Carson-Newman University

Carson–Newman University

Former names	Mossy Creek Missionary Baptist Seminary Carson College Newman College Carson and Newman consolidate to form Carson–Newman College
Motto	Truth, Beauty, Goodness
Type	Private
Established	1851
Religious affiliation	Baptist
Endowment	$49 million
President	J. Randall O'Brien
Administrative staff	199
Undergraduates	circa 1800 (fall 2015)
Postgraduates	circa 700 (fall 2015)
Location	Jefferson City, Tennessee, U.S.
Campus	Suburban, ca 200 acres (roughly 1 mi wide by .4 mi deep)
Colors	Orange & Blue
Athletics	NCAA Division II – SAC
Nickname	Eagles
Affiliations	Tennessee Baptist Convention CIC CCCU
Website	www.cn.edu

Carson–Newman University is a historically Baptist liberal arts college located in Jefferson City, Tennessee, United States. A new enrollment record of 2,528 was set in August 2015. Studies are offered in approximately 90 different academic programs. The university has a current retention rate of 70%. Recent rankings include: A Best College in the Southeast (The Princeton Review), 7th Best Baccalaureate College in the U.S., and America's number 2 ranked baccalaureate college for community service (Washington Monthly). Currently, the five most popular majors are: Nursing, Education, Business, Pre-Medicine/Biology, and Psychology. The school holds overall institutional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

On July 8, 2008, the trustees appointed Baylor University Provost Dr. J. Randall O'Brien as the 22nd president of the college.

Following a ten-year effort of five early East Tennessee Baptists, the school was established as Mossy Creek Missionary Baptist Seminary in 1851, the school began by holding classes in a local Baptist church. Within a few years the institution became Mossy Creek Baptist College and occupied its own buildings on the site of the present campus.

In 1880, the university was named Carson College for James Harvey Carson (1801–1880), who left $15,000 of his estate to the school. For several years it existed alongside Newman College, a separate facility for the education of women named for William Cate Newman, who had donated money to the women's college. In 1889, the two colleges united as one of the first coeducational institutions in the South. The institution operated as Carson–Newman College until 2012 when the board of trustees voted to acknowledge recent organizational changes by changing the name to Carson–Newman University.