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Land Grant Films helps students in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media tell stories about real life.

UT archaeology students help preserve century-old artifacts from a West Virginia ghost town.

For many people, pursuing an art degree equates to the concept of a struggling artist. Alumni from the School of Art are breaking this stereotype with impressive careers in a…

If Marshall Ramsey were to draw a cartoon about his time at UT, he’d doodle a picture of himself sitting with his dad in Neyland Stadium watching his first UT football game in 1980. It was the moment he knew he wanted to be a Volunteer.

The spirit that University of Tennessee President Emeritus Joe Johnson (’60, ’68) found when he first walked into Ayres Hall on January 3, 1956, still pervades the Knoxville campus, and he hopes it will continue to guide the university into its future.

On September 10, 1794, at the edge of the American frontier, a spark of an idea was kindled. That flame has grown into a beacon that continues to grow stronger.

It’s hard to imagine what Blount College’s first scholars in 1794 would say about the university’s current research efforts in areas like artificial intelligence, driverless cars, advanced materials manufacturing, and big data. But many of the programs and courses upon which our innovation efforts rely have been a foundation of education at the institution from the very beginning.

In 1859, US Representative Justin Morrill helped shape the future of Tennessee and the rest of the nation with the idea that higher education should be available to everyone. President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Morrill Act of 1862, which established land-grant colleges to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts to anyone who desired to learn, not just the privileged. The spirit of the “people’s colleges” continues at UT today through teaching, research, and extension work.

Curious about how and when our traditions began? We’ve got you covered with this extensive (but not exhaustive) timeline.