On May 14, 1960, the first formal inauguration of a UT president since the 1904 inauguration of Dr. Brown Ayres was held in the Fieldhouse-Armory to install the 16th president, Dr. Andrew D. Holt. Dr. Grayson Kirk delivered the inaugural address. The UT Chorus and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra performed. Professor David Van Vactor, conductor of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, composed a march for the occasion, Cantus Inauguralis-Cantus Triumphalis. The UT mace was designed for the inauguration and first carried at the head of the academic procession by Dr. George Schweitzer (chemistry), the Phi Kappa Phi Lecturer for 1961. The presidential medallion, with the newly designed presidential seal, was also introduced at this inauguration.
Governor Buford Ellington, acting in his capacity as chairman of the board of trustees, formally inducted Holt into office. Holt’s first official act after delivering his inaugural address was to confer honorary doctor of laws degrees upon Dr. Kirk, and Dr. William G. Carr, executive secretary of the National Education Association, who spoke at the inaugural banquet attended by eight hundred. These were the first honorary degrees to have been given since 1951, when UT conferred the doctor of laws upon General Clifton B. Cate and the doctor of science degree upon E. E. Norris, then president of the Southern Railway.
Representatives of 330 colleges and universities and 160 learned societies, professional associations, and foundations marched in the academic procession for Holt’s inauguration. Classes were dismissed from 9:00 a.m. until noon.