The University of Tennessee
(also known as UT), sometimes called the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT
Knoxville, or UTK) is a public land-grant university headquartered at
Knoxville
. Founded in 1794, it is the flagship
institution of the statewide
University of Tennessee
system with nine undergraduate departments and eleven graduate
departments and hosts almost 28,000 students from all 50 states and
more than 100 foreign countries. In its 2009 ranking of
universities,
U.S. News & World Report
ranked UT 118th among national universities and 52nd among public
institutions of higher learning.
Its ties to Oak Ridge
National Laboratory
, established under UT President Andrew Holt and
continued under the UT-Battelle
partnership, have positioned the University as co-manager and allow
for considerable research opportunities for faculty and students
enjoyed by few other institutions of comparable
standing.
Also affiliated with the University are the
Howard H.
Baker, Jr.
Center for Public Policy, the
University
of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, and the
University of
Tennessee Arboretum, which occupies 250 acres of nearby
Oak Ridge, Tennessee and features hundreds
of species of plants indigenous to the region. The University is a
direct partner of the
University of Tennessee
Medical Center, it is one of two
Level I trauma center in the East
Tennessee region and a self-proclaimed 'teaching hospital' due to
its aggressive medical research programs and position as the
primary career destination for most medical school graduates of the
University
of Tennessee Health Science Center at Memphis.
Known for its passionate football tradition, Tennessee's primary
economic engine and largest institute of higher learning, the
University was nearly destroyed during the Civil War, but rebounded
with substantial growth during the
Reconstruction era of
the United States. The University of Tennessee is the only
university in the nation to have three presidential papers editing
projects and holds collections of the papers of all three U.S.
presidents from Tennessee—
Andrew
Jackson,
James K. Polk, and
Andrew
Johnson.
History
Founding and early days
On September 10, 1794, two years before Tennessee became a state
and at a meeting of the legislature of the
Southwest Territory at Knoxville, the
University of Tennessee was chartered as
Blount
College. The new, all-male, non-sectarian institution
struggled for 13 years with a small student body and faculty, and
in 1807, the school was renamed
East Tennessee
College. When its first president and only faculty member
died in 1809, the school was temporarily closed until 1820, and in
1840 was elevated to
East Tennessee University.
The school's status as a religiously non-affiliated institution of
higher learning was unusual for the period of time in which it was
chartered, and the school is generally recognized as the oldest
such establishment of its kind west of the Appalachian
Divide.
Civil War and reconstruction
East Tennessee was considered to be a bastion of Union sympathies
throughout the
American Civil
War, although the University and the city of Knoxville were
fairly divided for the duration of the conflict.
As the threat of armed
conflict between Union and Confederate forces loomed over the city
of Knoxville
, UT was forced to close its doors to students at
the onset of the Siege of Knoxville
and the campus's main buildings were requisitioned
as hospitals and barracks. The school and its grounds suffered severe
damage not only from the Battle of Fort Sanders
, but also from its unfortunate position between
Union artillery based at Fort Sanders, situated immediately to the
north of the 40 acre campus, and Fort Dickerson to south,
overlooking the school from a bluff rising above the southern bank
of the Tennessee River.
After being ravaged by war, the University saw its fortunes change
dramatically in 1862 with the passage of the
Morrill Act by the United States Congress,
although it was not until 1869 that the law's designation of the
school as a
land-grant
university became practical due to complications associated
with the War and its aftermath. Federal funds and land were thus
allocated to the University for the purposes of instructing
students in military, agricultural, and mechanical subjects, and
Trustees soon after approved the establishment of a medical program
under the auspices of the Nashville School of Medicine and began
the addition of advanced degree programs. In the same year, East
Tennessee College was renamed the University of Tennessee.
Civil rights era
The first
African Americans were
admitted to the graduate and law schools by order of a federal
district court in 1952. The first master's degree was awarded to a
black student in 1954, and the first doctoral degree (Ed.D.) in
1959. Black undergraduates were not admitted until 1961; the first
black faculty member was appointed in 1964. Integration went fairly
smoothly; Black students had more difficulty gaining entry to
eating establishments and places of entertainment off campus than
they did attending class on campus. Overall, Knoxville and the
University had fewer racial troubles in the 1950s and 1960s than
did other southern universities.
Despite this climate, African-American attorney Rita Geier filed
suit against the state of Tennessee in 1968 alleging that its
higher education system remained segregated despite a federal
mandate ordering desegregation.
