To better reflect the purpose of the entity, the Agricultural Experiment Station name was changed to AgResearch in 2009. In June 1882 the UT Board of Trustees made provision for the establishment of the Agricultural Experiment Station on the college farm. UT’s was the fifth experiment station in the United States and was established five years before the federal government instituted a national system of agricultural experiment stations to assist in the development of United States agricultural and forest resources. John McBryde, whose work had led to its establishment, declined appointment as its first director in order to return to South Carolina. The first director was John W. Glenn, a graduate of the University of Georgia who had teaching experience at East Alabama College at Auburn.
In 2005, while the statewide system for agricultural research retained the title Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, the names of branch experiment stations throughout the state were changed to Research and Education Centers.