William Earle Cole was born on July 28, 1904, in Shady Valley, Tennessee. He attended Maryville College for one year before transferring to the University of Tennessee in 1924. He wanted to major in sociology, but because of the slim course offerings he chose instead to get his degree in agricultural education and bacteriology. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1930 and then returned to the University of Tennessee, where he was named head of the new Sociology Department in 1936 after teaching bacteriology there for several years. Cole was responsible for the growth of the department in its course offerings and its initiation of an undergraduate major and graduate degrees in Sociology. He was highly involved with the Knoxville Metropolitan Planning Committee and published several books, including Tennessee: A Political Study, published in 1940, and Urban Society, published in 1958. He retired as department head in 1965 and from teaching in 1974. Cole passed away on March 14, 1979 from a heart attack.

James Dickason Hoskins was born on January 30, 1870 in New Market, Tennessee to William Patton and Mary Olivia Rawls (Mills) Hoskins. His family moved to Knoxville in 1886 and Hoskins entered East Tennessee University in 1887. Hoskins proved to be a very successful student and graduated with his BS in 1891 and again with his MS in 1893. He went on to serve as the principal of the Masonic Institute in Fort Jesup, Louisiana (1893-1894) and then returned to Knoxville to teach at two prestigious prepatory schools, Knoxville Classical and the Baker-Himel School. He married Lynn Luella Deming (1876-1954) on November 29, 1899 and the couple had two children.

Hoskins returned to the University of Tennessee as an Assistant Professor of History in 1900. He was promoted to full Professor in 1907 and then to Dean of the College in 1911. He served as acting University President twice, once after Brown Ayres' untimely death in 1919 and again after Harcourt Morgan stepped down to take a position with the TVA in 1933. Hoskins officially became the University's fourteenth President in 1934. Although he was known as a tough administrator, the University grew phenomenally during his tenure. He oversaw the creation of several new courses of instruction and a number of new buildings. He also created a regular retirement plan for University faculty. He retired from his position as president in June 1946. Hoskins died in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 3, 1960 at the age of 90.