Roane State Community College (Huntsville)
The W.H. Swain Scott County Center is a satellite campus of Roane State Community College (RSCC) located in Huntsville, Tennessee, serving students in Scott County and the surrounding region of the northern Cumberland Plateau. It is one of several off-campus centers through which Roane State extends higher education access across its eight-county service area. The center is formally addressed at 410 W.H. Swain Boulevard, Huntsville, TN 37756, and can be reached at (423) 663-3878. It is situated near the junction of U.S. Highways 27 and 63, on the outskirts of Huntsville and in proximity to the city of Oneida.
Institutional Background
Roane State Community College is a public two-year institution governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents, the seventh-largest system of higher education in the United States. The college’s main campus is located in Harriman, Tennessee, in Roane County, approximately 50 miles south of Huntsville via U.S. Highway 27. Authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1969, Roane State first offered classes in the fall of 1971 in temporary facilities and moved to its permanent Harriman campus in 1973. The college offers transfer curricula, career-preparation programs, and non-credit workforce education, and serves a diverse eight-county region encompassing Roane, Anderson, Loudon, Campbell, Scott, Cumberland, Morgan, and Fentress counties.
In addition to its main campus, Roane State operates campuses in Oak Ridge, Crossville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Wartburg, and Huntsville, providing students across eastern Tennessee with geographically accessible higher education options.
History of the Scott County Center
Roane State’s presence in Scott County dates to 1989, when the college established a higher education center in leased facilities in the county as part of a broader expansion into surrounding counties. This initial center operated in temporary quarters for several years before permanent facilities became available.
In June 1994, Roane State held a dedication ceremony for its first permanent Higher Education Center in Scott County — a milestone that also made it Roane State’s first permanent off-campus facility of its kind. The new building was made possible through a combination of institutional investment and generous private philanthropy. Earl McDonald, a Scott County native, donated $1 million toward the construction of the permanent campus; in recognition of his gift, the center was named in his honor at the time of its dedication. The center’s library was named after Howard H. Baker, Jr.— the Scott County-born United States Senator and former White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan. Baker’s memorabilia and his world-renowned photographs are displayed throughout the library facility.
The original permanent structure was a 15,000-square-foot building situated on 37 wooded acres provided by W.H. Swain, for whom the center and its boulevard are now named. The campus was subsequently developed and expanded; by the early 2000s, the total acreage had grown to 42 acres.
Campus and Facilities
The W.H. Swain Scott County Center occupies a 42-acre tract in a scenic, wooded setting off Baker Highway, east of Huntsville near the Highway 27 and Highway 63 corridor. The campus is set back from the main road — the Roane State building is not visible from the highway — and is accessible via a divided entrance road marked by a brick and stucco sign for the Scott County Higher Education Center.
The facility includes the following:
- Seven general classrooms for traditional instruction
- Two IDEA (Interactive Distance Education with Appalachian) classrooms for distance-learning via video teleconferencing
- Two computer labs
- A community and conference room available for educational and civic use
- An EMT clinical lab for emergency medical technician training
- A science laboratory
- Faculty and administrative offices
- The Senator Howard H. Baker Library, housing the center’s library collection along with Baker memorabilia and photographs
- A student lounge
The campus also incorporates recreational opportunities for students, making use of the wooded natural setting on the property.
Academic Programs and Delivery
The Scott County Center offers a range of Roane State’s associate degree and certificate programs at the local level, allowing Scott County residents to pursue postsecondary education without traveling to the main Harriman campus. Instruction is delivered in traditional in-person formats as well as through audio courses, video courses, and online offerings.
A particularly notable feature of the center’s academic model is its use of distance-learning technology to bridge the geographic divide between the Scott County campus and the broader Roane State system. Roane State has offered courses through live video teleconferencing since 1992, when it became the first Tennessee community college to do so, and expanded into web-based courses beginning in 1996. These technologies are central to the center’s operations, allowing students in Scott County to access coursework and faculty across Roane State’s full academic network.
The center also delivers instruction directly to high school students at Scott High School through distance-learning technology, enabling dual enrollment and early college access for secondary students in the county.
University Partnerships and Four-Year Degree Access
A significant feature of the Scott County Center’s educational offering is its facilitation of pathways to four-year and graduate degrees without requiring students to leave the county. Roane State maintains articulation agreements with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Tennessee Technological University (Tennessee Tech) in Cookeville, allowing students who complete associate degrees at Roane State to transfer seamlessly into baccalaureate programs at either institution. Through a satellite partnership with Tennessee Tech, some students are able to complete bachelor’s or master’s degree programs at the Huntsville campus, making the W.H. Swain Scott County Center one of the few community college satellite sites in the state through which students can pursue four-year degrees without relocating.
Role in Scott County Education
The W.H. Swain Scott County Center occupies a critical position in the educational continuum of Scott County, a rural and economically challenged Appalachian community with historically limited access to postsecondary education. It serves as the primary point of entry to higher education for many Scott County residents, particularly recent graduates of Scott High School and the Oneida Special School District, working adults seeking workforce advancement, and community members returning to education later in life.
The center complements the vocational and technical education provided by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), which maintains campuses in both Huntsville and Oneida. Together, these two institutions form the core of Scott County’s postsecondary educational infrastructure, offering pathways ranging from short-term vocational certification to transfer-ready associate degrees and access to full four-year programs.
The Boys & Girls Club of Scott County, headquartered in Oneida, provides supplemental after-school educational support to local youth, further reinforcing the broader educational ecosystem in which the Roane State center operates.
Named Honorees
W.H. Swain donated the original 37-acre wooded tract on which the permanent Scott County campus was built. The center’s main boulevard and the campus itself bear his name in recognition of this foundational contribution.
Earl McDonald was a Scott County native who contributed $1 million toward the construction of the permanent facility, making the 1994 dedication ceremony possible. The center was originally named in his honor.
Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. (1925–2014) was born in Huntsville, Scott County, Tennessee. He served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985, as Senate Majority Leader, as Senate Minority Leader, and as White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1988. Baker was also known as an accomplished amateur photographer. The center’s library is named in his honor, and his photographs and memorabilia are displayed throughout the facility, celebrating his deep ties to Scott County.
Access and Financial Aid
As part of Roane State Community College, the Scott County Center participates in all state and federal financial aid programs available through the college, including Tennessee Promise (providing tuition-free community college for eligible graduating high school seniors) and Tennessee Reconnect (providing tuition-free community college for eligible adult learners). These programs are particularly significant in Scott County, where the cost of higher education has historically been a barrier for many residents.