Until 1924 each senior class designed a class ring, but the expense of making a distinctive ring each year was considerable. For the graduating class of 1924, Harry C. Watkin designed a class ring that was attractive but relatively simple. On one shank it had the state shield; on the other side was the UT seal. In spring 1924, by unanimous vote, the student body decided to have a standard class ring. The ring committee developed a ring with Ayres Hall (until 1936, when this was replaced by the Volunteer symbol) on one side and the UT seal on the other. This design was then adopted by the senior, junior, sophomore, and freshman classes and became the standard ring.
In 1936 the Parker Pen Company entered into an agreement with the bookstore to sell official school rings to students for twenty-five cents and the top from their new quick-drying ink. The rings were a “certified $2.00 value.”
In 1999 Jostens’s and the University Book and Supply Store (renamed VolShop in 2013), with assistance from a committee of undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni, designed an even simpler ring—metal, with a torch on the face, surrounded by the name of the institution and the date of its founding. Both designs—the traditional (1924) and the new (1999) were made available for purchase at the store. In 2010 Eric Haag, director of alumni programs, announced the implementation of a ring program, with the designs more standardized and with Jostens being the sole provider. The program was the result of the work of a committee formed in spring 2008 to discuss implementation of an official class ring program. The design chosen by the committee for the ring had the Power T on top, with the shank featuring Ayres Hall and the official UT seal. Students’ class, year, major, and degree letters could also be incorporated into the ring. To purchase the ring, students were required to have completed 60 credit hours at UT, and alumni could also purchase the ring.
The first annual Ring Ceremony was held November 9 in the university center ballroom during homecoming week. Academic deans and Chancellor Jimmy Cheek presented rings to those who had ordered them by September 21. The first five hundred rings sold in the new program had an engraved number.