In 1984 the Tennessee General Assembly passed Governor Lamar Alexander’s Better Schools Program. Most of the provisions related to K-12 education, but three initiatives—better overall funding, Chairs of Excellence, and Centers of Excellence—were targeted toward higher education. The 1984 legislature appropriated $10 million to launch the Centers of Excellence program. Two UT Knoxville center proposals—the Science Alliance and the Center for Livestock Diseases and Human Health—were funded in the initial year, but not without controversy.
THEC recommended that 3.4 million of the $10 million go to UT Knoxville’s Science Alliance. Representatives of the Tennessee Board of Regents Schools charged that the funding was unfairly distributed, with too much of the funding being distributed to UT campuses.
Representatives of the Board of Regents Schools, using Representative John Bragg (D-Murfreesboro) as their spokesman, made their displeasure known in the General Assembly. There were also charges by House Democrats that ORNL Director Herman Postma’s position on THEC’s Board of Commissioners represented a conflict of interest, to which Postma replied that he would not vote on the issue. The commissioners eventually approved the staff recommendations, and $3.4 million was appropriated for the Science Alliance.
In 1985 four additional centers were established at UT Knoxville: Center for Materials Processing, the Waste Management Education and Research Institute, the Center for Theatre Excellence, and the Center for New Venture Analysis and Entrepreneurship. The centers in Business and Theatre accomplished their goals and, therefore, were withdrawn. The four remaining centers continue their missions.
In 2001 President Wade Gilley announced the creation of nine Research Centers of Excellence—institutionally designated centers to receive special funding.