Since 1950 ETSU had offered undergraduate and graduate courses in Kingsport—first at the old Dobyns-Bennett High School building and then at the John Sevier Junior High School building. UT partnered with ETSU in 1964 to form the Kingsport Center, through which ETSU would continue to offer undergraduate and graduate coursework and UT would offer graduate programs in business and engineering. The center served the entire Tri-Cities Region. In 1971 a three-story facility was built on one hundred acres of land donated by Harvey Brooks. ETSU provided $1.1 million for the facility’s construction, and UT provided $300,000. Allen Dryden Architects provided the architectural services, and the contractor was Cassel Brothers Construction.
The City of Kingsport, as a revitalization measure, envisioned a downtown “academic village,” a major component of which was to be a higher education center. In 2009 the Kingsport Higher Education Center, a $12 million facility built by the City of Kingsport and operated by Northeast State Community College opened with six higher education institutions partnering to provide course offerings. The charter members of the consortium were ETSU, UT, Northeast State Community College, Carson-Newman University, King University, and Lincoln Memorial University. UT’s role in the consortium was provision of graduate online coursework.