Watkins College of Art and Belmont University announce intent to Merge

Belmont University and Watkins College of Art, both located in Nashville, TN, announced their intent to merge with Watkins’s students starting classes at Belmont in August 2020.

Watkins College of Art will begin a transition to Belmont’s campus following the completion of the current academic year. 







Founded as Watkins Institute in 1885, it became Watkins College of Art after 1977 when the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) approved associate degrees in fine art and interior design. Watkins Film School was established in the mid-1990s, and THEC approved bachelor of fine arts degrees in film and interior design in 1997 and 1998. Bachelor of fine arts degrees in photography, graphic design, and fine art followed, and a bachelor of arts in art was added in 2007.

Belmont University traces its roots to 1889 with the founding of Belmont College for Young Women. It merged with Ward Seminary for Young Ladies in 1913 to become Ward-Belmont College. The Tennessee Baptist Convention assumed control in 1951 and operated Belmont College as a co-ed institution. The name changed to Belmont University in 1991.

Belmont recently also acquired another school of the arts in 2018 and you can read more in "Belmont University Acquires O'More College of Design."

If you are interested in recent trends for closures, mergers,and acquisitions access College Closures since 2009 in the index at the right of any College History Garden page. There are separate tabs for non-profit closures, for-profit closures, and one for mergers and acquisitions. Each tab includes basic information for the institutions, i.e., Carnegie Classification, sector, accrediting agency, and the IPEDS unitid.