She claimed that the opening of a University
of Tennessee campus at Nashville,
Tennessee
would lead to the creation of another predominantly
white institution that would strip resources from Tennessee State
University, the only state-funded Historically black
university. The suit was not settled until 2001, when
the Geier Consent Decree resulted in the appropriation of $77
million in state funding to increase diversity among student and
faculty populations among all Tennessee institutions of higher
learning.
Statewide reorganization
1968, the
university underwent an administrative reorganization which left
the Knoxville campus as the flagship and headquarters of its new
"university system," comprising the UT Health Science Center at
Memphis, a four-year college at Martin
, the
formerly private University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga
(added a year later), the UT Space Institute at
Tullahoma, and the Knoxville-based College of Veterinary Medicine,
Agriculture Institute, and Public Service Institute.
An
additional primary campus in Nashville
had a brief existence from 1971 to 1979 before it
was ordered closed and merged with Tennessee
State University
.
The University of Tennessee's flagship campus in Knoxville hosts
the Institute of
Agriculture and the
Institute for Public
Service.
The UT Health Science
Center at Memphis and the UT Space Institute
at Tullahoma
are specialized campuses but are not separate
institutions.
Organization
Administration
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is the flagship campus of
the statewide University of Tennessee system and is governed by a
26-member Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor of
Tennessee.
Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek is the chief executive officer of the
University's Knoxville campus, and is responsible for its daily
administration and management. His position is that of an officer
of the University of Tennessee system and his position is elected
annually by the UT Board of Trustees at the recommendation of the
President of the University, and Dr. Cheek is directly subordinate
to Interim President Jan Simek. Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs Susan Martin is responsible for the academic
administration of the Knoxville campus and reports directly to the
Chancellor.
Budget
University of Tennessee
-
- Research Budget (2004):
- Main campus: $109,525,996
- Institute of Agriculture: $26,987,367
- Experiment Station: $9,262,186
- Extension: $14,000,673
- Veterinary Medicine: $3,724,508
- Institute for Public Service: $5,882,079
- Space Institute: $2,552,297
- Total: $307.9 million (2006)
- Total Budget: $1.4 Billion (2006)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (operated jointly by
The University of Tennessee and
Battelle Memorial Institute):
-
- Research budget: $1.06 Billion (2006)
- Total Budget: $2.5 Billion (2004)
According to the University's 2009 budget, state appropriations
increased 26.4 percent from 2000 to 2009, although this amounts to
only a 1.1 percent when adjusted for inflation.
University Medical Center
The University of Tennessee Medical Center, administered by
University Health Systems and affiliated with the University of
Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, collaborates with the
University
of Tennessee Health Science Center to attract and train the
majority of its medical staff. Many doctors and nurses at UTMC have
integrated careers as teachers and healthcare professionals, and
the center promotes itself as the area's only academic, or
"teaching hospital." Serving on the UTMC Board of Directors are the
President of the University of Tennessee, the Chancellor of the
University
of Tennessee Health Science Center, and UT President Emeritus
Joseph E. Johnson, Ph.D.
The
University Medical Center is the primary referral center for
Eastern Tennessee, Western North Carolina
, and Southeastern Kentucky
and along with Johnson City Medical Center, it is
one of two Level I trauma
center in the East Tennessee geographic region.
Extensive expansion programs were embarked upon the 1990s and 2000s
and saw the construction of two sprawling additions to the
hospital's campus, a new Cancer Institute and a Heart Lung Vascular
Institute. The region's first Heart Hospital is scheduled to open
in 2010. The facility is served by
LIFESTAR, a fleet of Bell helicopters providing
aeromedical evacuation support within a 150-mile radius of
Knoxville.
Students and faculty
Profile
During the 2007-2008 academic calendar year, The University of
Tennessee at Knoxville had a total enrollment of 21,132
undergraduate and 5,670 graduate and professional students.
UT hosts
students from all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 foreign
countries, although the majority of undergraduates hail from the
American Southeast states of Tennessee
, North
Carolina, Georgia
, and Virginia
, with more than 14,000 from Tennessee alone.
51% of students are female, 49% are male, and 16% of UT students
identify themselves as non-caucasian.
