Howard studies included agriculture at Middle Tennessee and in 1950 he was a member of the Agriculture club. Agriculture is still a main curriculum at Middle Tennessee and the agriculture department is still accepting students and their facebook page is very popular with the students.

Since 1911, more than 100,000 students have graduated from MTSU. Despite the university’s growth from a campus of 100 acres (0.40 km2), 125 students and a faculty of 19, to an academic city of more than 500 acres (2.0 km2), more than 26,000 students (second largest in Tennessee), and a faculty of more than 900, the institution is still essentially a “people’s university” with a concern for the diverse needs of the area that it serves. In the 1980s and 1990s, the institution dedicated resources to become a leader in technology, both in the classroom and in many services to students.