Constitution Day is a celebration of the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine of the 55 Delegates to the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. The date is also designated Citizenship Day to focus on the rights and responsibilities of citizens under the Constitution.
Constitution Day at Tennessee Tech is named in honor of Nolan Fowler and strives to educate the campus community about the Constitution and citizenship both historically and as they apply to today’s challenges.
Nolan Fowler, a retired history professor at Tennessee Tech, taught constitutional development at the university from 1962 to 1979. This annual event is made possible by his $150,000 commitment to establish the Constitution Day Celebration at Tennessee Tech University.
“I was very happy to provide this money because the Constitution is so important — it’s the foundation for our entire system of government — yet so many people know so little about it,” Fowler said.
Constitution Day
Nolan Fowler & Elaine Fowler Palencia Annual Constitution Day
2024: "Free Speech and the College Campus - Sixty Years Later: The Legacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964". Dr. Joni Hersch, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Economics at Vanderbilt Law School and co-founder and co-director of the Vanderbilt Ph.D. program in law and economics. For more information, contact Dr. Kent Dollar, Chair of the Fowler Constitution Day Committee.
2023: "Free Speech and the College Campus". Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, MRMJJ Presidential Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, contact Dr. Kent Dollar, Chair of the Fowler Constitution Day Committee.
2022: "The Constitutional Integrity of Title IX". Dr. Elizabeth Kauger Busch, Co-Director of the Center for American Studies and the Director of American Studies at Christopher Newport University.
2021: "Epidemics and the Constitution: A Contested History". John Fabian Witt, Ph.D., Professor of law at Yale University Law School.
2020: "How American Women Won the Vote". The 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment's ratification. Ms. Paula F. Casey of Memphis, TN - this is a virtual event held on September 17, 2020. For more information, contact Dr. Kent Dollar, Chair of the Fowler Constitution Day Committee.
2018: Constitution Day was held on September 18th, 2018. If you have any more questions on the event or other History dept. events - please contact the History Department at Tennessee Tech: https://www.tntech.edu/cas/history/contact.php
2015: "Free Speech in the 21st Century." Dr. Leslie Kendrick, University of Virginia School of Law
2009: Freedom Sings, a Musical Program of the First Amendment Center. Nashville, Tennessee
2007: "The 2nd Amendment: Inalienable or Obsolete?" Dr. Joyce Malcolm, George Mason University
