Campus with a Plan
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Many of us think our college years were the best times of our lives. We replay memories of golden autumn days climbing the Hill and cheering the Vols. But the way we were isn’t the way it will always be. The UT campus changes to the tune of the times.
An evolving “arts quad” in the center of campus will bring together many student services and offer more pedestrian-friendly space. Roughly bounded by the Humanities complex and the library on the east and the Music Building and Student Health Clinic to the west, the arts quad will include a new residence hall and expansions of the Music Building, the Joe Johnson-John Ward Pedestrian Mall, and the Student Health Clinic.
Melrose Hall also is in line to be renovated, and eventually the Art and Architecture Building and Clarence Brown Theatre will be expanded.
Traditional architecture and people-friendly space will define future campus development.
“Pedestrian flow, green space, and sustainability are uppermost in our plans,” says Chancellor Loren Crabtree. “If we make more of our buildings ‘green,’ we’ll save money over the long term. As a university, we have a responsibility to set high standards. Our students, faculty, and alumni expect that and deserve it.”
Plans for the arts quad and other new projects are based on projections of steady enrollment growth over the coming decade.
Construction of the 650-student residence hall—the campus’s first new dorm since 1969—will take about a year to design and take about two years to complete. It will be located behind the Black Cultural Center and will include a large dining facility. The expanded Student Health Clinic will provide space to bring together services now scattered throughout the campus. The renovation of venerable Melrose Hall will result in new space for the Student Success Center and the Center for International Education.
Also, a 1,200-space parking garage will be built west of Stokely Athletic Center. The campus landmark Rock, message board for generations of students, will be incorporated into the site design.
“The Music Building also will be expanded as quickly as possible,” says Vice Chancellor Denise Barlow. “We have a $10 million gift from Jim and Natalie Haslam to support that project,” and $30 million in state funds have been appropriated as well.
Numerous large projects, including the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, Glocker Business Administration Building, Pratt Pavilion, and the Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, already are underway.
Beautifying the Lake Loudon Boulevard campus entrance off of Neyland Drive—the portal with the highest daily traffic census—is on the to-do list as well.
“We’re working with other parties to plan an attractive entrance” that will feature landscaping and new signage, Barlow says.
Do you have comments about plans for the future of the campus? Email torch@tennessee.edu.