Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog & Student Handbook 
    
2022-2023 Catalog & Student Handbook Archived Catalog

About Motlow


About Motlow

Welcome to Motlow State Community College!

Thank you for choosing Motlow, the top-performing College in Tennessee. Motlow is the best community college in the state, and we are here to assist you in achieving your academic and life goals. We are committed to student success, whether you are preparing to enter the workforce, transferring to a four-year institution, or merely seeking personal growth.

Motlow is a public, multi-campus, student-centered college offering certificates, associate degrees, and flexible learning pathways for early transfer, college preparation, and workforce training. Motlow prepares students for employment, career advancement, and a four-year college or university transfer upon graduation.

The College serves an 11-county service area comprised of full-time, part-time, traditional, non-traditional, and dual-enrollment students from diverse socio-economic populations with disparate educational and cultural backgrounds. It offers high-quality accredited academic programs and various support services emphasizing and promoting student success.

Motlow has five campuses: Moore County, Fayetteville, McMinnville, Smyrna, and Sparta. The College is intentionally inclusive in recruiting faculty, staff, and students and uses best practices and applicable technology to foster access, support, and success across its internal and external stakeholders.

Motlow’s Workforce Innovation team partners with regional industry stakeholders to produce students with in-demand, industry-recognized credentials. Workforce also offers a robust variety of training and professional development courses tailored to meet individual business and industry needs.

Motlow ranks as the #1 top-performing college in Tennessee for the second consecutive year, outperforming its peer institutions in dual enrollment, retention, and three-year graduation rates. With almost 7,000 students, the College set a new enrollment record for Fall 2019.

 

LOCATIONS

MOORE COUNTY – 6015 Ledford Mill Road, Tullahoma, TN 37388

The original, central campus of Motlow State is located on 187 acres of beautifully wooded land in Moore County. It is approximately five miles from Tullahoma via State Route 55 or State Route 130, about eight miles from Lynchburg via State Route 55, and about 12 miles from Shelbyville via State Route 130. Other locations include:

 

FAYETTEVILLE CENTER – 1802 Winchester Highway; P.O. Box 618, Fayetteville, TN 37334

A new 14,000-square-foot instructional facility opened for classes in the Fall of 1992. Located on a beautiful 20-acre site 2.5 miles east of downtown Fayetteville, the facility concluded an initiative undertaken by Fayetteville-Lincoln County residents in 1988. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) approved Center status for the Fayetteville Site in July 1997. The Don Sundquist Center of Advanced Technologies, completed in August 2001, is adjacent to the Fayetteville Center.

 

MCMINNVILLE CENTER – 225 Cadillac Lane, McMinnville, TN 37110

Motlow completed construction of a 14,000-square-foot instructional facility in McMinnville in the Fall of 1988 and an expanded day and evening program at the facility in 1988–89. An additional 2,992 square feet was completed in the Spring of 1996 to expand the instructional program. THEC approved Center status for the McMinnville campus in 1990.

 

SMYRNA CENTER – 5002 Motlow College Blvd., Smyrna, TN 37167

Motlow began offering evening classes at Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro in 1998 in a continuing effort to fulfill its mission statement. The College expanded its Rutherford County options to include day and evening classes by forming a partnership with the Tennessee Army National Guard and offering all courses at their facility in Smyrna in 2000. The College moved into a new 17,500-square-foot facility at its current location in Fall 2006. Motlow added a 35,000-square-foot addition in 2011. The College opened a third Smyrna building in April 2019. The 82,000-square-foot facility houses general classrooms, chemistry and biology labs, medical labs, staff and faculty offices, and a 300-seat multi-purpose facility.

 

SPARTA SITE – 603 Roosevelt Drive, Sparta, TN 38583

Motlow’s Sparta site opened in Fall 2007 as a partnership between the City of Sparta, White County, the White County Board of Education, and Motlow. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) approved the Sparta site to offer 100 percent of degree programs in Fall 2018, opening the door for Sparta to increase its course offerings. An advisory board was created to explore expansion options for Motlow in Sparta and White County.

