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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.

A timeline of integration at the University of Tennessee.

Volunteers have always worked to make the world a better place—it’s what we do. Read about a few of our alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who have helped to light the way for others.

On January 4, 1961, Theotis Robinson Jr. arrived on campus as an undergraduate student. It was his application and subsequent meetings with UT administrators, including President Andy Holt, that led to the change in the admissions policy that barred black undergraduate students.

As a land-grant university, UT has always been committed to creating opportunities for more Tennesseans to receive an affordable high-quality education, and the funding of scholarships is one of the ways this accessibility is accomplished.

The climax of Southern university desegregation came in the early 1960s with rancorous confrontations and even riots on some campuses of the Deep South. The white leadership of the University of Tennessee was reluctant, but its path to racial integration was quieter and less acrimonious.