Bryan College

Bryan College is a private Christian college in Dayton, Tennessee. It was founded in the aftermath of the 1925 Scopes trial to establish an institution of higher education that would teach from a Christian worldview. History During the Scopes trial in 1925, William Jennings Bryan expressed the wish that a school might be established in Dayton, Tennessee, "to teach truth from a Biblical perspective". On July 26, 1925, he died in his sleep in Dayton, five days after the trial ended. Following his death, a national memorial association was formed to establish such an institution in Bryan's honor. William Jennings Bryan University was chartered in 1930. Its stated purpose was to provide “for the purpose of establishing, conducting, and perpetuating a university for the higher education of men and women under auspices distinctly Christian and spiritual, as a testimony to the supreme glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Divine inspiration and infallibility of the Bible,” In 1958, it was designated William Jennings Bryan College, and the name was shortened to Bryan College in 1993. Presidents George E. Guille (1930–1931) Malcolm M. Lockhart (1931–1933) Judson A. Rudd (1933–1955) Theodore C. Mercer (1956–1986) Kenneth G. Hanna (1986–1992) William E. Brown (1993–2003) Stephen D. Livesay (2003–2020) Douglas Mann (2020- )