UT offers
its students more than 300 degree programs in its eleven colleges
of: Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Architecture and
Design, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Communication
and Information, Health, Education, and Human Sciences,
Engineering, Law, Nursing, Social Work, and Veterinary Medicine,
and offers two intercollegiate programs in Aviation Systems,
through the University of Tennessee
Space Institute at Tullahoma, and Cooperative and Experimental
Medicine at the University of
Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee
. The University employs 1,550 full-time
faculty members, of whom 57% are tenured and 81% claim a Ph.D or
other terminal degree in their respective fields. As of the
2007-2008 academic year, 71% of courses taken featured class sizes
smaller than 30 students, and students at the Knoxville campus
enjoy a 16:1 ratio of faculty-to-students.
The University is classified as 'more selective' by
U.S. News,
with a Fall 2007 acceptance rate of 71.2%. The average high school
GPA was 3.6 for incoming Freshmen.
Rankings
The University of Tennessee is ranked 52nd among public
universities of America, and 118th among all United States
universities. Specialty rankings are:
- 1 UT's Physician Executive MBA program of the
College of Business Administration according to Modern Physician.
- 1 UT MBA program in alumni value (value for
the money) three years after graduation, according to Financial
Times Global Business School Rankings.
- 1 Winningest College Basketball Coach in
history.
- 2 UT's College of Architecture and Design out of Southern
Universities according to the journal DesignIntelligence
in its publication "America's Best Architecture & Design
Schools".
- 2 The supply chain management/logistics
programs as published in Supply Chain Management
Review.
- 3 UT graduate program in printmaking by
U.S. News & World Report.
- 5 UT MBA program overall among U.S. Public
Universities according to Wall Street Journal 2005.
- 5 Best Athletic Facilities according to the
Princeton Review.
- 6 UT's senior executive MBA
program in alumni goal achievement and satisfaction, according to
the Financial Times.
- 7 The supply chain management/logistics
programs in the UT College of Business Administration, according to
U.S.
News & World
Report.
- 7 The pharmacy
program, according to U.S. News & World
Report.
- 9 UT Health Science Center Department of
Ophthalmology by Ophthalmology Times.
- 9 UT's Athletic Program by the Hall of Fame's ranking of Top Collegiate
Athletic Programs.
- 9 Best Parties
according to Playboy
Magazine.
- 10 UT College of Law, in the National Jurist Best School for the
Money ratings, and the clinical training specialty is ranked 19th
while the college's overall graduate program is ranked 53rd in the
U.S.
- 10 UT's Nuclear
Engineering graduate program, according to U.S.
News and World Report.
- 15 Most Fraternity
& Sorority friendly according to the Princeton Review.
- 16 Least Tolerant of Homosexuality according to the Princeton Review
(note: UT's one of only 3 public universities
within the top 16, the other 12 are private religiously affiliated
universities).
- 19 Most Athletic Student
Body according to the Princeton
Review.
- 25 Most Attractive Student Body by AOL Time Warner's PopCrunch
Magazine.
- 26 UT's College of Social Work, according to
U.S. News & World Report.
- 35 UT's College of Education, Health and Human
Science.
- 45 UT Master of Fine Arts program by
U.S. News & World Report.
- Neyland Stadium
is ranked as the World's Best College Football
Stadium. And Sports
Illustrated also says that Tennessee Volunteers' Gameday
is the World's Best College Football
Experience.
- The John
C. Hodges
Library ranks among the top 30 public research libraries of the
United States.
- The Joel A. Katz Law Library in the UT College
of Law is ninth best in the nation according to National Jurist magazine.
- The University of Tennessee is ranked as a Best
Southeastern College by the Princeton Review.
UT's College of Law
Research
The total research endowment of the UT Knoxville campus was
$127,983,213 for FY 2006. UT Knoxville boasts several faculty who
are among the leading contributors to their fields, including Dr.
Harry McSween, generally recognized as one of the world's leading
experts in the study of
meteorites and a
member of the science team for
Mars
Pathfinder and later a co-investigator for the
Mars Odyssey and
Mars Exploration Rovers projects.
The University also hosts Professor of Religious Studies Dr.
Rosalind I. J. Hackett, President of the International Association
for the History of Religions (IAHR) and a leading expert in the
study of
African religions, as
well as Dr. Barry T.
