For ETSU President Brian Noland, Founders Week is about more than looking back. It is about understanding how the university’s history continues to shape its future.
“We started Founders Week post COVID as a way to deepen the community’s understanding of the history along with the mission and the purpose of the university,” Noland said.
Throughout the week, events including ETSU Elevates, historical lectures, ETSU Remembers and the State of the University Address which all highlight different parts of the university’s past and present.
“Sometimes to get a sense of where you’re going, you’ve got to look at where you’ve been,” Noland said. “And that is what Founders Week is all about.”
One part of ETSU’s history that remains visible on campus even today is its mission of service.
“We were founded as a normal school to train teachers, to go into the rural regions and raise education levels,” Noland said.
Today, that mission continues through community-engaged learning, clinical programs, student teaching and service opportunities across campus.
“We’ve purposely tried to build service and community engagement into all aspects of the undergraduate and graduate experience.”
Noland also pointed to the university’s first faculty members, whose influence can still be seen in different programs and academic structures across campus.
“So much of what we take for granted now, they built from scratch,” Noland said. “Things that we still benefit from today still trace their roots back to those original faculty members who founded the institution.”
Of all the Founders Week traditions, Noland said ETSU Remembers is the most meaningful to him. The ceremony recognizes members of the university community who passed away during the previous year and brings their families back to campus to reflect on their impact.
“It shows the lasting impact that a place can have on people. It was a powerful affirmation of how much a place can mean.”
That sense of connection also extends beyond campus and into Johnson City.
“We’re only as strong as we are together,” Noland said about ETSU and its connection to Johnson City. “Our fates are intertwined.”
He said that relationship goes back to the university’s beginnings, when Johnson City first paid ETSU’s utility bills after the university opened.
“From the beginning, there was a recognition that the success of the university and the success of the community were interrelated.”
As ETSU reflects on more than a century of history, Noland said today’s students are already shaping what the university will become next.
He pointed to football, the marching band and the renovation of the D.P. Culp Student Center as examples of changes that came through student advocacy and leadership.
“So many of the things that we enjoy at this university are a result of students taking the lead.”
For Noland, that connection between the past and the future is at the center of Founders Week.
“We’re training the next generation,” he said. “That, in turn, will carry forward the mission of the university.”
