Union University

A private, Christian, four-year, coeducational, liberal arts-based university offering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Founded in 1823, Union is the oldest institution affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Located in Jackson, Tennessee, Union is approximately 80 miles east of Memphis and 120 miles west of Nashville. Union also has extension campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Union University provides Christ-centered education that promotes excellence and character development in service to Church and society.

Union University is an academic community, affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, equipping persons to think Christianly and serve faithfully in ways consistent with its core values of being excellence-driven, Christ-centered, people-focused, and future-directed. These values shape its identity as an institution which prioritizes liberal arts based undergraduate education enhanced by professional and graduate programs. The academic community is composed of quality faculty, staff, and students working together in a caring, grace-filled environment conducive to the development of character, servant leadership, and cultural engagement.

Union University is a Christian, four-year, liberal arts university committed to the finest in academic endeavor. We are a close-knit learning community where classroom teaching and mentoring are valued. Our students are challenged to grapple with the issues of our day and integrate Christian faith with every academic field, whether art or physics, nursing or digital media. More than 100 programs of study prepare students for success in careers and graduate schools around the world.

Nationally recognized Union University offers 14 graduate programs in eight areas of study. Most offer classes one night a week or online options. All graduate programs reflect Union University's commitment to Christ-centered excellence in teaching, research, facilities and experience.

Union University's online programs in Business, Education, Ministry and Nursing mean you can advance your education and career from your home or other convenient location. Our online programs are ideal for persons who wish to pursue graduate work at a Christian university, but do not have that option in the city where they live. Union Online is also ideal for busy professionals whose work or travel schedules prevent regular class attendance.

Union is committed to Christ-centered academic excellence. This tradition continues with online courses as well. Our online degree programs are enmeshed in the missions and teaching of the individual schools and departments within the University.

Union University is nationally recognized for academic excellence. It is also affordable, making a degree from Union achievable for adult students. In addition to employer-paid tuition benefits, other financial aid is available to qualified students.

At Union, adult students receive financial ad through the Federal Pell Grant and Tennessee Student Assistance Award (TSAA). They also receive funds through TN Education Lottery Scholarships (TELS), a number of Educational loan programs and Veteran services.

Union online classes are intentionally designed to be flexible for working professionals. You can participate in discussions and complete assignments when it is most convenient for you.

Union is a welcoming, accessible and safe place to live and learn. Our campus housing has been ranked fifth in the nation, with a private bedroom for every student and a washer/dryer in every apartment. 90 student organizations, NCAA DII sports, concerts and residence life activities mean you’ll be involved from your very first day at Union.

Union University is an heir of three antebellum Tennessee schools-West Tennessee College and its predecessor, Jackson Male Academy, both located at Jackson, and of Union University, located at Murfreesboro-and it is the inheritor of another college in 1927, Hall-Moody Junior College of Martin, Tennessee.

Jackson Male Academy, founded in 1823 shortly after the opening of West Tennessee for settlement, was chartered by the legislature in 1825.

West Tennessee College originated in the mid-1840s when supporters of the Academy secured a charter for a college and received an endowment from the state to come from the sale of public lands. Under its charter, the property rights and governance of the Jackson Male Academy were vested in the trustees of the College. The College offered three degrees- bachelor of arts, bachelor of philosophy, and master of arts- and had four departments: Moral Philosophy, Languages, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.

West Tennessee College continued until 1874, when at a time of depressed economic conditions, the trustees offered the College's buildings, grounds, and endowment to Tennessee Baptists in the hopes of attracting the southwestern regional university planned by the state's Baptist leaders.

Meanwhile, after years of discussion and the raising of an endowment, the Baptists of Middle Tennessee (there were three separate conventions in Tennessee at that time) in 1848 established Union University in Murfreesboro, near the geographical center of the state. Union University came upon hard times when in 1859 its highly respected president, Joseph H. Eaton, died and when during the Civil War its campus was badly damaged. It reopened in 1868 only to close again in 1873, largely because of its financial condition and an epidemic of cholera.

Southwestern Baptist University, the immediate predecessor of the present Union University, originated because of a desire by Tennessee Baptists, who still had a separate convention for each of the state's three Grand Divisions, for greater unification. Education became the core issue around which such unification was promoted. Committees of the three conventions met jointly in Humboldt in 1873 and issued a resolution supporting the establishment of a first-class regional university. An Educational Convention met in Murfreesboro in 1874, at which time a committee was appointed to select a location for the proposed university. The committee recommended the acceptance of the offer made by the citizens of Jackson to assume ownership of West Tennessee College.