Rouse, an international award-winning
Distinguished Professor of Microbiology who has conducted multiple
NIH
-funded studies on the herpes simplex virus (HSV)
and who is a leading researcher in his field. UT's
agricultural research programs are considered to be among the most
accomplished in the nation, and the School of Agricultural Sciences
and Natural Resources is home to the East Tennessee Clean Fuels
Initiative, recognized by the United States
Department of Energy as the "best local
clean fuels program in America."
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The major hub of research at the University of Tennessee is Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the largest government
laboratories in the United States. ORNL is a major center of
civilian and governmental research and features one of the world's
most powerful supercomputers.
The University is a participant in the
Open Science Grid which allows
physicists to
process data from the Large Hadron Collider
in Switzerland
. Also at ORNL is one of the world's most
powerful scientific instruments, the Spallation
Neutron Source
, which is expected to become an integral tool for
the development of advanced materials technologies such as smart materials and attracts both American
and international researchers to the East Tennessee
region.
Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy
The
Howard
H. Baker, Jr. Center
for Public Policy began its activities at the University of
Tennessee in Knoxville in early 2003. The mission of the Baker
Center is to develop programs and promote research to further the
public's knowledge of the American system of governance, and also
to explore the importance of public service. The Baker Center
places a special emphasis on examining the role of the media in
society and maintains and promotes research in the papers of Howard
Baker and other political collections at the University of
Tennessee. It hosts public programs on issues of local, regional,
national, and international significance which focus upon a wide
array of topics, with special interest given to the role of the
media.
The Baker Center creates a number of individual and recurring
publications for students, faculty, community members and policy
makers. Its most prestigious publication, the Baker Center Journal
of Applied Public Policy, is published twice a year, but Baker
Center fellows often publish editorials and articles on a more
regular basis. Many of the Center's conferences produce policy
publications designed to address problems and to produce
applicable, real world solutions.
Campus layout and organization
The university traces its roots to September 10, 1794, two years
before Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state, when
Blount College was established by the legislature of the Southwest
Territory as one of the first three colleges chartered west of the
Appalachian Mountains. At this time, Knoxville was the territorial
capital and the area of land occupied by the University was largely
farmland bordering a broad stretch of the Tennessee River . In 1807
the school was rechristened East Tennessee College and in 1828 was
moved from Gay Street in downtown Knoxville to a 40 acre (160,000
m²) tract known as Barbara Hill, named in honor of Governor
Blount's daughter, and was renamed East Tennessee University in
1848. Known to students and alumni today as simply "The Hill," it
is only a small part of the Knoxville campus but constitutes a
veritable acropolis of expansive and well-preserved red-brick
buildings. Construction of the iconic Ayers Hall was completed in
1921 following the Tennessee State Legislature's first $1 million
appropriation, and today that structure remains the most widely
recognized symbol of the flagship Knoxville campus.
Main Campus
The main Knoxville campus can be divided into three distinct blocks
of housing, academic, and athletic structures. Two main avenues of
traffic, Volunteer Boulevard and Andy Holt Avenue bisect the
campus, intersecting with smaller side streets. The majority of
dormitories share a north street face along Andy Holt Avenue, which
is broken by the Pedestrian Mall and Walkway between the John C.
Hodges Library and the Humanities Plaza complex. The terrain of the
campus is mostly hilly in its outlay and the school is bound by the
Tennessee River to the South and a section of
U.S. Route 70 to
the North. Known to Knoxvillians as Cumberland Avenue and to UT
students and faculty simply as "The Strip," this roughly half-mile
stretch of road is home to the majority of local businesses and
eateries serving the University population and is a popular
entertainment venue throughout the year.
A number of capital improvement project were undertaken in the
1990s and 2000s and resulted in major additions to the campus,
including the James A. Haslam II Business Building, the
Howard H.
Baker, Jr.
Center for Public Policy Building, and the Joe Johnson and John
Ward Pedestrian Mall that replaced a section of Andy Holt Avenue
which had previously separated the central student study hub of
John C. Hodges Library from the heavily trafficked Humanities Plaza
office and classroom complex.
That project was a significant
beautification effort which established a central, tree-lined
commons area for the Knoxville campus, complete with an
amphitheater and a large expanse of open green space with a
panoramic vista of The Hill and downtown
Knoxville.
The campus is well served by the "T," a fleet of brightly painted
orange buses operated by biodiesel fuels, transporting University
faculty, students, and staff at no charge. The "T-Link" is an
on-call taxi service available after dark to students who are not
comfortable traveling alone on campus or through adjoining
residential neighborhoods such as the popular Fort Sanders, and is
offered at no charge to students who present a valid UT student ID
card.
