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Make Orange Green
Established in 2008, the Office of Sustainability aims to foster sustainable development and promote environmental stewardship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville by strategically bridging the gap between campus operations, teaching, research, and outreach.
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Activities
Learn more about the Central Program Council, Dance Marathon, TeamVOLS and more in our guide to Student Activities at UT!
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RecSports
The RecSports Department serves the university community by providing quality programs and facilities for almost any sport or recreational pursuit.
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UT Farmers Market
The market is hosted by the Institute of Agriculture's Organic and Sustainable Crops Unit. Come picnic in the gardens, buy your groceries, listen to local music and mingle!
Life @ UT
Getting an education at UT doesn’t start and end with your class schedule.
It’s also about making new friends, learning Big Orange traditions you’ll treasure for life, and discovering your own potential for big ideas. The knowledge and experience you gain at UT will prepare you to transform those thoughts into actions.
Our campus has everything you need to be your home away from home—inviting you to get involved in anything your heart desires. From traditional Greek organizations to professional societies, from archery and judo to rugby, water polo, and every other sport in between, students can pursue any interest through more than 400 active clubs.
If you’re an aspiring journalist, try writing for the Daily Beacon. Show off your jazz dance skills on the UT Dance team. Get behind the camera or write scripts for our student TV station, UTTV. Work with our entrepreneur center to turn your inspired idea into a profitable business. Plan a new hike every weekend through the UT Canoe and Hiking Club.
Stimulate your mind through area arboretum tours, star gazing, skydiving trips, film nights, and international coffee hours, where our students, faculty, and staff meet up to chat and learn how to make various international dishes.
Our campus welcomes speakers and honored guests from all walks of life. In recent years, we’ve hosted Spike Lee, Dolly Parton, Al Gore, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, Ralph Nader, and authors Ishmael Beah, Jeannette Walls, and Tracy Kidder.
Our students are known for their volunteer spirit, both on game day and in the community. The student-run TeamVOLS program sums up what it means to be a Vol through alternative spring and fall break trips and other ongoing service opportunities. We’re also involved in outreach programs in areas like health care, animal welfare, hunger and homelessness, city beautification, youth outreach, global issues, and more. Volunteer opportunities also exist with UT Recycling, the Student Success Center, and VolsTeach.
When hunger strikes, choose from healthy, made-to-order dishes at our food courts, or dine at one of our national brand restaurants, including Subway, Starbucks, IHOP, Einstein Bagels, and Smoothie King. Our Mug Project and reusable to-go boxes are working to eliminate single-use cups and containers from our dining facilities, and all food waste is composted and reused for campus landscaping.
Our state-of-the-art student rec center will get your endorphins running with Olympic-sized indoor and outdoor pools, aerobic, spin, and yoga classes, game courts, personal training, and a wide selection of free weights, exercise machines, and wall-mounted TVs.
The brand new student health center will tend to the health of your body and mind. A wide range of residence hall options provide comfortable, peaceful, active, and close-knit living opportunities.
Sustainability-minded student residents can lead as Eco Vols, a Make Orange Green initiative dedicated to reducing residence hall energy consumption. Switch Your Thinking, an aggressive campaign to reduce energy consumption on campus, is inspiring our entire community to think differently about energy use. For instance, our campus is the first in the nation to launch an electric bicycle–sharing program. Other student bike rental programs make forsaking the car a great option for commuting between classes.
Several of our buildings meet LEED specifications, including Ayres Hall, the Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, the Student Health Center, and the Baker Center. Campus-wide lighting upgrades and other ongoing sustainability projects are reducing our energy dependence, as will alternative energy projects slated for the near future.
Campus is kept alive with year-round entertainment, events, and activities. Thompson-Boling Arena hosts world-famous rock stars and preeminent acts such as Cirque Du Soleil, while the acclaimed Clarence Brown Theatre presents theatrical masterpieces for the campus and the community.
