Location: Jackson, Tennessee (area population: 100,000), 80 miles east
of Memphis and 120 miles west of Nashville. Forbes Magazine recently
ranked Jackson as one of America’s top 150 cities for business and careers.
Student Body: About 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 40 states and 35 countries.
Student to Faculty Ratio: 12:1.
Percentage of Faculty with Highest Possible Degree in Field: 83%
Emphasis: A private, four-year, coeducational liberal arts-based university offering bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees.
History: Founded in 1823, Union is the oldest institution affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Technology: Each residence apartment is equipped with Internet and cable. In addition, wireless network access is available in residence commons areas, as well as in each academic building and the Student Union Building. Students are provided with filtered Internet access, a Union email account, and private file storage space.
Activities: More than 50 major student-produced music and theatre events each academic year; 70 campus clubs, societies, fraternities, sororities and other organizations; Cardinal & Cream student newspaper and The Torch, a literary journal.
Campus: Union University’s main campus in Jackson and its extension campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville cover 360 acres. The wooded Jackson campus features pine groves, sycamores, a variety of oaks including Shumardi oaks lining the great lawn, elm, dogwoods, sweet gums and cherry trees.
There are more than 40 major buildings and excellent athletic facilities. Roughly $90 million in new campus construction has been completed during the past decade, including several new Georgian-Colonial classroom buildings that support state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities. Most of Union’s on campus housing was constructed in 2008. Student-suggested design features were incorporated in each new building; all residence buildings include a private bedroom for each student.
The campus is situated along the U.S. 45 bypass in north Jackson, and is within a five-minute drive of Jackson’s largest concentration of retail establishments and restaurants.
Campus Visits: Visit our campus anytime to meet with faculty or visit a class. You are also invited to join us for a Union Preview Day. This year’s Preview Days schedule is found at http://www.uu.edu/campusvisits or call 1.800.33.UNION. Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., first and third Saturdays of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Current Programs of Study
Communication Arts
Language
Nursing
PsychologyUnion University traces its roots to three antebellum Tennessee schools-West Tennessee College and its predecessor, Jackson Male Academy, both located at Jackson, and of Union University, located at Murfreesboro. Union is currently the oldest school affiliated with Southern Baptist life.
West Tennessee College originated in the mid-1840s when supporters of the Academy secured a charter for a college and received an endowment from the state to come from the sale of public lands. West Tennessee College continued until 1874, when at a time of depressed economic conditions, the trustees offered the College's buildings, grounds, and endowment to Tennessee Baptists in the hopes of attracting a southwestern regional university planned by the state's Baptist leaders.
Southwestern Baptist University, the immediate predecessor of the present Union University, originated because of a desire by Tennessee Baptists for greater unification.
In 1907, Dr. T. T. Eaton, a trustee at Southwestern from its beginning, bequeathed his 6,000 volume library to the college. He was a former professor at Union University at Murfreesboro, where his father, Dr. Joseph H. Eaton, had been president. Shortly thereafter the name of Southwestern Baptist University was changed to Union University to honor the Eatons and others from Union at Murfreesboro.
Because of an aging and landlocked campus, Union University moved in 1975 from near downtown Jackson to a new campus north of the city along Highway 45 Bypass.
During the administrations of President Robert Craig (1967-85) and President Hyran Barefoot (1987-1996), enrollment increased from less than 1,000 students to more than 2,000; the multi-purpose Penick Academic Complex was enlarged several times; many additional housing units were erected; and the Blasingame Academic Complex (1986) and the Hyran E. Barefoot Student Union Building (1994) were completed.
When David S. Dockery was elected as the fifteenth president of Union University in December 1995, he introduced a compelling vision to build on a great tradition while taking Union to the next level of regional and national prominence in Christian higher education.
The progress that has been made during this time has been remarkable: fall enrollment increased from 1972 (in 1996) to 4050 (in 2009). During that time, Union also received 17 of the largest gifts in its history.
Union started an extension program in the Memphis suburb of Germantown in 1997. Enrollment on the Germantown campus is now nearly 900 students. Classes began at an extension campus in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville in 2008.
In the past decade, more than $90 million in improvements to the Jackson campus have been completed, including 19 residence halls, the Miller Tower, Jennings Hall, Hammons Hall, Fesmire indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, White Hall, and the Carl Grant Events Center.
Undergraduate majors have been added in political science, physics, theology, digital media studies, church history, ethics, sports management, sports medicine, engineering. There are new graduate programs in education (M.Ed., Ed.S., and Ed.D.), nursing (MSN with tracks in education, administration, nurse practitioner, and nurse anesthesia), intercultural studies (MAIS), social work (MSW), and pharmacy (Pharm.D.). Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) programs.
Union has achieved national recognitions, including a Top Tier ranking from U.S.News & World Report each year since 1997. In 2009, that publication named Union one of 77 national "Universities to Watch" and one of only 80 national schools "where the faculty has an unusual commitment to undergraduate teaching."
Union University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033-4097, Telephone 404.679.4501) to award baccalaureate, masters, education specialist, and doctoral degrees.
Discipline Specific Accreditations:
Affiliations:
Varsity Sports
Recently offered intramural sports
