UT MARTIN GRADUATE MAKES LARGEST GIFT IN UNIVERSITY HISTORY
UT MARTIN GRADUATE MAKES LARGEST GIFT IN UNIVERSITY HISTORY
MARTIN, Tenn. – Bill and Rosann Nunnelly believe in the value of education, and a
bequest to the University of Tennessee at Martin will assure that future generations of students
have the financial means to attend college. A $22 million gift from the couple to the university
was announced by University of Tennessee Interim President Boyd and UT Martin Chancellor
Keith Carver during the summer meeting of the UT Board of Trustees on Friday in Knoxville.
The gift is the largest ever made to UT Martin and will provide scholarships to students who
attend the university.
“We appreciate the Nunnelly family opening doors for students from rural counties to
attend UT Martin,” Boyd said. “They are helping to change not only the lives of students, but
also of families, communities and the state. The impact of their gift will reverberate through
generations of Tennesseans.”
Bill Nunnelly received a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1970 from UT Martin and
later earned a Master of Education from Boston University. The scholarship awards from the gift
will give preference to students from Hickman County, Tennessee, where he was raised on a
cattle and feed grain farm in the community that bears the family name. Although the gift is a
bequest and will not be realized until the couple is deceased, the financial benefits begin
immediately when four Hickman County students receive UT Martin scholarships this fall.
Qualified students from Dickson, Giles, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury and Humphreys counties will
also be eligible to receive future scholarships. More than 90 scholarships could be awarded
annually through the gift.
Nunnelly says education is a pathway to a better life. “I think at a minimum one needs a
degree unless you’re going to be into the trades,” he said. “In a lot of cases you need a master’s
degree. You can get a job with a degree, and I think that’s what’s important to young adults as
they come to UT Martin.”
“Bill and Rosann Nunnelly have honored UT Martin with a transformational gift that will
help many future generations of students attend the university,” said Dr. Keith Carver, UT
Martin chancellor. “Bill’s UT Martin experience shaped who he is as a person and successful
entrepreneur, and we’re grateful that he and his wife have chosen to give back in this generous
way.”
Nunnelly grew up working on the family farm and was drawn to the discipline of the
military. His grandfather and father served in World War I and II respectively. His mother and
father also attended UT Junior College, predecessor to UT Martin. Nunnelly attended his first
three years of high school at Columbia Military Academy in nearby Maury County before
completing his senior year in Hickman County. So, it followed that the ROTC program became
an important part of his UT Martin experience.
“ROTC just kind of fit into my life well,” he said. “I understood the military and what it
offered. … I learned how to grow up at UT Martin, and it was a wonderful experience.” Also
important to Nunnelly was his involvement in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. “My fraternity
experience at ATO was hugely important. … We had guys there that were interested in
academics and good people that taught me how to be a man. … I grew up at UTM, and the
fraternity experience helped set me on the road to success.”
Nunnelly was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation
from UT Martin. He completed his military service, but instead of returning to the family farm,
Nunnelly pursued various business interests over the years, became a successful entrepreneur
and is now semi-retired. He and his brother, also a military veteran, maintained the family farm
until selling it in 2010, but Nunnelly never forgot his Hickman County roots and sees the gift to
UT Martin as “a wonderful way to give something back. …That's just what my wife and I want
to do,” he said.