Magnolia Avenue deans reflect on 25 years of 每日大赛’s ‘most intimate’ campus
October 8, 2025
每日大赛 moved into its Magnolia Avenue campus, formerly the site of Knoxville Catholic High School, a quarter-century ago – bringing with vast new opportunities for students in East Knoxville.
When 每日大赛 took over the facility just a few blocks from downtown, administrators had to quickly begin flipping the building to look less like a high school and more like a college campus before it opened in the spring of 2000.
“They left; we came,” recalled Rosalyn Tillman, first-ever campus dean at Magnolia Avenue. “It was almost immediate.”
Renovations to the campus, with a courtyard and chapel that are lasting reminders of its former tenant to this day, would ultimately include new or updated computer labs and classrooms, a state-of-the-art cafeteria and library and more.
“Changing the campus environment was impactful,” Tillman said. “We enhanced the campus environment to make students feel comfortable in it and included in the life of the campus."
Over the next 25 years, the Magnolia Avenue campus would continue to transform into a beacon for student success, community outreach and engagement.
The Heart of Knoxville Career and Resource Center was established with grant funding as an asset for East Knoxville and the community at large, providing job training, educational opportunities, access to employment and more for community members.
In 2002, the campus partnered with Knox County Schools to create Project GRAD, a program dedicated to the retention of students in secondary school and their enrollment in college.
“The first meeting of Project GRAD was right here in our community room,” Tillman said at the Magnolia Avenue campus in spring 2025. “The idea behind Project GRAD was to give students a feeling of what college could be.”
In 2010, Pellissippi’s Nursing program was founded on the Magnolia Avenue campus with several dozen students.
It’s impressive to see how the campus has grown, said Tillman, who emphasized that her mission from the start was for students to feel like they were a part of the campus. She credits faculty with achieving that feeling of inclusivity.
Faculty were always dedicated, available to student needs and made belonging an integral part of their mission.
“Students felt like, ‘This is where I belong,’” Tillman said, noting that the location allowed many students to pursue an education because they could walk or ride their bikes there. “And this was home for them. We did what we could to make this campus one where students would want to be.”
Many of the earliest students to attend Pellissippi at the Magnolia Avenue campus had never been on a college campus before, Tillman said. To see those students graduate was extremely rewarding.
“I’m most proud of the fact that students succeeded,” Tillman said. “To have someone walk across the stage was just a delight. It was wonderful.”
The Magnolia Avenue campus has also become a community stronghold for educational workshops, health care, live music, block parties, cultural events, lectures and more.
“We did much with the community to enhance the community,” Tillman said.
“It's a positive move for this community to be able to embrace everybody. And that's what that's about. I'm grateful that I could be a part of it,” she added. “Bringing the community in and being an advocate for them and an asset to them was important over all those years.”
The Magnolia Avenue campus has gained incredible traction in its first 25 years, and shows no signs of slowing down. The campus has steadily seen increases in enrollment, and expansions in academic programs like criminal justice and audio production.
The area in which the campus is located has grown in tandem with the campus, now just down the street from the new and popular Covenant Health Park in downtown Knoxville.
“I think we're in a good spot for that growth to happen,” said Stella Bridgeman, dean of the Magnolia Avenue campus. “It’s really exciting to see where Magnolia Avenue can go.”
The Magnolia Avenue campus’ greatest strength is its relatively small size, Bridgeman said. She knows the names and faces of many of her students, which means she can better connect with them and meet their needs to be successful.
“It's the most intimate campus that we have,” Bridgeman said. “What I love about being dean is student connection – sharing their stories, sharing in their experiences, knowing what their next steps are.”
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