Knoxville College was knocked to the academic sidelines in 1996 after losing its accreditation over mounting financial and administrative problems.
But now it is poised for a comeback, says the unlikely “hero” who has been conducting triage on the school for nearly four years.
Plans are on track for enrollment to double this fall to nearly 200 students. A complete overhaul of the school’s curriculum is under way to focus on careers in energy and the environment. The school even plans to seek reaccredidation by year’s end.
The architect of Knoxville College’s attempt to rebound is not a college administrator with a proven track record. He’s not even a full-time employee or an alumnus of the school. Dr. Johnnie Cannon is a 33-year veteran employee of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he is chief scientist in the agency’s National Security Directorate. He ‘moonlights’ as chief operating officer at Knoxville College and does so on a volunteer basis.
“Things are pretty tough,” says Cannon, a 1970 graduate of Tuskegee University who earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Cal Tech. “But we’re making payroll and paying the bills we need to be paying.
“We have a plan (for accreditation) we’re going to present in about three months,” Cannon says.
He adds, however, that the college is not yet ready for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which he calls the “Rolls Royce” of accrediting agencies.
“We just need a Honda right now,” he says, explaining that the college is exploring several other accrediting bodies.
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Today’s ambitious agenda at Knoxville College is a giant leap forward for a school that just a few years ago was only seeing its problems mount with no real plan for solving them. Its enrollment was nose-diving. Today it enrolls less than 100 students, compared to nearly 1,000 students in the 1970s.
Its physical plant was falling apart. It faced a lawsuit from its faculty seeking $800,000 in past due wages and Social Security payments. It sold assets to stay afloat, including a profitable gasoline station near the school that provided jobs for students.
