TACTE History

On April 30, 1973 representatives of twenty-six Tennessee institutions meeting at the George Peabody College for Teachers under the conference leadership of James D. McComas, UT-Knoxville, took the first steps toward organizing a Tennessee unit of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

It was agreed that teacher education continued in crisis in America and that that through TACTE institutional members could improve programs and deal more satisfactorily with problems facing institutions in Tennessee. Each institution, having a state-approved program in teacher education, was invited to become a member of TACTE. Informational materials by which representation and dues could be determined were distributed to those present.

The ad-hoc committee selected to facilitate the organizational process included Edell Hearn, Tennessee Tech.; Jewell Phelps, George Peabody College for Teachers; and Malcolm D. Williams, Tennessee State University. All institutions having paid dues by August 1, 1973 were included in the process.

Upon receipt of dues payments and names of institutional representatives, a nominations committee was appointed to choose TACTE's first slate of officers. James D. McComas directed the nomination and election procedures.

The officers for the initial year of TACTE; 1974-75, were as follows: President, Scott Honaker, East Tennessee State University; Vice-President, Emily Mathis, Christian Brothers College; and Secretary-Treasurer, Malcom D. Williams, Tennessee State University. Thus began TACTE's role as the voice for teacher education institutions, both public and private, in Tennessee and its history of exceptional leadership at the state and national levels. (compiled by Dick Renfro, TSU.)

A Brief History and Remembrances

One of the driving forces in the beginning of TACTE was Jim McComas of the University of Tennessee, who spent a great deal of time getting the state unit organized.  He involved several others, because John Gaines of King College remembers being part of planning and organizational meetings in 1973.  An invitation regarding beginning TACTE went out to various teacher educators April 5, 1973, and an organizational meeting April 30, 1973 at George Peabody College "sowed the seeds" for a state-wide organization of teacher educators.  Dale Doak and Jim McComas of UT were two participants. 

In the early days, the number of attendees at TACTE conferences was so low that the meetings were often held in a classroom at UT Nashville or Peabody College.  In fact, the first meeting was May 16, 1974, at George Peabody College, followed by the spring meeting at the Nashville headquarters of Tennessee Education Association. Other meetings the remainder of the decade were at Nashville's Rodeway Inn and Ramada Inn, South.  For the fall meeting, 1979, TACTE held its conference for the first time in a Tennessee state park (Henry Horton State Park).  By this time, the organization was so well supported that participants over subscribed the inn at Henry Horton Park, and the overflow ended up in the local inns and motels around Chapel Hill.  These folks felt left out, and their stories of an exciting night "on the town" in the Henry Horton Park area sounded very unconvincing!

Emily Mathis of Christian Brothers College shares that her earliest memories of TACTE were of networking and socializing.  TACTE was one of the best times to communicate with the state department of education, and a representative was always on the program to inform about new initiatives and to help TACTE members to explore future implications.  This was especially beneficial for the small schools.  Tennessee get-togethers at AACTE in Chicago were often planned in one of the suites occupied by one of the universities doing interviews.  Emily did the food shopping and set-up for several years.

Emily continues that some of the early TACTE issues were more control over teacher certification at the college/university level rather then the state level; better and current publications from the state department of education about regulations and requirements; more uniformity so that all our teacher education renewal offerings could be of comparable quality; greater control over outsiders coming into the state to set up store-front weekend classes to compete with established programs already in the area; NCATE requirements and implications.

Former TACTE president Carl Stedman remembers that, in the early 1980's, dues were about $20 per institution, and TACTE was not really able to respond to critical state/political issues in an organized way.  1981-82 president Roy Stinnett appointed a "Blue Ribbon Committee," chaired by Barbara Burch of Memphis State University, to recommend future directions for TACTE.  Among other members were George Drew (UT Martin), Carl Stedman (Austin Peay), and Ronald Midkiff (Carson-Newman).