Step off campus into Knoxville, and you’ll enter an urban, but cozy, city with a diverse culture of music, eclectic foods, boutique shopping, arts, and entertainment. Weekly farmers’ markets sell the freshest-tasting local food, while downtown galleries present art by world-famous artists as well as the work of UT’s talented visionaries.
Sports fans are also drawn to the Tennessee Smokies baseball and Ice Bears hockey games. World famous tourist destinations Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Dollywood, and the Great Smoky Mountains are all right at our doorstep.
Oh, and we also play a little football…and basketball, softball and baseball, along with thirteen other sports.
Happening on Campus
Big Idea: UT Students Open Dialogue on Race and Religion
Seniors Jayanni Webster, Abbey Schaplowsky, and Corie Fine were working together on a class project when they realized how diverse their own lives were—and how the campus as a whole is full of thousands of individuals, each with their own differences. From this idea came “Dialogue: A Conversation on Race and Religion at UT,” a film screening and panel discussion devised as a way to create a safe, inclusive way for students to talk about different social issues.
UT Diners Can Get Reusable To-Go Containers at Southern Kitchen
Students, faculty, and staff who eat at the campus’s Southern Kitchen are taking advantage of “Green Takeout”—a sustainable program with Volunteer Dining. For a one-time fee of $5, patrons can receive a reusable food container every time they eat at Southern Kitchen, located on the ground floor of Volunteer Hall.
Oui, Oui! UT’s Ready for the World Café Says ‘Yes!’ To French Cuisine
The Ready for the World Café will venture to France on Tuesday, April 3. The lunch will consist of intermezzo, or small appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert. Advance tickets are available in the Jessie Harris Building or at 974-6645. The cost is $12, and the faculty–staff discount applies.
UT Chef Wins Gold With ‘Deconstructed Bacon Cheeseburger’
With a unique twist on a national favorite dish, UT Chef Jason Timmons brought home gold from the ARAMARK Culinary Excellence Challenge, held last week at the University of South Alabama. Timmons beat out the competition with his entrée, a “Deconstructed Bacon Cheeseburger en Croute,” and his dessert, an “Inside Out Pineapple Upside Down Cake.” At 11:00 a.m. today, UT will host the final South Region ACE Competition at Presidential Court Café. Attendees can sample the food made by competing chefs.
Final Week of RecycleMania Wraps Up With Zero-waste Lunches
The RecycleMania competition is entering its eighth and final week and the campus is celebrating the milestone by focusing on compostable food waste. At three zero-waste events this week, employees and volunteers from UT Recycling and Volunteer Dining will work together to compost 100 percent of leftover food.
Featured Event
Campus Events
Behind the Scenes
Take a behind the scenes look at rehearsals and the relationship between an actor—Ashleigh Stochel—and a director—Casey Sams—as they prepare for UT's production of Dead Man's Cell Phone.
College of Rock
WUTK-FM is an independent, non-commercial college radio station owned by the University of Tennessee (UT) and operated by the UT Department of Journalism and Electronic Media. All music, news, and sports shows are student produced.
Actual Rock
Unearthed in the 1960s, the Rock soon thereafter became a “canvas” for student messages. For years the university sandblasted away the messages but eventually deferred to students’ artistic endeavors. And yes, it's an actual rock—the Rock is Knox dolomite, a common type of local rock that is 500 million years old.
The Daily Beacon has editorialized:
“Originally a smaller rock, The Rock has grown in prestige and size while thousands of coats of paint have been thrown on its jagged face. Really, its function is as an open forum for students.”
Volunteer Spirit
Our students are known for their volunteer spirit, both on game day and in the community. The student-run TeamVOLS program sums up what it means to be a Vol through alternative spring and fall break trips and other ongoing service opportunities.
We’re also involved in outreach programs in areas like health care, animal welfare, hunger and homelessness, city beautification, youth outreach, global issues, and more.
Volunteer opportunities also exist with UT Recycling, the Student Success Center, and VolsTeach.