Agricultural Campus
The University of Tennessee Agricultural Campus is directly
adjacent to the main Knoxville campus and is home to the largest
potion of the University's principle agricultural and natural
sciences research infrastructure, but occupies only a fraction of
the total lands held by the University for research purposes. The
Ag Campus is the site of UT's Plant Biotech Building and associated
facilities, the Biosystems Engineering and Environmental Sciences
facility, UT's College of Veterinary Medicine and its associated
teaching hospital of veterinary medicine, the Pendergrass Library
Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine Library, the Tennessee
Division of Forestry, UT's new Business Incubator, built in
conjunction with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Forestry
Products and Resources facility, vast greenhouses and growth
chambers, and the administrative offices and multiple classroom
halls devoted to UT's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources.
Numerous sites further afield, in both
Knox
County
and Blount County
are held by the University and are devoted to
multiple endeavors of agricultural and forestry sciences, including
the cultivation and research of forestry products and the
production of biofuels. The UT Gardens occupy the portion of
the Ag Campus bordering the Tennessee River and feature hundreds of
species of native plants and constitute a sizable arboretum that is
open to University affiliates and the public throughout the
year.
The
University
of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, nicknamed the
"Body Farm", is located near the
University of Tennessee
Medical Center on
Alcoa
Highway (
US 129). Founded by Dr.
William M. Bass in 1972, the Body Farm endeavors to
increase anthropological and forensic knowledge specifically
related to the decomposition of the human body and is one of the
leading centers for such research in the United States.
Looking westward at the University
Mall.
Cherokee Research Campus
On March 16, 2009, the University broke ground on a 188 acre campus
in downtown Knoxville which will feature new, world-class
facilities devoted to the pursuit of
nanotechnology, neutron science, and
materials sciences, energy and climate studies,
environmental science, and
biomedical science.
This new hub will
dramatically expand the University's research capacity, and
operations will be a collaboration between the University, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, the State of Tennessee, and the private
sector. Currently, 16 research and support structures have
been designed for the campus, and the master plan allows for the
development of more, as well as expansion of existing facilities
once they are built. Construction is scheduled to begin on campus
infrastructure in August 2009.
Campus master plan
The University has implemented a 25-year (2001-2026) campus master
plan that will facilitate a sweeping overhaul of campus design. The
plan is designed to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly by
establishing large areas of open green space and relegating parking
facilities to the periphery of the campus, and to increase the
aesthetic appeal of the school by establishing uniform building
design codes and by physically remodeling, restoring, and expanding
existing academic, athletic, and housing facilities. Centrally
located, iconic Ayers Hall is currently undergoing a massive
upgrade as part of Phase I of the project, with work expected to be
completed around 2011. A new university center is planned, along
with substantial new facilities for science, the performing arts,
and athletics. An expected 3,000 new parking spaces will be
developed along with improved mass transit and walking spaces. The
plan calls for the removal of many of the roads that bisect the
campus, along with the development of two new quads, one each on
the main and agricultural campuses. Restoration and renovations of
existing campus buildings are expected to be conducted in concert
with historical preservationists when appropriate, according to the
2001 Master Plan document.
Student life
Activities
Pedestrian Mall and Amphitheater
The Pedestrian Mall and its adjoining, grassy amphitheater is the
most popular student gathering point on campus, situated between
the John C. Hodges Library and the Humanities Plaza complex of
McClung Tower and the Humanities classroom building. Studying,
kite-flying, protests, proselytizing, hammock lounging, picnics,
sunbathing, frisbee, barbecues, and free concerts are common
activities that occur throughout the academic year and
beyond.
T-RECS
Students and faculty not affiliated with the athletic department
enjoy free use of the state-of-the-art Tennessee Recreational
Center for Students, known universally on campus as "T-RECS."
T-RECS offers an Olympic-sized swimming pool, four indoor
basketball courts, more than 80 cardiovascular exercise stations
with access to an in-house entertainment center and XM radio, more
than 100 strength training centers, multiple banks of free weights,
and a Smoothie King. T-RECS patrons may borrow a variety of
equipment for outdoor activities such as soccer and tennis for no
charge.