Two decisions were built into the report the Committee:  one, the organization, to be viable for the future, must become involved with critical issues facing the profession.  In other words, it must become more political.  Secondly, dues must be raised to support a more active involvement.  An immediate by-product of this report was a revised Constitution which provided a committee structure within the organization.  This revised Constitution literally prompted a pivotal change in TACTE behavior.

George Drew is given credit for TACTE's involvement with the Tennessee Board of Education through Nelson Andrews, Chair.  Thus began an awareness effort to give TACTE more visibility.  Ron Midkiff assured that TACTE had a balance in the committee structure that represented the "three states" of Tennessee and the private-public sectors so there would be a full representation when confronting issues.  Carl Stedman made a concerted effort to involve the organization with political contacts in the House and Senate, education representative, and newspapers and media.  All these efforts helped raise the level of awareness of TACTE issues in Tennessee education and helped members be recognized and gain committee memberships.

Robert Saunders, now retired and living in Alabama, also recalls the early meetings when most institutions sent only one or two representatives, and total attendance at the TACTE meetings would be no more than fifteen to twenty.  Bob looks back with pride at the progress of TACTE, and attributes its success to the fact it has represented all Tennessee teacher education institutions, from the tiny programs to the largest ones.  He has no doubts that the cohesiveness and inclusion of the organization have contributed to TACTE's influence with our state's  decision-makers through the years.  The careful selection of our statewide officers has been a positive factor.  TACTE  has been alert to any who might campaign for an office or who might use the organization as a stepping stone to better his/her own career.

On the national level, Bob is proud of the fact that our state organization has been used as a model by AACTE, which has highlighted TACTE's activity and pro-active stance on current issues to inspire and encourage other state units which are not as active or strong.

In his reflections, Bob gives UT Knoxville's sponsorship of a "happy hour" credit for helping cement our state group together.  Regardless of one's choice of beverage, this "late afternoon of the first day of the TACTE conference" tradition provided great opportunities for networking for both the private and public school representatives. 

Bob remembers some other "interesting, active, and even hostile" TACTE meetings, such as when one nationally-known educator managed to insult just about everyone at the meeting (even those who agreed in principle with his proposals), when certain education commissioners viewed us with disdain (TACTE outlasted them!), when TACTE lined up to do war with certain out of state institutions who had moved into Tennessee, when one large-school dean made an abortive attempt to have the large schools pull out of TACTE, and when differences between the public and private sectors caused some breakdown in focusing on our common purposes and interests.

A very amusing moment for Bob, and he remembers it well, was a TACTE program where Bob followed a very animated presentation by John Gaines.  In desperation, Bob said he had no idea about how he could get the group's attention now, so he offered an awkward "soft shoe" dance presentation which brought the house down!

In short, Bob reflects with pride on TACTE and its accomplishments.

Lynn Cagle, in consultation with Dale Doak, provides additional information about the UTK happy hour.  Lynn was the host of the TACTE happy hour for more than 20 years.  It never appeared on the printed program, but it was always a part of the activities at each TACTE conference.  Lynn recalls that "way back" when we met at Montgomery Bell State park in the 70's he got bored after dinner with nothing to do and people all scattered out in those little rooms.  "A friend and I went out to some little country store and bought chips, dip, soft drink, and beer and brought it back.  We open up our room, started knocking on doors and inviting people to join us."  Thus began a tradition of Lynn hosting the party until about 1995 when he acquired more duties on campus and couldn't participate in the TACTE conferences as often.  For more than 20 years Lynn hauled party supplies to wherever we were meeting.  He and Tom George also hosted AACTE hospitality suites for about ten years all over the country.  For all those years Lynn never served an official leadership role in TACTE, but every meeting everyone would see him and ask "Where is the party tonight?  What room number?"

In summary, the Tennessee Association of Colleges for Teacher Education has provided fellowship, networking possibilities, relevant conferences, and leadership in Tennessee teacher education through the years.  May it continue to grow, prosper, and continue its leadership in this state!

Compiled by Jim Stamper, Belmont University