The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is the primary campus of the University of Tennessee System. It is located in Knoxville, Tennessee, in Knox County. Abbreviated as "UT" or "UTK," the main campus is often held to be synonymous with the statewide system (especially outside Tennessee).
Of UT's total enrollment, 23,442 students described themselves as white, with 1,964 black, 315 Hispanic, 706 Asian, 100 American Indians, and 278 other/not reported. Total minority enrollment was 14.3%. 1,166 international students enrolled at UT in 2002. Slightly more women (52.5%) attended UT than men.
Most international students came from China, India, and the Republic of Korea. 4,896 students were previously out-of-state U.S. residents, mostly from Virginia, Georgia, and Ohio. 21,909 students already resided in Tennessee, with most previous in-state residents coming from Knox, Shelby, and Davidson counties.
The University of Tennessee was chartered on September 10, 1794 as Blount College, by an act of the legislature of the Southwest Territory meeting in the territorial capital, Knoxville. The college was small at its inception and struggled for the next 13 years with a small student body and an even smaller faculty. In 1807, the school was renamed East Tennessee College and in 1840 was elevated to East Tennessee University. Following the Civil War, the State of Tennessee made the University the beneficiary of the Morrill Act of 1862 which allocated federal land or its monetary value to the various states for the teaching of "agricultural and mechanical" subjects and to provide military training to students. Thus, the University of Tennessee (its designation after 1879) became a land-grant institution.
In 1968, the University underwent an administrative reorganization which left the Knoxville campus as the flagship and headquarters of its new "university system," comprising the medical units at Memphis, a four-year college at Martin, the former private University of Chattanooga (added a year later), the Space Institute at Tullahoma, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Agriculture Institute, and the 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.
Famous former students include 11 astronauts, professional athletes Tamika Catchings, Charlie Garner, Todd Helton, Chamique Holdsclaw, Allan Houston, Jamal Lewis, and Peyton Manning, author Cormac McCarthy, entertainers Deanna Carter, Dixie Carter, John Cullum, and David Keith, Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan, and politicians Howard Baker, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and former Senate Majority Leader, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Hussein Abu Ragheb, and six congressmen, and sportscaster Lindsey Nelson.
Campus
Organization
Students
UTK's total enrollment in the fall semester of 2002 was 27,971, of which 23,829 were full-time students and 4,142 were part-time. Undergraduates numbered 19,956 students, while graduate students made up the balance of 8,015. UT enrolled 3,682 first-time freshmen.Faculty
History
Sports and Clubs
Traditions
Colors
Mascots
Notable Alumni
Notable Faculty