International House
The International House is a popular gathering place for visiting
international students and delegations and University of Tennessee
students who have previously or are currently interested in
studying abroad through the Programs Abroad Office. A full kitchen,
meeting rooms, and a library provide support for frequent cultural
events ranging from salsa dance lessons and nation-themed culture
nights to Peace Corps interest meetings.
Black Cultural Center
The Black Cultural Center, or BCC, houses the Office of Minority
Student Affairs and offers a student computer lab, free Spanish
tutoring, and a textbook loan service for economically
disadvantaged students. There is a small but well-stocked library
featuring numerous works examining religious and minority issues,
and the facility offers free use of its meeting rooms to campus
organizations and their affiliates.
Organizations
The University of Tennessee has over 450 registered
student organizations. These groups
cater to a variety of interests and provide options for those
interested in service, sports, arts, social activities, government,
politics, cultural issues, and Greek societies.
The University of Tennessee hosts the
Destination Imagination Global
Finals, a problem solving competition held annually during the last
week of May. The event draws thousands of young students and their
families to Knoxville and is a significant event for the campus
after the end of each academic year. Numerous religious centers are
located along "Church Row," including the University of Tennessee's
Christian Student Fellowship, the Knoxville campus'
Non-Denominational Protestant Christian group, the
Wesley Foundation (a United Methodist
student center), Pope John XXIII (a Catholic student center), and
the Christian Student Center.
The
university operates two radio
stations: student-run The Rock (formerly the Torch) (WUTK-FM
90.3 MHz) and National Public Radio affiliate WUOT-FM
91.9 MHz. The university's first radio
station was on the AM frequency 850 kHz, a donation from Knoxville
radio station WIVK-AM/FM.
The Phoenix, a
literary art magazine, is published in the fall and spring
semesters and showcases student artistic
creativity. The Tennessee Journalist (TNJN) is an online news
publication of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media and is
a collaboration of regular editorial staff and student
contributors, many of whom receive classroom credit for their
work.
The Daily Beacon
The editorially independent
student
newspaper of the University publishes 15,000 copies a day, five
days a week, and claims a staff of over 100 consisting of an
editorial team of 14, more than 60 staff writers, photographers,
copyeditors, and others during the Fall and Spring
semesters. The paper publishes twice weekly
during the summer
semester (May
through August) and has significantly fewer staff writers at that
time.
The publication began as a semi-monthly publication under the name
The University Times-Prospectus in 1871.
The Orange
and White followed in 1906 as a weekly publication and was
later published semi-weekly.
The Daily Beacon was
established 61 years later under the management of alumnus David
Hall (1965) and was published four times per week and soon saw
publication each day of the academic week. Approximately 180 issues
per academic year are published while classes are in session.
Greek institutions
The University of Tennessee hosts eighteen sororities and
twenty-nine fraternities, listed with dates of charter (when
available).
Sororities
Chi Omega 1900, Alpha
Omicron Pi 1902, Zeta Tau Alpha
1904, Phi Mu 1908, Alpha Delta Pi 1920, Delta Delta Delta 1923, Sigma Kappa 1924, Kappa
Delta 1925, Delta Zeta 1933, Delta Gamma 1947, Pi Beta
Phi 1948, Alpha Chi Omega 1961,
Kappa Kappa
Gamma
1967, Alpha Kappa
Alpha 1970, Delta Sigma Theta
1975, Zeta Phi Beta, Lambda Theta Alpha 2001, and Gamma Sigma Sigma, a National Service
Sorority.
Ayres Hall as seen from Neyland Stadium.
Fraternities
Alpha Epsilon Pi,
Alpha Gamma Rho,
Alpha Tau Omega,
Beta Theta Pi,
Chi Phi,
Delta Tau Delta,
FarmHouse,
Alpha Gamma
Rho,
Kappa Alpha Order,
Kappa Sigma,
Lambda Chi Alpha,
Phi Gamma Delta,
Phi Delta Theta,
Phi Kappa Psi,
Phi
Kappa Tau,
Phi Sigma Kappa,
Pi Kappa Alpha,
Pi Kappa Phi,
Sigma Alpha Epsilon,
Sigma Chi,
Sigma Nu,
Sigma Phi Epsilon,
Alpha Phi Alpha,
Phi Beta Sigma,
Kappa Alpha Psi,
Omega Psi Phi,
Iota
Phi Theta,
Lambda Theta Phi,
Phi Mu Alpha, and
Phi Eta Sigma.
