The University of Tennessee-Martin

its first quarter-century. During the hard times of the Great Depression, with tight state budgets and slow-growing enrollment that by 1933 had only increased slightly to 137 students, Tennessee slashed its annual budget by half to $36,000. Support from UT acting president James Hoskins kept UT Martin alive but could not save chief executive Porter Claxton's position.
Though enrollment had surpassed 400 students by 1937, many college-age males enlisted in World War II a few years later. Executive officer Paul Meek repurposed a 1940 program training Army Air Corps pilots into a program training naval air cadets. Each cadet brought nine times as much income to UT Martin as a civilian student.
A post-war influx of returning servicemen and the G.I. Bill ushered in rapid growth both in enrollment and educational offerings. In 1951, with the addition of four-year fields of study leading to a bachelor's degree, it was redesignated the University of Tennessee Martin Branch (UTMB).
In 1961, UTMB was the first campus in …