About
We are the Volunteers.
Information
Founded in 1794, UT is big on tradition, and we are proud of our humble beginnings as the first public university chartered west of the Appalachian Divide.
UT Knoxville — which includes the UT Space Institute — serves the state by educating its citizens, enhancing its culture, and making a difference in people's lives through research and service.
We embody excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity, outreach, and engagement.
We are improving undergraduate and graduate education, research, support for faculty and staff, our campus infrastructure, and our resources.
UT Knoxville is:
- Tennessee's flagship land grant university
- A public research institution
- Part of the UT System, along with UT Chattanooga, UT Martin, the UT Institute of Agriculture, and the UT Health Science Center
- Classified as producing very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (Doctoral Universities R1 category)
- A Carnegie Engaged University
- Governed by a board of trustees with 12 members
Accreditation
Since 1897, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been continuously accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. For questions, contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500.
Mission, Vision, and Values
Our campus has adopted a primary mission, a three-part vision, and a set of values that defines our Volunteer Spirit.
Administration
Interim Chancellor Wayne T. Davis
The chancellor manages the Knoxville campus.
Learn more about the chancellor
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor David Manderscheid
The provost oversees campus academic activities.
FOCUS ON
Vol Vision
Our journey is one with an ambitious goal—to establish UT as a top-tier public research university.
UT History
UT History
Blount College
1794 - Blount College is founded. The costs to attend in 1805 were $8 per session for student tuition and $25 for room and board.
UT History
The Hill
1826 - East Tennessee College moved to the Hill. Ayres Hall was dedicated on the Hill in 1921.
UT History
Engineering
1838 - The College of Engineering offered one surveying course. There were more than 850 courses by the college’s 175th anniversary in 2013.
UT History
Civil War
1861 - East Tennessee University campus was damaged during the Civil War. President Grant vetoed a bill providing $18,500 for repairs, but later approved a revised version.
UT History
Morrill Act
1862 - The Morrill Act became law, but the lingering effects of the Civil War delayed East Tennessee University’s designation as the state’s federal land grant institution until 1869.
UT History
Marching Band
1869 - Our band began as a corps of cadets. It took 80 years before the band became known as the Pride of the Southland Band in 1949.
UT History
Becoming UT
1879 - Our institution had three names and multiple locations before it became the University of Tennessee.
UT History
Women at UT
1892 - Women were admitted on an experimental basis to UT, nine years before the first women’s dorm opened and 88 years after four women were admitted to Blount College.
UT History
Mugwump
1920s and early 1930s - Students published a humor magazine called the Mugwump. It’s archived online in the University Libraries’ collections.
UT History
World War II
1942–1945 - UT hosted several military training programs during the war.
UT History
Smokey
1953 - UT adopted Smokey, a bluetick coonhound, as our official mascot, six decades ahead of the breed’s recognition by the American Kennel Club.
UT History
First Black Undergraduates
1961 - Theotis Robinson Jr. and Charles Blair were among UT’s first admitted black undergraduates. Robinson eventually became vice president of equity and diversity for the UT System.
UT History
Torchbearer
1968 - The Torchbearer statue was unveiled in Circle Park.
UT History
Vietnam War Protests
1970 - Vietnam War protestors demonstrated during President Richard Nixon’s visit to the Billy Graham Crusade in Neyland Stadium. Arrests resulted in some exonerations and some jail time.
UT History
Pat Head Summitt
1974 - Pat Head Summitt was hired as head coach of the Lady Vols basketball team as a 22-year old. She coached until 2012 and became the winningest coach in the history of NCAA basketball.
UT History
First Sorority Houses Opened
2012 - Sorority Village became home to its first residents. In the early 1900s, the administration would not allow sorority houses due to the possibility of “expensive social activities.”
UT History
World Record Human Letter
2017 - 4,223 Volunteers broke the world’s record for the largest human letter by forming a giant power T on the field at Neyland Stadium on March 29.
UT History
Student Union Opened
2019 - The final portion of the 395,088-square-foot Student Union, also known as phase two, was completed. The celebration included lighting the torch sculpture made of 319 hand blown glass flames. The first phase of the Student Union was completed in 2015.