The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is a public land-grant research university located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, it is the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System. The university offers a broad range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs across colleges including business, engineering, agriculture, arts and sciences, and education. It maintains strong research partnerships, including connections with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and supports significant research activity in science, engineering, and public policy. With a large student population and comprehensive academic offerings, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville attracts students seeking a major public university experience in the southeastern United States.

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville traces its origins to 1794, when Blount College was chartered in the Southwest Territory two years before Tennessee achieved statehood. The institution struggled in its early years and was rechartered as East Tennessee College in 1807. After a temporary closure following the death of its first president, Samuel Carrick, the college reopened in 1820 and moved to its current hilltop campus in Knoxville in 1828. It became East Tennessee University in 1840 and was designated the state’s land-grant institution under the Morrill Act in 1869. In 1879, it adopted the name University of Tennessee. Over the twentieth century, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville expanded its academic programs, research mission, and statewide role, becoming the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee System and a major public research university in the United States.