Walters State: The Great Smoky Mountains Community College (WSCC, Walters State) is a state-supported community college operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. In 1957 the Pierce-Albright Report was presented to the Tennessee legislature, detailing situations of higher education in the state. It showed many citizens of Tennessee to be without sufficient access to colleges and universities and led to the allocation of $200,000 in 1963 to implement the recommendations of the report. The State Board of Education developed a plan to locate community colleges in the underserved regions within a reasonable distance of travel to the majority of residents, and in 1965 the Tennessee General Assembly certified the establishment of the first wave of these institutions.