In 1915 UT, in cooperation with the Southern Geographic Society, established the Education Extension Service, the purpose of which was to diffuse geography education and to extend services. The Southern Geographic Society furnished films, and UT professors prepared lectures on topics of interest. The programs were designed to be held at high schools or other venues and to appeal to the general public. Dr. Charles Gordon (who had been on the 1908 Executive Committee of the Southern Geographic Society) was the chair of the committee in charge of the Education Extension Service. Today’s Tennessee Geographic Alliance has its roots in these early beginnings.
In 1985 Dr. Sidney Jumper and Dr. Theodore Schmudde founded the modern Tennessee Geographic Alliance as one of six state pilot alliances of the National Geographic Foundation, modeled after the program at UCLA. The UT Alliance had its first meeting on March 6, 1986. The UT program was chosen by the National Geographic Society to administer education efforts in Tennessee, and the program today offers opportunities throughout the state through local school systems and state universities. The program has been cited repeatedly as a model by the National Geographic Society, which also provides external funding and, through its matching grant program, has helped to raise the program’s endowment to more than $1 million. In June 1990 Dr. Jumper was one of four charter recipients of the National Geographic Society’s Distinguished Geography Educator awards. Institutional funding for the alliance ceased in FY 2005.