 

HISTORY

The Founding of Motlow State Community College

The Motlow family of Lynchburg, Tennessee, donated the original 187-acre site in Moore County. Because of this generous gift and Senator Reagor Motlow’s contributions to education in Tennessee, the governor recommended the College be named Motlow State Community College.

Construction began on the first five buildings of the $2.7 million building project in Moore County, Tennessee, in March 1968. Dr. Sam H. Ingram, former Dean of the School of Education at Middle Tennessee State University, was appointed as the first president of Motlow. Dr. Ingram moved the administrative staff into the Administration building on campus in August 1969, after operating previously at First Baptist Church in Tullahoma.

Other buildings were completed on the campus soon after, and the College opened in September 1969 with 551 students and 18 full-time faculty members. The College offers the two-year Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees and four 2-year career programs.

 

EXPANSION

Moore County

Motlow’s service area expanded in 1983 from seven to 11 counties, and Motlow assumed the lead role in identifying its service area’s educational and training needs. A major campus expansion project was implemented, including the renovation of the student center and the maintenance complex, the construction of a new 280-seat theater/auditorium, instructional support areas for nursing and engineering, and an office complex.

September 1998 launched another expansion with the construction of the new nursing and technology building. The facility houses business, industrial and computer technology, and the nursing education program. The beautiful Clayton-Glass Library opened in January 2008.

 

Fayetteville

The College expanded its evening program in Fayetteville and initiated a day instructional program in Fall 1988 with an initiative by Lincoln County residents to fund a new facility. This effort succeeded with the opening of a 14,000-square-foot building. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) approved center status for the Fayetteville site in 1997. The 32,000-square-foot Don Sundquist Center for Advanced Technologies opened in August 2001.

 

McMinnville

The construction of a 14,000-square-foot instructional facility in McMinnville was completed and opened in Fall 1988. An additional 2,992-square-foot addition opened in Spring 1996. THEC approved center status for the McMinnville site in January 1990. Increased enrollment and academic program offerings led the way for the McMinnville Center addition, opening in Fall 2008.

Academic programs expanded with the addition of the mechatronics certification program in 2008 and the nursing program in 2009. The Automation & Robotics Training Center (ARTC) opened in April 2019 on 4.5 acres adjacent to the McMinnville Center. The new facility houses Motlow’s robotics program.

 

Smyrna

In January 2003, construction began on the first phase of a Smyrna facility that opened in July 2006. It was named for former Motlow President Dr. Arthur L. Walker, Jr. The nursing program expanded to the Smyrna site in 2008. In December 2010, the Tennessee Board of Regents approved the construction of a 35,000-square-foot classroom building on the Smyrna site. The facility opened in August 2013 and was named for former Motlow President Dr. MaryLou Apple. Expansion continued in Smyrna with an 82,000-square-foot building opening in fall 2019.

 

The Presidential Legacy

Dr. Michael Torrence / 2018–present

Ms. Hilda Tunstill / 2017–18 (interim)

Dr. Anthony G. Kinkel / 2015–17

Dr. MaryLou Apple / 2006–15

Dr. Arthur L. Walker, Jr. / 2003–06

Dr. A. Frank Glass / 1987–2003

Dr. Wade Powers / 1986–87 (interim)

Dr. Harry Wagner / 1975–86

Dr. Sam H. Ingram / 1969–75

 

Motlow State Community College – Lead institution for the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Centers

The lead institution concept, developed by the Tennessee Board of Regents, assigns an institution the responsibility for identifying the appropriate level of sub-baccalaureate education and training based on the area’s employment demands. Motlow is the lead institution for the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Centers (TCATs) in McMinnville, Murfreesboro, and Shelbyville. It is responsible for overseeing the development of a cohesive plan for delivering vocational, technical, and career programs in its 11-county service area. Motlow assists the TCATs in program planning, accounting and budgeting, purchasing, personnel, student records, student financial aid, and institutional research and catalyzes to strengthen the relationship between the area institutions of post-secondary education and business and industry.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action

Motlow does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, sex, disability, age, status as a protected veteran, or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulations and by the Tennessee Board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities.