Tusculum University is a private Presbyterian university with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee. It is Tennessee's first university and the 28th-oldest operating college or university in the United States. In addition to its main campus, the institution maintains a regional center for Adult and Online Studies in Knoxville, and Morristown. History Before Tennessee became a state in 1796, the east Tennessee area was the southwestern frontier of the United States. Presbyterian ministers Hezekiah Balch and Samuel Doak, both educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), were there, ministering to early Scots-Irish settlers. Striving to meet the settlers' educational needs, Doak founded Martin Academy in 1783, which was expanded to become Washington College in 1795. Washington College was briefly merged in the 20th century with Tusculum College. Balch was the first president of Greeneville College in 1794. In 1806, emancipated slave John Gloucester became the first African-American student to study at Greeneville College. He was the first African-American educated by a college in Tennessee and later helped found the First African Presbyterian Church in 1807, in Philadelphia. Samuel Doak and Hezekiah Balch sought the same goals through their separate colleges. They wanted to educate settlers of the American frontier so that they would become better Presbyterians, and therefore, in their thinking, better citizens. To better accomplish the common goals of each institution, Greeneville College and Tusculum College merged in 1868 to become Greeneville & Tusculum College. Origin of name Samuel Doak left Washington College and founded Tusculum Academy, on the present campus of Tusculum University, in 1818 with his son, Samuel Witherspoon Doak. S.W. Doak was named after Princeton University's then-president Dr. John Witherspoon, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and Tusculum Academy was named after Witherspoon's estate at the College of New Jersey (Princeton). The original Tusculum was a city near Rome, Italy, and home to Roman scholar and philosopher Cicero. It was he who, along with others, identified the civic virtues that form the basis of civic republican tradition, which emphasizes citizens working together to form good societies that in turn foster individuals of good character. Presidents Greeneville College (1794–1868) Hezekiah Balch, D.D. 1794–1810 Charles Coffin, D.D. 1810–27 Henry Hoss 1828–36 Alfred Hoss 1836–38 James McLin, B.A. 1838–40 Samuel Matthews 1843–45 Charles Van Vlech 1845–46 John Fleming 1846–47 William B. Rankin, D.D. 1854–58 John Lampson 1859–60 Tusculum Academy (1818–68) Samuel Doak, D.D.