The university’s first home page on the World Wide Web was created in 1994, three years following the December 12, 1991, post of the first World Wide Web page by Paul Kunz, a physicist at the Stanford Accelerator Center. The first UT home page, www.utk.edu, carried the graphic of the institution’s bicentennial logo. Other than … Continued
Delta Beta Gamma, a local Jewish fraternity, was founded in 1925. It was installed as Psi Chapter of the national Jewish fraternity Phi Alpha in 1928.
In 1919 Robert B. Snowden was awarded the first honorary Varsity Letter by the Athletics Council. The letter was to be given as a reward to a senior or a junior who deserved one for “Merit, Spirit, Enthusiasm, Application, Sincerity, and Mental Attitude.” The letter carried all the privileges that go with the Varsity Letter, … Continued
The first Jewish sorority established on campus was Tau Sigma in 1930. The first national Jewish sorority on campus was Alpha Epsilon Phi, which chartered UT’s Alpha Sigma Chapter in 1948. Alpha Epsilon Phi became inactive in 1977.
In 1988 UT Hospital opened its Positron Emission Tomography Scanner facility, complete with an associated medical cyclotron that produced the radioactive isotopes used in PET scans. It was one of only a handful of hospitals to operate a PET scanning facility, and the only one to use this technology as a clinical diagnostic technique apart … Continued
Upon admission to UT as a freshman in 1958, Claudette Riley had already been the Tennessee State Champion Twirler for four years, Southeastern Champion for three years, All American Strutting Queen, and one of the top six twirlers in the nation. She had amassed 75 trophies and 76 medals. She was the first person to … Continued
In 2007 UT became the nation’s first university certified by the Green Seal organization for its green cleaning practices (GS-42). UT began using green cleaning products in academic and administrative buildings in summer 2006. The certification applied to the seven buildings then cleaned by UT.
The first fraternity to be formally recognized by the university was Kappa Sigma, which established a chapter at UT in 1880. Not only did the faculty recognize its existence, but they also permitted the fraternity’s meetings to be held on campus. Some writers about the university have held that the favoritism shown Kappa Sigma might … Continued
UT’s first “hothouse” was 20 feet by 13 feet and was built in 1880 at a cost of about $1,550. It was located on the hill behind the Agricultural Building (to the south of the current site of the Science and Engineering Building.)
Pi Kappa Alpha, (established sub rosa) received its charter (Zeta) March 23, 1874. It was the first fraternity permanently established. There were probably periods of inactivity during its early years, and it is probable that a new charter was granted in the 1880s.