Professor John McBryde taught the first course in the field of business education when he offered a course in phonography (a system of phonetic shorthand invented by Sir Isaac Pitman in 1837) in the 1879–80 session. In 1880–81 the trustees established a one-year business course including penmanship, bookkeeping, stenography, and associated studies. The one-year course was not successful, so the trustees entered into a contract with the Knoxville Business College, operated by J. W. Jones, to give university students instruction in penmanship, bookkeeping, and commercial business at one-third the usual charge. UT canceled the contract in 1883, and the university abandoned its efforts to introduce commercial subjects into its curricula until 1914.