.
In more recent times, the college has fallen into debt and disrepair. The school lost its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation in 1997 due to a combination of financial difficulties, declining enrollment and administrative challenges.
In 2015, the college suspended classes when it lost state accreditation as well. Knoxville College began to offer online classes in 2018.
