West TN city welcomes higher education institution
CAMDEN, Tenn, —A city in West Tennessee welcomes it’s first higher education institution soon.
The residents of Camden will soon have the opportunity to take classes at its first ever university.
Bethel University is adding a seventh campus location to service the Camden, Tennessee community starting February 25th.
“We are opening a new location in Camden where we’ll be offering night classes in our Associate’s Degree programs,” said VP, College of Professional Studies, Bethel University, Kimberly Martin.
This is a partnership with the Benton County government and the City of Camden.
“They were looking for an educational partner who could offer classes in Camden for the residents in that area who might have trouble accessing face to face classes at another institution because of their location,” Martin said.
Students will be able to attend night classes one night per week having an Associate Degree in two years.
President of Bethel University, Dr. Walter Butler says he’s excited to have this location in place for those in Camden looking to be better educated.
“We’re very excited to be able to go to Benton County, which is a neighboring county of ours and help them, help their citizens get more involved, help them to become better educated, help them to also become the person they want to be,” Dr. Butler said.
Dr. Butler says this new addition benefits the people of Camden as well as the employers.
“Citizens will be getting that education but also, companies looking to come to Benton County and to West Tennessee will have a better educated population to work with,” Butler said.
This will be the first university Camden has ever had.
Benton County Mayor, Brett Lashlee says it has always been part of the plan to one day see a higher education institution for residents.
“We didn’t necessarily reach out at the beginning looking for a specific university, we just wanted something that would allow better options for students once they graduated or the adult population,” Mayor Lashlee said.
Mayor Lashlee says residents of Camden have voiced their concerns of wanting higher education in Benton County.
“There has been a yearning for educational opportunities. I guess we just didn’t know how to develop it and the college curriculum was the first choice that we saw,” Lashlee said.
He says this is the start for even more expansions educational wise in Camden.
“It starts with having that physical presence within your community with a quality university. So we’re tremendously excited in reaching this particular type of community goal,” Mayor Lashlee said.
Mayor Lashlee says this will not be the last higher education institution that Benton County sees.
Students can begin taking classes February 25th.
For more information on how to get enrolled, you can visit the ‘Seen on 7’ section of our website.
