JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) largest conference and convention center now has a new name.
The Millennium Center is now officially named The James and Nellie Brinkley Center in honor of a pair of benefactors and alumni that helped make the facility possible.
“Jim [James] is a very special guy,” said former ETSU Foundation Chairman Ronald Hite. “I didn’t know Nellie that much, but I did have the opportunity to spend time with Jim over the years, and the fact that he was so generous and so benevolent to make the kind of contributions he made with this university was incredible.”
The Brinkley Center is home to a community-use conference facility, as well as the ETSU Department of Computing and the Niswonger Digital Media Center.
“I would hope that those that have a Jim and Nellie Brinkley scholarship will say, ‘hey, this is why I have this scholarship’ other than the fact that they earned it, but I think that they were great supporters of the university, and maybe someday I can do the same thing,” Hite told News Channel 11.
