The UT Board of Trustees approved the creation of the Graduate School of Education within the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences in February 2009, and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission added its approval in April. The school opened on July 1, 2009. Although 39 colleges and universities in Tennessee offered teacher training programs at the time, UT’s program was the only one that followed the postbaccalaureate model, requiring that students earn a baccalaureate degree in their chosen discipline with a minor in teacher education before completing a full-year graduate internship in a regional school system, along with embedded course work. Students complete the program with the master’s degree in education.