East Tennessee State University

Founded in 1911 as a teacher training school, East Tennessee State University has grown into a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee — now the fourth-largest in the state. Its unusual academic portfolio includes an accredited program in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music, the country's only master's degree in Storytelling, and Appalachian Studies programs rooted in the surrounding region. The Charles C. Sherrod Library houses the Archives of Appalachia. If that combination of credentials doesn't tell you something about what this part of the world values, nothing will.