James D. Hoskins was UT’s 14th president. He earned UT degrees in 1891, 1893, and 1897.

Nathan W. Dougherty (1909) was dean of the UT College of Engineering at Knoxville from 1940 to 1956 and chairman of the UT Athletic Council from 1917 to 1956. He was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Burgin Estel Dossett (1922) was president of East Tennessee State University from 1949 to 1968.

Lawrence G. Derthick (1930) was U.S. commissioner of education from 1956 to 1961.

Cleveland Leon Dennard (1964) was president of Atlanta University from 1977 to 1983, and president of the Technological Institute of Washington from 1976 to 1977. He was chief operating officer of the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change and was the 1972 Washingtonian of the Year.

William D. Carnes, an 1842 graduate of East Tennessee University (UT’s predecessor), was UT president from 1858 to 1860.

Charles E. Smith (1961) was chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee commissioner of education. From 1980 to 1985 he served as Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Martin; he then served as Vice President of the University of Tennessee system. He was editor of the Nashville Banner from 1979 to [...]

Arliss Lloyd Roaden (1958, 1961) was president of Tennessee Technological University from 1974 to 1985. He also was executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Shirley C. Raines (1972) is the first female president of the University of Memphis. She became president in 2001. Previously she was a vice chancellor and dean of education at the University of Kentucky.

Yan-Hwa Wu Lee (1976) is president of National Yang-Ming University in Tapei, Taiwan.