• Lady Vol in Guatemala

    Lady Vol serves in Guatemala

    Junior women's tennis player Caitlyn Williams travels to Guatemala as a Spanish translator

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  • Vice Chancellor for Diversity Began June 3

    Rickey L. Hall, vice chancellor for diversity, looks forward to working with students, faculty, staff, and senior leaders to build on the strong foundation of diversity and inclusion that is already in place at UT. This will be critical to the institution’s drive to the Top 25, as diversity and excellence are inextricably intertwined.

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  • UT archaeologists in Jordan

    Lost Roman Outpost Uncovered in Southern Jordan

    Rare new details about an ancient Roman fort in southern Jordan have been uncovered.. Robert Darby, a lecturer in art history in the School of Art, and Erin Darby, an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, direct the ‘Ayn Gharandal archaeological project that has uncovered details about the fort.

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  • A Call for Civility video

    Civility and Community

    As Volunteers, UT’s faculty, staff and students enjoy and value an environment that makes all people feel welcome and respected.

  • Ready for the World

    Ready for the World is part of a long-range plan to transform the campus into a culture of diversity that best helps students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today's world.

    Get ready for the world


Diversity

Welcoming to all and hostile to none. It’s a phrase we aspire to live by on our campus.

Creating a welcoming environment where people are open to learning from one another lays the foundation. We grow through conversations and experiences with people who have different beliefs and come from other places, cultures, and backgrounds.

We choose to celebrate our differences and the opportunities they create for our students, faculty, and staff. Our students find them everywhere, from coursework and lectures to campus entertainment and informal gatherings.

Our students hail from 100 countries and all fifty states. Educating students to achieve excellence requires our consistent focus on recruiting and retaining a diverse student body, faculty, and staff.

UT has celebrated fifty years of African American achievement at the university, honoring the vast accomplishments of African Americans over the past half-century.

Our minority engineering program has been recruiting top students in the field for nearly forty years, and our business school recently increased its scholarship and outreach efforts to students from underrepresented populations.

But diversity means more than race and ethnicity; it’s about moving beyond just tolerance to a place of understanding. Approaching differences in political views, religion, gender identity, values, age, abilities, and sexual orientation with an open mind helps get us there.

We infuse diversity principles beyond just the student body. We allocate more resources for faculty and staff hiring and for new programs, like Arabic Studies, to expand the content and perspectives our students encounter in the classroom.

We are continually striving to put our principles of civility and community into action here in Knoxville.

Our students embody the Volunteer spirit by helping others at home and abroad, whether serving as Spanish translators on a medical mission trip in Guatemala, recording jazz CDs to benefit young people in war-torn northern Uganda, or producing music concerts to raise money for regional flood relief efforts.

Working with campus leaders and organizations, we are building a community that values critical inquiry, civil debate, and discovery.  

By showing respect and finding common ground, we set the stage for the free exchange of ideas and the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual curiosity.


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The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Big Orange. Big Ideas.

Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 | 865-974-1000
The flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System