Housing
The University of Tennessee has a strong Residence Hall
Association. Created in 1972 as the Inter-Residence Halls Council,
the IRHC changed its name to the United Residence Halls Council
(URHC) the next year. URHC sponsors many events focusing on various
aspects of on-campus living throughout the fall and spring
semesters. In addition, URHC serves as an advocacy board for all
on-campus residents. Residents can use URHC as a vehicle to promote
positive change on campus.
URHC is the second largest student organization on campus with
roughly all 7,000 on-campus residents enjoying full membership.
Each of the thirteen residence halls has its own RHA hosting
smaller scale, more hall specific programs. Each RHA has its own
executive board to govern the activities of its residence hall.
Each RHA's budget consists of $11 per bed that is allocated from
each student's housing activities fee. The URHC holds bimonthly
general body meetings that are open to all residents.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is also affiliated with the
National Association of College and University Residence Halls
(NACURH) as well as the South Atlantic Affiliate of College and
University Residence Halls (SAACURH). Currently UTK is the host
institution of the NACURH Services and Recognition Office (NSRO), a
national office that changes host institutions every two
years.
Athletics
Tennessee competes in the
Southeastern Conference's Eastern
Division, along with
Florida,
Georgia,
Kentucky,
South Carolina, and
Vanderbilt, and has
longstanding
football rivalries
with each. The Volunteers won the 1998 NCAA Division I-A National
Championship in football, and the team is noted for its 1938, 1940,
1950, 1951, 1967, and 1998 National Championship victories. The
Volunteers were coached by
Phillip
Fulmer until 2008 when
Lane Kiffin
was officially announced as the new head coach of the Vols on
December 1.
Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning and the late NFL Hall of
Fame
player Reggie White are
among the numerous NFL athletes to begin their careers at the
University of Tennessee. The men's basketball program is
headed by
Bruce Pearl, and in 2008 the
Vols won their first SEC regular season championship in 41
years.
The
Tennessee Lady
Volunteers won eight NCAA Division I titles (1987, 1989, 1991,
1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008), the most in women's college
basketball history and are led by
Pat
Summitt, the all-time winningest basketball coach in NCAA
history. Her 1000th victory occurred on February 5, 2009, and she
boasts a 100 percent graduation rate for all players who finish
their career at UT. The main women's basketball rivals for
Tennessee within the conference are
Georgia,
Vanderbilt, and
LSU.
UT's
best-known athletic facility by far is Neyland Stadium, home to the football team, which seats over
107,000 people and is one of the country's largest facilities of
its type. The stadium is currently undergoing a $200 million
renovation with construction expected to last into the 2010s
[37218].
The Volunteers and Lady Vols basketball
teams play in Thompson-Boling Arena
, the largest arena (by capacity) ever built
specifically for basketball in the United States. Both
basketball teams currently train at the adjacent Pratt Pavilion, a
$20 million dollar facility opened in 2008 which houses two full
size gymnasia, one each for the men and women varsity basketball
teams, and space for sports medicine, strength training, film
study, and recruiting.
The swimming program trains at the Jones Aquatic Center, which is
directly adjacent to the Student Aquatic Center. This first-class
complex is capable of hosting the
Southeastern Conference and NCAA
Championships, as well as national and international events. Also
included in the new facility is a weight room, training room, and
the University of Tennessee Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame.
Traditions
The
University of Tennessee, as the second-oldest institution of higher
learning in Tennessee, the 29th oldest in the United States, and
the oldest secular college west of the Appalachian
Mountains
, has accumulated numerous traditions over more than
200 years.
Colors
Charles Moore, president of the university's athletic association,
chose orange and white for the school colors on April 12, 1889. His
inspiration is said to have come from orange and white
daisies which grew on the Hill. To this day there
are still orange and white flowers grown outside the University
Center. Although students confirmed the colors at a special meeting
in 1892, dissatisfaction caused the colors to be dropped. No other
acceptable colors were agreed to, however, so the colors were
reinstated one day later and orange and white have remained the
university colors since.
Pride of the Southland Band
The Pride of the Southland Band (or simply The Pride) is UT's
marching band. As one of the oldest institutions at the University,
the Band partakes in many of the game day traditions. At every home
game, the Pride performs the "March to the Stadium" which includes
a parade sequence and climaxes when the Band stops at the bottom of
the Hill and performs the "Salute to the Hill," an homage to the
history and legacy of the University. The Band is known for its
pregame show at the beginning of every home game, which ends with
the football team running onto the field through the "Opening of
the T". This is one of the most photographed moments in football.
