East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public university located in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although, it is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of colleges and universities, the nation’s sixth largest system of public education, it is now governed by an institutional Board of Trustees as of May 2017. It is also the fourth largest university in the state. ETSU has off-campus centers in nearby Kingsport and Elizabethton.

Listed by The Princeton Review as one of America’s Best Value Colleges, ETSU has a host of programs that benefit both the region and nation; including the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, consistently ranked as one of the top schools nationwide for rural medicine and primary care education; the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, and the recently formed College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences. Unique programs include a nationally acclaimed and accredited program in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music, the nation’s lone master’s degree in Storytelling, and the Appalachian Studies programs, focused on the surrounding Appalachian region. ETSU is also a new home to many international students.