Doshi has recruited engineers from Miami and Atlanta for his venture, but he got some key technology nearby: To perfect the design of a filter, he got computational engineers at the SimCenter at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to model thousands of air- and liquid-flow variables.

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His alma mater, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, inducted him into their Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2005.

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"The tradition had been declining until recently because the pastors were aged and not attracting new believers, " said Ralph Hood, a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who has written about the practice.

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The University of Tennessee, meanwhile, will have faculty at its Martin and Chattanooga campuses work with Coursera to develop entirely online versions of first-year courses in English composition and masterpieces of music, both general education requirements (these courses won't be "open" to non-UT students, so aren't really "MOOCs, " but they will borrow from Coursera's technology platforms).

WSJ: Higher ed systems in 10 states turn to Coursera