Something the Pride does every year is the famous "Circle Drill".
It is performed at least twice a year, with only one home
performance.
Fight song
Although it is most frequently played song at football games on
campus, "
Rocky Top" is not the official
fight song for the University.
"Rocky Top" was written in only ten minutes
by songwriters Felice and
Boudleaux Bryant in 1967 while they were working in Gatlinburg
on a collection of slow-tempo songs for a project
for Archie Campbell and Chet Atkins. Writing the fast-paced
"Rocky Top" served as a temporary diversion for them. Known
elsewhere in the United States as a bluegrass tune, the song did
not become popular until after 1972 when the Pride first introduced
it during a routine drill. Its popularity now extends beyond the
campus of the University of Tennessee; "Rocky Top" became one of
the Tennessee state songs in 1982. The popularity of the song among
inebriated bar crowds was such in the 1970s that in its national
tours the North Carolina string band, The Red Clay Ramblers, for
many years performed a satirical tune informally titled, "Play
'Rocky Top' (or I'll Punch Your Lights Out)."
The official fight song is actually "Down the Field," which is
played when the Pride "Opens the T" for the team to run through at
the end of their famous Pregame show, as well as when the Vols
score a touchdown.
Mascot
In 1953 the campus Pep Club sponsored a contest to have a live
mascot. The
hound was
chosen after announcements recruiting potential mascots in a local
newspaper read, "This can't be an ordinary hound. He must be a
'Houn' Dawg' in the best sense of the word." The Rev. William C.
"Bill" Brooks entered his prizewinning
Bluetick Coonhound "Brooks' Blue Smokey,"
which won against other eight contestants. According to a popular
tale, Smokey barked when his name was called at half-time contest
and students cheered as Smokey threw his head back and howled
again, and UT thus claimed its new mascot. The current mascot is
Smokey IX and is cared for by two student trainers from
Alpha Gamma Rho, a national agricultural
fraternity.
Nickname
Tennessee
is known as the "Volunteer State" for the disproportionately large
number of Tennesseans who volunteered for duty in the American Revolutionary War, the
War of 1812, the Texas Revolution (most notably the Battle of
the Alamo
) and especially the Mexican-American War, as well as an
overwhelming number of citizens who volunteered for both sides of
the Civil War.
A UT
athletic team was dubbed the Volunteers for the first time in 1902
by the Atlanta
Constitution following a football game against the
Georgia
Tech
Yellow
Jackets, although the Knoxville Journal and
Tribune did not use the name until 1905. By the
fall of 1905 both the
Journal and the then-
Sentinel were using the
nickname. With the creation of women's athletics later in the 20th
century, female athletic teams became known as the Lady Volunteers.
All varsity teams continue to use their nicknames today, although
often shortened to simply "Vols" or "Lady Vols."
Notable people
Image:MRSeddon.jpg|Margaret
Rhea Seddon, U.S. AstronautImage:Kurt Vonnegut at
CWRU.jpg|Kurt Vonnegut, American
NovelistImage:
Pat-Summitt-Walter-Reed-Center-06-24-08-2.jpg|Pat Summitt, NCAA CoachImage:
ClarenceBrown.jpg|Clarence Brown,
American Film DirectorImage:Lamar Alexander official
portrait.jpg|Lamar Alexander, U.S.
SenatorImage:Toddhelton1.jpg|Todd
Helton, MLB first
basemanImage:Peyton Manning.jpg|Peyton Manning, NFL
quarterbackImage: Scott Simmons.jpg
Scott Simmons, United States
Congressman from Idaho
References and notes
- UTK.edu
- UTK.edu
- UTK.edu
- Citytowninfo.com
- UTK.edu
- Rankingsandreviews.com
- Rankingsandreviews.com
- GO.com
- DI.net
- Princetonreview.com
- Hofmag.com
- Sofakingdrunk.com
- Princetonreview.com
- Popcrunch.com
-
http://www.knoxville.com/news/2009/apr/21/knoxville-attraction-neyland-stadium/
- UTK.edu
- UTK.edu
- UTK.edu
- UTK.edu
- Tennessee.edu
See also
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
