As part of the 1985 second round of designation of Centers of Excellence by the state of Tennessee, the Center for Theatre Excellence was created. The funds available were to assist in defraying the cost of touring productions, introducing young people to theatre, and provision of scholarships to promising freshmen and assistantships to promising graduate students. Additional professional actors and directors were also underwritten, as was a marketing study of theatre in Knoxville. Within two years, the theatre program was able to stabilize its program and offerings and was withdrawn from the centers program.