Ada Withers, wife of associate professor of Spanish A. M. Withers, was employed by UT in 1921 as assistant professor of arts. She was born in Berne, Switzerland, and was educated in Germany, Italy, and France. She held a diploma in art from the Grenoble School of Art; and had done graduate work at the Academy of Weimer, Germany; the National Academy of Design, Chicago; the Academy of Design for Women, St. Louis; and in the Academy of Fine Arts, where her emphasis was on sculpture and pottery. She had previously been on the faculty at Kentucky State College and Oklahoma State College.
The Department of Drawing and Art had been, like the Department of Home Economics, in the College of Liberal Arts. Related Arts had been part of the home economics curriculum since 1902, when the program was still called Domestic Art and Science. The Department of Drawing and Art had separated from home economics and provided instruction in both fine and applied art but had moved to Tennessee Hall with home economics in 1911. Nellie Crooks, head of home economics, clashed with Withers about the lack of emphasis on applied art, as Withers expanded the offerings only in fine arts. In 1922 Withers was instructed by Dr. James D. Hoskins, dean of the university, to teach applied art, since she had been employed “with the distinct understanding that she was to give most of her time to instruction in applied art.” Withers objected, saying that the courses were outside her expertise. In 1923 Withers was one of seven professors dismissed in a widely-reported “great professor scandal.”