WALTER S. DAVIS

1905 - 1979

Dr. Davis born in Canton, Mississippi became the second president of Tennessee A and I State College September 1943. In 1931, he received his B.S. degree from Tennessee A and I State College; a M.S. degree from Cornell University in 1933, and the Ph.D. from Cornell in 1941. During 1933 and 1934, he served as head football coach as well as a teacher of agriculture. During his administration as president, the enrollment of the institution soared from 670 students in 1943 to 5,092 by the Fall quarter 1965. The instructional staff increased from 32 in 1943 to a teaching faculty of approximately 250 by 1966. At his retirement in 1968, the physical valuation of Tennessee A & I State University was $30 million.