Dr. Edward S. Joynes joined the faculty as professor of rhetoric and elocution in 1878, following his dismissal from Vanderbilt. Joynes was a member of the original Vanderbilt faculty but had been dismissed because his drinking habits (a penchant for imbibing wine and beer with meals acquired during his study in Europe) were unacceptable to that Methodist institution. Joynes held the AB and AM degrees from Virginia and the PhD from Delaware. He was, together with Trustee Oliver P. Temple, a leading proponent for making the university “less classical” and more centrally directed toward agriculture and the mechanical arts. He was an instructor in the 1878 Teachers Institute held in Knoxville and at the first summer Teachers Institute on campus in 1880. In 1881 he succeeded in convincing the trustees to appropriate $300 for the summer institute. He resigned in 1882 to join the faculty of what is now the University of South Carolina.
Joynes was a charter trustee of Winthrop College, founded by his colleague and friend (and UT alumnus) David Johnson. A building on Winthrop’s campus is named for him. He resigned in 1882 to join the faculty of what is now the University of South Carolina.